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One Hundred Years at the Utah State Historical Society
Emboldened by its success, Mortensen began p r o d u c i n g additional special issues aimed at a popular audience. In 1961, to commemorate the centennial HISTORICAL QUARTERLY of the Cotton Mission in southwestern Utah, he commissioned October, 1961 authors like Juanita Brooks and A. Karl Larson to p r o d u c e an issue called U t a h ' s Dixie: T h e Cotton Mission.96 For that extraordinarily scenic p a r t of the state, a great deal of color seemed appropriate. Mortensen secured subsidies for the color from the mayor of St. George and the centennial committee in return for which he provided a detachable color supplement in the issue that they could use as a Russ Mortensen gave Utah Historical special handout for visitors. Quarterly a facelift and promoted special Not all special issues were issues. successful. A very large printing during the administration of Charles S. Peterson commemorating the 1969 centennial of the driving of the Golden Spike was poorly merchandised, even though it was declared the official publication of the Golden Spike Commission, and languished for years in storage. After the Mortensen years few additional attempts were made to m o u n t the immense marketing programs of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake and Cotton Mission issues. Nevertheless, the Mortensen marketing legacy remained alive, as special commemorative issues often featuring color covers, at least, continued to appear, and for many years every issue of the Quarterly was organized around a theme. 97 T h e study and writing of Utah history broadened and matured greatly during the Mortensen years. Although the Society was a significant focal point for that flowering—from the popularity of the Kearns mansion, its increasingly professionalized staff, and its b u r g e o n i n g library, manuscript, and archival collection—the University of Utah IN THIS ISSUE
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29 (July 1961); Dorothy Mortensen interview, p. 20. Miriam B. Murphy interview with the author, November 21, 1996. Some themes, she admitted, were a bit far-fetched, and director Max Evans urged their discontinuance except in special cases. 97