Public Libraries in Utah

Public libraries were perceived as instruments for establishing and supporting a desired social order by each successive group of American settlers that immigrated to Utah Territory. Mormons entered the territory in 1847 in order to escape religious persecution and establish a utopian social order based on their own religious, political, and social principles. This order had much in common with the Jeffersonian agrarian myth of a rural people creating a peaceful, productive life in isolation, removed from the contaminations of history and the world community, although in Utah it included a theocratic government, communal living, and polygamous family structure. According to the Nauvoo Times and Seasons for February 4, 1845, the first library, the Seventies’ Library, established in 1847, was to contain every book “for the advancement of art and science, which, with just principles, will go heart and hand unto perfection, being built upon truth, the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ the Chief cornerstone, which shall sound out from the voluminous Institute, and with its benign influence organize and harmonize the vast extent of tera [sic] firma.”

When Utah became a territory of the United States in 1850, Congress granted it $5,000 for a territorial library. A library of more than 3,000 volumes was established in 1851 to serve both as a reference library for the territorial assembly and as a public library when the assembly was not in session. The bulk of the collection was nonfiction, primarily histories, biographies, scientific works, and the religious works of the Mormon Church, all useful for building character and promoting material and cultural progress. There was little fiction or literature in the collection, apart from Shakespeare and a handful of novels. An early visitor to Utah, Jules Remy, remarked that “the majority of the Saints do not properly estimate these advantages as they ought to do.” The library closed in 1890 due to lack of appropriations, suggesting that Remy had been correct in his assessment.

Nevertheless, the vast majority of wagon trains that came to Utah brought with them books to form the nucleus of public libraries. Brigham Young instructed each stake to establish a library of useful and instructive works, particularly in the areas of architecture and gardening, from which to learn the practical work of building and farming. Novel reading was discouraged because it did not prepare the reader for the rigors of pioneer living and could lead to the delinquency of young men and the discontent of young women. These libraries, which served as joint church, school, and public libraries, were to be used to establish and maintain the social order envisioned by Mormon leaders and adherents. None of the many libraries and library associations established before 1870 survived at the time Utah achieved statehood.

[Page 559]The St. George Library Association is typical of those established during this period. The territorial legislature incorporated it on January 22, 1864, and a seven-member board of directors made up of leading men of the community was appointed. There is no record of a librarian being hired or appointed. Legend has it that funds were raised through subscriptions and parties with admission being paid in kind, usually a quart of molasses that was collected in a 60-gallon barrel. When six barrels were filled, they were taken to Salt Lake City and sold or traded for books and other reading materials. The books did not circulate but were to be read in the association's reading room.

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