S. Bryan Assignment 5
Guide to the Drucilla Loader Smith Pleasant Grove Library Collection
Creator of Collection – Drucilla Loader Smith 1922Collection Dates – 1922-2003
Accession – XXXX.XXX
Repository – Pleasant Grove Library
(801) 785-3950
30 East Center
Pleasant Grove, UT 84062
Abstract – This collection has been gathered by Drucilla Smith during her tenure as
the director of the Pleasant Grove Library. It contains pamphlets,
booklets, newspaper articles, personal histories, etc., all pertaining to
the history of Pleasant Grove
Access Restrictions – The collection is open to researchers during regular Library
business hours without restriction. Items are not to leave the Library.
Use Restrictions – Archives staff may determine use restrictions dependent upon
the physical condition of collection materials. Researchers may be
required to use photocopies.
Preferred Citation – The Drucilla Loader Smith Collection, Pleasant Grove Library,
Pleasant Grove, Utah.
Extent – 1 Drawer
Dimensions –
10” x 14” x 28”
Biographical Name – Drucilla Loader Smith
Biographical Note – To protect confidentiality this information is not available.
Scope and Contents –
This collection consists of books, journals, personal
histories, newspaper articles, ledgers, booklets, pamphlets, on the
subject of the history of Pleasant Grove, Utah. It is organized in 5
series.
Drawer 1: Pleasant Grove History
1. Series1: General Histories (1929-1985, 1946, 1950, 1981, 1983, 1994)
A collection of histories of Pleasant Grove written by various citizens and
historians in the forms of books, booklets, and pamphlets. 1 sub-series,
10 folders.
2. Series 2: Histories of Individuals and Organizations (1942-1980, 1978,
1983, 2003)
1
S. Bryan Assignment 5
Histories of specific individuals, families, and organizations, written as
biographies, autobiographies, theses, booklets, and journals. 2 sub-series,
Individuals and Families (4 folders) and Organizations (5 Folders).
3. Series 3: Histories of Buildings and Landmarks (1933-2004,1972-2004,
1982, 1989)
The Histories of places in Pleasant Grove as written in newspaper articles,
booklets, pamphlets, journals, tours, and maps. 2 sub-series, Buildings
(11 folders), and Landmarks (3 folders).
4. Series 4: Events (1922-1984, 1980, 1983, 1984, 2001)
Records of important events that effected Pleasant Grove, including
newspaper articles, programs, journal entries, and pamphlets. 2 subseries, Celebrations (3 folders), and Disasters (2 Folders).
5. Series 5: Industry (1986-1992)
Review of the Industries of early Pleasant grove recorded as company
histories, newspaper articles, memoirs, and booklets. 2 sub-series, Early
Industry (2 folders), and Mining (4 folders).
Related Material – None
Separated Material –
None
Notes – None
Index Terms –
Places
American Fork, Utah
American Fork Canyon, American Fork, Utah
Lindon, Utah
Orem, Utah
Pleasant Grove, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Subjects
Buildings – Utah – 19th Century
Churches– Utah – 19th Century
Homes– Utah – 19th Century
Homes– Utah – 20th Century
Industry– Utah – 19th Century
Masonry– Utah – 19th Century
Mining– Utah – 19th Century
2
S. Bryan Assignment 5
Mormons– Utah – 19th Century
Mormons– Utah – 20th Century
Pioneers– Utah Settlers
Schools– Utah – 19th Century
Schools– Utah – 20th Century
Organizations
Alpine School District
American Association of University Women, Pleasant Grove Branch
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons)
Pleasant Grove City Council
Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Josephites)
Utah Company of Pioneers
Ute Native American Tribe
Acquisition Information – Collected by Drucilla L. Smith for the Pleasant Grove
Library
Container List
Drawer 1: Pleasant Grove History
1. Series1: General Histories (1929-1985, 1946, 1950, 1981, 1983, 1994)
a. Sub-Series 1 (1929-1985, 1946, 1950, 1981, 1983, 1994)
i. Folder 1: Susanna May Clark Grua “Brief History of Pleasant
Grove, Utah” 1983
ii. Folder 2: Pleasant Grove History (no date)
iii. Folder 3: Effie W. Adams “History” 1981
iv. Folder 4: Calvin Walker “History of Pleasant Grove, Utah”
