Emma Lou Warner Thayne was born on October 22, 1924 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Grace Richards and Homer "Pug" Warner. Thayne was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She married Melvin Thayne in 1949, and together the two had five daughters. Thayne attended the University of Utah, graduating with her Bachelors in 1945 and her Masters of Arts in the 1960s. She taught English and coached tennis at the University of Utah, serving on the faculty for over 30 years.
Thayne was a poet, novelist, and essayist. Over the course of her career, she wrote and published 14 books of poetry, fiction, and essays, in addition to hundreds of poems. She also wrote the words to the hymn "Where Can I Turn for Peace?" Thayne received many awards for her writing and her activism, including: the Utah Governor's Mansion Artist Award for literary accomplishments, David O. McKay Humanities Award, the the Gandhi Peace Award, and the Association for Mormon Letters award. Thayne served on several boards, including Deseret News, the General Board of the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association, the Utah Arts Council and Odyssey House. She died on December 6, 2014. (Source: Peggy Fletcher Stack, "Emma Lou Thayne, renowned Mormon poet, dies at 90," The Salt Lake Tribune, December 12, 2014.)
The Emma Lou Thayne photograph collection contains 1 box of 45 photographs depicting Thayne's family and life from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Arranged by subject
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Permission to publish material from the Emma Lou Thayne photograph collection must be obtained from the Special Collections Manuscript Curator.
Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.
Donated by Emma Lou Thayne in 2003.
Processed by Special Collections staff.
Forms part of the