Kelly, Charles, 1889-1971

Western historian and writer.

From the description of Utah's black Friday : History of the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857, 1969. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122494427

From the guide to the Utah's black Friday : History of the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857, 1969, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)

Charles Kelly (1889-1971) was a writer of Western history and a collector of Western lore.

From the description of Charles Kelly collection of Western photographs, circa 1910s-1960s. (Brigham Young University). WorldCat record id: 137731893

Historian and printer.

From the description of Papers. (Utah Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 145581480

American historian.

From the description of Salt desert trails : a history of the Hastings Cutoff and other early trails which crossed the Great Salt Desert seeking a shorter road to California, 1969. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 145435877

Printer, partner in the Western Printing Co., local historian, a founder of the Utah Klu Klux Klan.

From the description of Charles Kelly photograph collection, 1910-1970 (bulk 1920-1940). (Utah State University). WorldCat record id: 46799466

Charles Kelly (1889-1971) was born to Alfred and Flora Lepard Kelly. His father was a Baptist preacher, and Kelly was raised in Chicago and Tennessee. In 1910, Charles Kelly left home to attend Valparaiso University, and after an unfinished degree, went on to explore the country. Kelly moved to Salt Lake City, where he met and married Harriett Greener. He eventually became partner in the Western Printing Company, where he remained until 1940.

From 1930 until 1940, he published several books and edited a variety of journals. After this period, he and his wife sold their holdings in the printing company, and he went on to become “temporary” caretaker at Capitol Reef in Utah, where he would remain for the next 20 years. He retired in from the position in 1959. During his tenure there, Kelly studied and wrote extensively on petroglyphs and pictographs in the area.

From the guide to the Charles Kelly collection, 1925-1946, (The Museum of Northern Arizona)

Born at Cedar Springs, Michigan, on 3 February 1889, Charles Kelly was the oldest of six children. His father, a Baptist minister who started a religious movement of his own, set up a print shop to publish literature pertaining to his newly organized religious cult. Because of this, Charles learned the printing business at a very young age. At seventeen he went to work on a newspaper in Dixon, Tennessee, and from this job he saved enough money to attend Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, for three years. Kelly never graduated from high school because his father believed the public schools would corrupt his faith and he was not allowed to attend, but his mother had been a good teacher. He was able to assimilate much at the University.

After this period of formal education, Kelly returned to the printing trade. He got a job with the Salina Sun in Salina, Kansas, where he learned to be a linotype operator and repairman which assured him good employment on almost any newspaper in the country. From Salina, he went to Pendleton, Oregon, and then to Great Falls, Montana, working as a linotype operator on various newspapers.

In 1919, because of his love of music and the hope that he might make music his career, Charles moved to Salt Lake City where he tried to affiliate with musical groups and continue his study of music. He had studied music since he was eight years of age and could play several instruments. When he was unable to secure employment with any of the musical companies in Salt Lake City, he set up his own printing business. In 1924 he sold his business and bought interest in the Western Printing Company where he remained until 1941.

Kelly's natural curiosity and interest in the West led him to explore the Salt Desert looking for old trails and gathering information on the trails from every available source. After he accumulated considerable material he wrote an article about the trails and the Donner Party and submitted it for publication, only to have his manuscript rejected. He decided he had enough data for a book which he would publish himself. Salt Desert Trails was the result of his research--his first published book, reprinted in 1969, and now a collector's item. In eight years, 1930-1938, he authored four books besides Salt Desert Trails . The books were: Hold Murder: The Story of Porter Rockwell ; Old Greenwood: The Story of Caleb Greenwood ; Miles Goodyear: First Citizen of Utah ; and Outlaw Trail: A History of Butch Cassidy and His Wild Bunch . He also edited the Journals of John D. Lee, 1846-1847 and 1859 during this time. The second edition of Outlaw Trail was revised and enlarged, and published in 1959, and a revised edition of Old Greenwood: The Story of Caleb Greenwood, with Dale L. Morgan collaborating, was published in 1965. Three journals, "Captain Francis Marion Bishop's Journal," "Journal of W. C. Powell," and "Journal of Robert Chalmers" were edited by Charles Kelly and published in the Utah Historical Quarterly . Numerous articles and book reviews dating from 1930-1971 appeared in many western publications.