ca. 1946
v. Folder 5: One hundred years of progress (2 copies) 1950
vi. Folder 6: Elwood Baxter and Leone Told “History Of
Pleasant Grove, Utah Human Geography” (no date) (3
copies)
vii. Folder 7: Cultural History 1929-1985
viii. Folder 8: Pleasant Grove Brochures (no date)
ix. Folder 9: Lindon History 1994
x. Folder 10: Lisa Harmer “Trees of Pleasant Grove” (no date)
2. Series 2: Histories of Individuals and Organizations (1942-1980, 1978,
1983, 2003)
a. Sub-Series 1: Individuals and Families (1984)
i. Folder 1: A Wadley (no date)
ii. Folder 2: H Christensen (no date)
3
S. Bryan Assignment 5
iii. Folder 3: Warnick 1984
iv. Folder 4: Individual Histories (no date)
b. Sub-Series 2: Organizations (1942-1980, 1978, 2003)
i. Folder 1: List of Names of certain members of the Utah
Company of pioneers. (no date)
ii. Folder 2: Among the Forgotten Ones: Jens C and Dorthea M
Jensen of Pleasant Grove. 2003
iii. Folder 3: John A. Adams “An Economic History of the
Pleasant Grove United Order, 1874-1880” 1978 (2 Copies)
iv. Folder 4: History of Indians of Pleasant Grove (no date)
v. Folder 5: American Association of University Women, PG
branch ca. 1942-1980
3. Series 3: Histories of Buildings and Landmarks (1933-2004,1972-2004,
1982, 1989)
a. Sub-Series 1: Buildings (1933-2004)
i. Folder 1: Pleasant Grove Home Histories 1985-1996
ii. Folder 2: Church buildings 1953-1984
iii. Folder 3: Lucile H. and Harold S. Walker “Pleasant Grove
Schools 1850 -1950” 1962
iv. Folder 4: Old Bell School House 1981-1986
v. Folder 5: Effie Adams “Remembering Manila” 1990
vi. Folder 6: Discovery Park 1996
vii. Folder 7: Rose Brown Hayes “Log Cabin Monument” 1933
viii. Folder 8: City Hall 1963-1981
ix. Folder 9: House and Building history 1935, 1977-1984
x. Folder 10: Historical Sites 1981-1994
xi. Folder 11: Buildings/Downtown 1989-1998
b. Sub-Series 2: Landmarks (1972-2004, 1982, 1989)
i. Folder 1: Cemetery Plot Map (2 Copies) 1989
ii. Folder 2: American Fork Canyon 1982
iii. Folder 3: Mt. Timpanogos 1972-2004
4. Series 4: Events (1922-1984, 1980, 1983, 1984, 2001)
a. Sub-Series 1: Celebrations (1922-1984)
i. Folder 1: Strawberry Days 1922-1984
ii. Folder 2: Strawberry Days 1984
iii. Folder 3: Christmas 1980
b. Sub-Series 2: Disasters (1983, 2001)
i. Folder 1: Flood 1983
ii. Folder 2: John Clements, “Sept. 11, 2001 Pamphlet, Day
One”, 2001
5. Series 5: Industry (1986-1992)
4
S. Bryan Assignment 5
a. Sub-Series 1: Early Industry (no date)
i. Folder 1: Mills (no date)
ii. Folder 2: Pleasant Grove Brick Company (no date)
b. Sub-Series 2: Mining (1986-1992)
i. Folder 1: Betty G. Spencer “Mining In American Fork
Canyon: Saga of Early Times” (no date)
ii. Folder 2: Effie W. Adams “Mining in American Fork Canyon”
(no date)
iii. Folder 3: Fred Keetch “Mining Developments in the
American Fork Mining District” (no date)
iv. Folder 4: Archeology 1986-1992
Processed by: S. Bryan 2012
5
S. Bryan Assignment 5
Processing Report
Original Inspection
Upon reviewing the collection the first time, I noticed several things. Chief
among these things was the fact that the collection had no organization whatsoever.
When the library director was asked about the order of the documents she indicated that
they did not have many patrons using the collection because the staff does not advertize
it. She said that the collections was not advertised because it was so difficult to use, and
when someone did ask to use it they had to sift through the entire collection, piece by
piece. This conversation let me know that I was the first one to actually process the
collection.
Another thing I noticed was that there were included myriad different types of
items included in the collection. These items ranged from clipped newspaper articles to
journals (entire books) to keepsake programs. One thing they all had in common was the
fact that they were paper based. The fact that the materials were in all different shapes
and sizes made it difficult to search through because the larger objects absconded the
smaller. The collection was in legal folders within green hanging files, inside a drawer.
