Index to Book of the Pioneers

Book of the Pioneers

Series 14107

This series contains a two-volume "Book of the Pioneers," described on the title page as "a record of those who arrived in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake during the year 1847; including the names, ages, autographs and places of residence of all known survivors on July 24, 1897." The volumes were created as part of the Pioneer Jubilee of 1897 under the direction of the Semi-Centennial Commission to document and memorialize both the pioneers of 1847 and the Jubilee celebration. The books are one-of-a-kind leather-bound volumes decorated with symbolic words and images. The volumes contain various information about the pioneers and the Jubilee. Most notably, they contain questionnaires distributed to pioneers who were still alive in 1897. The questionnaires solicited such information as name, place of residence in 1897, date and place of birth, date of arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, name of pioneer company, and list of "relics of the pioneer journey" the surviving pioneer owned. The books also include a number of images related to the pioneers and the Semi-Centennial celebration.