The Saturday Evening Post of 6 May 1939 featured an article by Charles Kelly of a boat trip down the Glen Canyon of the Colorado River. This was one of six river trips Charles Kelly made, the first being in 1932 with Julian Steward of the University of Utah to assist in an archaeological survey of Glen Canyon. With Russell G. Frazier, he also boated the Yampa in Dinosaur National Monument and ran the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.

Kelly developed a keen interest in archaeology and visited sites throughout Utah in search of petroglyphs and artifacts. He assisted in many excavations and for years, with Frank Beckwith and others, explored the desert studying Indian petroglyphs, searching for trilobite fossils, studying geology, and researching various subjects. It was through these archaeological pursuits that he came to know the little community of Fruita within the Capitol Reef National Monument, and chose it as an ideal place to retire in 1941 when he sold his interest in the printing business. Here he could pursue his research and writing.

In 1943 Charles Kelly was appointed custodian (without pay) of Capitol Reef National Monument. He lived on government land in a two-room frame house free of charge and was allowed to sell the fruit grown on the property as income for taking charge of the Monument. Kelly served in this position until 1950 when he received a civil service appointment as superintendent. It is this beautiful Red Rock Country he loved that he depicted so well in his paintings.

In 1959 at the age of seventy, Charles Kelly retired as superintendent of Capitol Reef National Monument. Faced with failing eyesight he was, nevertheless, able to revise and reissue two of his books and continued to research on some of his favorite subjects. He was named an Honorary Life Member of the Utah State Historical Society in 1960, and in 1969 he was chosen to receive an Award of Merit by the American Association of State and Local History.

Charles Kelly married Harriette Greener in 1919. He died 19 April 1971; Harriette Greener Kelly died 13 July 1974.

From the guide to the Charles Kelly papers, 1889-1971, (J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah)

Charles Kelly was born February 3, 1889, in a roaring lumber camp in Cedar Springs, Michigan. As a boy of seven he learned to set type in a small print shop which his father used to turn out religious tracts. He attended college in Indiana for a short time, but when money ran out he began wandering as a tramp printer in the West and Far West. He served in the army during World War I, during which time he met and corresponded with Harriette Greener. In February 1919, he and Harriette married and settled in Utah. For the next twenty years Kelly continued to earn his living as a linotype operator and printer, eventually becoming a partner in the Western Printing Company. In the meantime, he became interesting in local history, as a result of a trip to the Great Salt Lake Desert in 1929. Although he continued in the printing business, his passion was to research and write about the stories of the old West. He was particularly interested in the Utah-Arizona-Nevada region. His publications included Salt Desert Trails (1929), Holy Murder (1934, the story of Porter Rockwell), Old Greenwood (1936, the story of Caleb Greenwood), Miles Goodyear (1937), and Outlaw Trail (1938, a history of Butch Cassidy). Kelly also edited the Journals of John D. Lee, 1846-1847 and 1859 (1938) and wrote numerous articles. He died on April 19, 1971.

Kelly was extremely bold in many aspects of his life- in outdoor adventures, in attitude, and in politics. He took the first automobile across the Salt Lake Desert on the Donner trail, and he floated Glen Canyon several times in the years when it was not generally known. As the first custodian of Capitol Reef National Monument, he compiled an immense body of interpretive information. Extremely anti-religious, he lived squarely in the middle of Mormon country and dared the Mormons to do something about it. He was also one of the founding fathers of the Utah Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s.

For more information about Kelly see, A. Russel Mortensen, "In Memoriam," Utah Historical Quarterly 39 (Spring 1971): 199-200 and Gary Topping, "Charles Kelly's Glen Canyon Ventures and Adventures," Utah Historical Quarterly 55 (Spring 1987): 120-136.

From the guide to the Charles Kelly photograph collection, 1910-1970, 1920-1940, (Utah State University. Merrill-Cazier Library. Special Collections and Archives)

Charles Kelly was a man of many interest and talents: printer, linotype operator, writer, and river runner, as well as an amateur musician, geologist, archaeologist, artist, and photographer.