Finally I notice that the drawer that contained the collection was quite a bit bigger
than the average archives box and was completely full. I decided to proceed with the
project with the size in mind, and adjust what I would attempt to complete accordingly.
It was also apparent that there was little to no information about the collection of the
materials. The original collector, Mrs. Smith, was not available to contact, and no one in
the library had information other than the fact that she had collected it during her tenure
as the Pleasant Grove Library Director. Because I could not contact Mrs. Smith, I did not
6
S. Bryan Assignment 5
have permission to use what little detail about her that I could find; I used only what was
public record, her name, position, and the fact that she had collected the materials.
Recording
After the initial inspection of the collection I began recording the collection to the
item level. In a given folder there could be between 1 and 100 different items, counting
duplicates. Considering there were more than 45 folders I only recorded a very brief
description of each Item. While doing so, I realized that the folders contained materials
that were related to one another and this was ideal, because the assignment was to
organize the collection to the folder level and not change what was in the folders.
While I was only required to organize to the folder level, the library needed a
more specific itemized list. I did help the library with this request, however, that record
will not be included in this assignment.
Organization
Upon finishing an itemized inventory of the collection I began to consider the best
way to organize the folders. First I thought that organizing by date would be the best. I
realized however, that technique would be ineffective because many of the documents
spanned as many as one hundred years. Next I considered ordering the collection by
author, however, very few authors had written more than one item and it was unlikely
that researchers would be familiar enough with local historians to search the archive on
that level. I knew that it would be unreasonable to organize by format of the item (book,
news article, pamphlet, etc.), and that left me with organization by topic.
When considering the topic groupings, I thought first to disseminate the items into
history, geography, people, and religion. This, however, did not work, because
7
S. Bryan Assignment 5
everything was about the history of Pleasant Grove. Less than five of the artifacts were
less than 10 years old. Then I decided to organize them first by specificity and then by
subject. This works well because there are several documents that discuss a general
history of the area and its people, not focusing on any one area in particular. I put these
in one category. Then the rest were grouped into series by specific subject matter, i.e.
family histories, industrial history, history of buildings and landmarks, etc.
While this was a good for narrowing to a subject matter to make it easier to find,
the items could be found with even more facility, by subdividing the series into sub-series
that were even more specific. For example, industry would be divided into early industry
and mining; and events would be divided into celebrations and disasters. This way the
researcher could narrow their search to a greater degree. If it were requested, the groups
could be defined even more down to an item level within each folder; however, I feel that
this would confuse the researcher and possibly inadvertently exclude items from the
search.
Conclusion
When I began I had no Idea how time consuming the project could become. The
sheer amount of information that was present made it difficult to quantify as a single
entity. As I neared the median point of the collection I began to understand the way the
items worked together to form the archive. Were I to do it over I would select a portion
of the materials to focus on rather than the entire archive.
Another problem I encountered was that of contacting the original proprietor of
the archive. As previously mentioned, Mrs. Smith was not available to speak with, and I
found that without information about her, and from her, it was difficult to have the proper
8
S. Bryan Assignment 5
context of the archive. If I could have contacted her I would have asked her how she
would organize the collection, and what caused her to choose some subjects and not
others, and also where she found the items that were placed in the collection.
There were also some problems inherent in the collection that will make it
difficult for researchers to make the best use of the archive. One of these problems is that
many of the items in the collection did not have dates. Some of the documents are one of
a kind written by those who are deceased and so the date on which they were written
would be impossible to find, however, I believe that it would be useful to search out the
dates that can be found so that the circumstances surrounding the individual items can be
better understood.
Ultimately, this was an eye-opening experience. I would never have guessed or
even comprehended the scope of a project like this without attempting to complete it. I
have learned several things about archiving. First, an eye for detail is key. Without
finding the small characteristics that tie a collection together one could not hope to
organize it. Second, Its all about levels of depth. A researcher may want a general
overview of a subject that they can get from a newspaper article, but there is another
person who wants a more in depth view of a subject that can only be given through a first
person account, and both need to be readily accessible. Finally, I learned that to be an
efficient archivist, one must not loose oneself in the subject matter. Several times I found
myself being lost in a personal history, or intrigued by the statistics and wasting a lot of
time on the minutia of the collection that wasn’t entirely necessary for me to know. I
truly enjoyed the experience, however, to become a good archivist I will need to learn to
look at the big picture and not get lost in the details.
9