Juanita Brooks

Infobox Writer
name = Juanita Brooks

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pseudonym =
birthdate = 1898
birthplace = Bunkerville, Nevada, United States
deathdate = 1989
deathplace =
occupation = Historian–author
nationality = American
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Juanita Pulsipher Brooks [Her name was spelled "Waneta" on census rolls when she was a child. [http://ftp.us-census.org/pub/usgenweb/census/nv/clark/1910/indx-h-n.txt] "(1910 NV Census, p68B:70)"] (b. 1898, Bunkerville, Nevada - d. 1989) was an American historian and author, specializing in the American West and Mormon history, including books related to the Mountain Meadows massacre.

Born as Juanita Leone Leavitt, Brooks was raised in Bunkerville, Nevada. In 1919 she married Ernest Pulsipher, who died of cancer little more than a year later, leaving her with an infant son. She earned her bachelor's degree from BYU and a master's degree from Columbia University. Settling in St. George, Utah, she became an instructor of English and dean of women at Dixie College. In 1933 she resigned from the college to marry a widower, Will Brooks. She became stepmother to his four sons. Within five years the couple added a daughter and three sons to their family.

For many years she served on the Board of the Utah Historical Society where she devoted herself to unearthing diaries and records of early settlers and organized a Utah library of Mormon history. She wrote numerous historical articles and a variety of family narratives, including a classic biography of her pioneer grandfather, Dudley Leavitt.

Brooks' notable books on Mormon history include "The Mountain Meadows Massacre" (1950), "John D. Lee: Zealot, Pioneer Builder, Scapegoat" (1961); she also edited Hosea Stout's diaries.

Brooks was a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although Mormon authorities at church headquarters discouraged Brooks from pursuing her study of the Mountain Meadows massacre, it and most of her other studies received critical acclaim. And while Brooks initially felt some ostracism from both her local congregation and church officials. [Gregory A. Prince & Wm. Robert Wright (2005), "David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism", Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, ISBN 0874808227, p. 53.]

Publications

*"A Mormon Chronicle: The Diaries of John D. Lee." Robert Glass Cleland, editor, and Juanita Brooks, editor. Huntington Library Press, reissue June 2004 (Paperback, 868pp), 3 Volumes in 1 book. ISBN 0-87328-178-0. First published in 1955.
*"Dudley Leavitt,: Pioneer to Southern Utah." Self published, St. George, Utah. January 1942.
*"Emma Lee." Utah State University Press, Logan, UT, 7th Printing 1984. ISBN 0-87421-121-2. First published in 1975.
*"Frontier tales; true stories of real people." Western Text Society, Special publication - 1972.
*"History of the Jews in Utah and Idaho 1853-1950." Salt Lake City, Utah, Western Epics, June 1973.
*"Jacob Hamblin, Mormon apostle to the Indians." reissue 1980.
*"John Doyle Lee: Zealot, Pioneer Builder, Scapegoat". Utah State University Press, Logan, UT, reissue November 1992 (paperback, 404pp). ISBN 0-87421-162-X. First published in 1961.
*"Mountain Meadows Massacre"; University of Oklahoma Press (Tdr) reissue May 1991; (softcover, 318 pages). ISBN 0-8061-2318-4. First published in 1950.
*"On the ragged edge;: The life and times of Dudley Leavitt." Salt Lake City, Utah, Utah State Historical Society, 1973.
*"Quicksand and cactus: A memoir of the southern Mormon frontier." Logan, Utah, Utah State University Press, reissue 1982.
*"On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout" edited by Juanita Brooks. First edition 1964. Published by University of Utah Press. Republished in 1974 by University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, Utah. (Juanita's daughter-in-law was the Great Granddaughter of Hosea Stout).
*”Uncle Will Tells His Story” published by Taggart & Company, Salt Lake City, Utah. 249 pages. Only 2500 copies were printed. (“Uncle Will” is the biography of her husband, written as though he was telling her stories of his life. According to Ken Sanders Rare Books in Salt Lake City, Utah, Juanita Brooks was the first place winner of the Utah State Institute of Fine Arts Creative Writing Competition for autobiography in 1969).

Notes

References

* Bringhurst, Newell G., "Fawn McKay Brodie: A Biographers Life", University of Oklahoma, 1999
* Morgan, Dale L., " [http://www.signaturebookslibrary.org/dalemorgan/dale1942.htm Dale Morgan on Early Mormonism] " Signature Books
* Peterson, Levi S. "Juanita Brooks: Mormon Woman Historian (Utah Centennial Series, Vol 5)". University of Utah Press, October 1988.
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* Topping, Gary. "Utah Historians and the Reconstruction of Western History." 2003, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma. ISBN 0-8061-3561-1

Links

* [http://www.sltrib.com/portlet/article/html/render_gallery.jsp?articleId=6842590&siteId=297&start
] (from article linked to below)
* [http://www.sltrib.com/lds/ci_6842590 "Writer blazed trail for massacre research"] , Salt Lake Tribune, September 9, 2007