Born at Cedar Springs, Michigan, February 3, 1889, Charles Kelly was the oldest of six children. His father, a Baptist minister who started a religious movement of his own, set up a print shop to publish literature pertaining to his newly organized religious cult. Because of this, Charles learned the printing business at a very early age. At seventeen he went to work for a newspaper in Dixon, Tennessee, and from this job he saved enough money to attend Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, for three years. Mr. Kelly's father would not allow him to attend public schools, believing they would corrupt his faith, so Charles never graduated from high school. His mother, however, had been a good teacher and he was able to keep up with his peers at the University.

After this period of formal education, Kelly returned to the printing trade. He got a job with the Salina Sun in Salina, Kansas, where he learned to be a linotype operator and repairman, which assured him good employment on almost any newspaper in the country. From Salina, he went on to Pendleton, Oregon, and then to Great Falls, Montana, working on linotype machines at various newspapers.

In 1919, because of his love of music and the hope that he might make that his career, Kelly moved to Salt Lake City where he tried to affiliate with musical groups and continue his study of music. He had studied music since he was eight years old and could play several instruments. That same year he married Harriette Greener, who would be his wife for the next fifty-two years. When he was unable to find work with any of the musical companies in Salt Lake City, he set up his own printing business. In 1924 he sold his business and bought interest in the Western Printing Company, where he remained until 1941.

Kelly's natural curiosity and interest in the West led him to explore the Salt Desert, in western Utah, looking for old trails and gathering information on the trails from every available source. After he accumulated a great deal of information he wrote an article about the trails and the Donner Party of 1846, but it was not accepted for publication. He then decided that he had enough material for a book, called "Salt Desert Trails", which he published himself and it is now a collector's item. In eight years, from 1930 to 1938, he produced four more books: Holy Murder: The story of Porter Rockwell; Old Greenwood: The story of Caleb Greenwood; Miles Goodyear: First citizen of Utah; and Outlaw Trail: A history of Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch. He also edited for publication the Journals of John D. Lee, 1846-1847 and 1859 during this time. A second, revised and enlarged edition of Outlaw Trail was published in 1959, and in 1965, a revised edition of Old Greenwood, with collaboration by historian Dale Morgan, was released. Kelly also edited three journals from participants in the John Wesley Powell Colorado River expeditions, which were published in the Utah Historical Quarterly during 1947-1949. Numerous other articles and book reviews were written by Kelly and published in western journals and magazines. Throughout his life, Kelly nursed an abiding mistrust and active dislike of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his writings reflect that prejudice.

Kelly also explored western rivers by boat. His first river trip was in 1932, when he accompanied a survey party from the University of Utah, led by Julian Steward that was seeking archaeological sites in Glen Canyon. With Dr. Russell G. Frazier and others, Kelly also floated the Yampa River in western Colorado, as well as the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. The Saturday Evening Post for May 6, 1939, featured an article by Kelly about a boat trip down Glen Canyon of the Colorado River.

Kelly developed a keen interest in archaeology and visited sites throughout Utah in search of rock art and artifacts. He assisted in many excavations, and for years explored the deserts of Utah with Frank Beckwith, among others. It was through these exploratory trips that Kelly became familiar with the little community of Fruita in Wayne County, Utah. Capitol Reef National Monument surrounded Fruita, and Kelly recognized in the village an ideal place to retire and pursue his research and writing career. Accordingly, he sold his interest in the Salt Lake City printing company in 1941 and moved to Fruita.

In 1943, Kelly was appointed the custodian of Capitol Reef National Monument. It was an unpaid position, but he lived in the Monument in a two-room government house and was allowed to see the fruit grown on the property. Kelly served in his position until 1950 when he received a civil service appointment as the official superintendent of Capitol Reef. In 1959, at the age of 70 and faced with failing eyesight and health, Kelly retired from the National Park Service. Despite his poor vision, he was able to revise and reissue two of his books and continued his research on a variety of subjects. He was named an Honorary Life Member of the Utah State Historical Society in 1960, and in 1969 was chose to receive the Award of Merit by the American Association of State and Local History.

Charles Kelly died on April 19, 1971, followed by Harriette Greener Kelly on July 13, 1974.

[adapted from the Register of the Papers of Charles Kelly (1889-1971), Ms100, by Della Dye.]

From the guide to the Charles Kelly photograph collection, circa 1847-1971, (J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah)