George H. Smeath papers
Scope and Contents
This is only an inventory. The collection is not organized in its final form and this inventory is not structured like a regular finding aid. The materials are not arranged by subject or type, and the books and magazines are not cited in standard bibliographic form. The George H. Smeath collection is organized after the following manner:
Cartons 1-7 were inventoried by Fran Smeath before she donated them to BYU Library. They contain an assortment of awards, certificates, books, papers, conference proceedings, flyers, magazine articles/excerpts, papers, periodicals, correspondence, personal notes, reference files, maps, newspaper articles, journal articles, photographs, reports, plans, and professional documents. One notable item is a video of his visiting the University of Utah.
Cartons 8-18 contain the same kinds of material plus copies of his talks, MIT thesis, his and his wife's college yearbooks, and his autobiography Crusade for Planning. There is also professional material such as minutes of city planning meetings. Most of the items document his work in Utah and Northern California. There are also 14 short poetry/song books written by Mr. and Mrs. Smeath.
Cartons 19-24 contain personal memorabilia, and items that related to his work, such as newspapers, scrapbooks, plans, an atlas, press plates, and photographs.
Dates
- Creation: 1907-1999
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
Open for public research.
Conditions Governing Use
Permission to publish material from George H. Smeath collection must be obtained from the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Board of Curators.
Biographical History
George Hillier Smeath (1907-1999) taught landscape architecture, horticulture and community planning courses at Brigham Young University. He later became a city planner and worked in Ogden, Utah; Salt Lake City, Utah; Provo, Utah; Modesto, California; and Santa Rosa, California.
George Hillier Smeath was a Utah City planner who worked in Ogden, Utah; Salt Lake City, Utah; Provo, Utah; Modesto, California; and Santa Rosa, California. During the early 1940s, Smeath was the Provo City Planning Director. During his employment, he played an active role in mitigating the impact of Geneva Steel on social and cultural life in Utah County. He married Mary Hawker on June 21, 1938 and they had three children.
George H. Smeath was born July 5, 1907, in Montpelier, Idaho. He died Oct. 6, 1999, in Tooele, Utah. He was the son of James Charles Smeath and Frances Mae Brown Smeath. He married Mary Alice Hawker of Grantsville, Utah, June 21, 1938, and they became the parents of three daughters: Mary (Richard) Thornton of Grantsville, Susan (Dale) Carlsen of Farmington, N. M. and Frances of Springville. He graduated from Brigham Young University where he taught landscape architecture, horticulture and community planning courses. He received his Master's degree in city planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. Thereafter he worked as planning director for Provo and Utah County, directed planning efforts in Salt Lake, Utah and Weber counties, in many rural Utah counties and communities, and in Modesto and Santa Rosa, California. Smeath established a citizens planning association whose missions were to determine the short-and long-term needs of the cities and counties in which he worked. They addressed such questions as schools, parks, and neighborhood development. He was also concerned about the beautification and preservation of central cities. His wife, Mary Alice Hawker Smeath was born Sept. 10, 1911, in Grantsville, Utah and died at age 91, on April 2, 2003, in Salt Lake City, Utah. They were lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Extent
4 oversize boxes (6 linear ft.)
1 box (0.5 linear ft.)
18 cartons (18 linear ft.)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The collection contains an assortment of awards, certificates, books, papers, conference proceedings, flyers, magazine articles/excerpts, papers, periodicals, correspondence, personal notes, reference files, maps, newspaper articles, journal articles, photographs, reports, plans, and professional documents.
Arrangement
Arranged in 3 series: 1. George H. Smeath manuscripts; 2. George H. Smeath maps; and 3. George H. Smeath miscellaneous, 1969-1973.
Material arranged in the same format as it was received.
Other Finding Aids
A more detailed finding aid is available in print in the repository.
Other Finding Aids
Box-level inventory available online. http://files.lib.byu.edu/ead/XML/MSS2757.xml
Custodial History
The materials in this collection are a gift of George Smeath's children.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated; George Smeath's children.
Appraisal
Utah and American West and LDS cultural, social, and religious history (20th Century Western & Mormon Manuscripts collection development policy, 5.VII, 2007).
Processing Information
Processed; LeGrand Baker; November, 2003.
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Title
- Register of George H. Smeath papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- LeGrand Baker
- Date
- November, 2003
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English in Latin script.
- Sponsor
- Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant, 2007-2008
- Carton: 14 (Mixed Materials)
- Carton: 15 (Mixed Materials)
- Carton: 2 (Mixed Materials)
- Carton: 1 (Mixed Materials)
- Carton: 18 (Mixed Materials)
- Carton: 16 (Mixed Materials)
- Carton: 17 (Mixed Materials)
- Carton: 7 (Mixed Materials)
- Carton: 8 (Mixed Materials)
- Carton: 9 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 24 (Graphic Materials)
- Carton: 10 (Mixed Materials)
- Carton: 3 (Mixed Materials)
- Carton: 4 (Mixed Materials)
- Carton: 5 (Mixed Materials)
- Carton: 6 (Mixed Materials)
- Folder: 23 (Mixed Materials)
- oversize: 21 & 22 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 20 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 19 (Mixed Materials)
- Carton: 11 (Mixed Materials)
- Carton: 12 (Mixed Materials)
- Carton: 13 (Mixed Materials)
Repository Details
Part of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Repository
1130 HBLL
Brigham Young University
Provo Utah 84602 United States