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Stovall family papers, 1838-1977

 Series — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MSS 8247 Series 1

Scope and Contents

Contains papers relating to the family of Mary Stovall Richards, her mother, Victoria Goulding Stovall and her grandmother, Mary Luella Merza Young Goulding. Includes books on mothering and cooking as well as French children’s booklets used in raising the family. Also includes correspondence with other family members and family friends, and biographical information variously compiled by the three women for genealogical purposes. Majority of the items are from the family’s time in Chicago, Ill. Materials dated 1838-1977.

Dates

  • 1838-1977

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Open for public research.

Conditions Governing Use

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances. Permission to publish material from the Mary Stovall Richards collection of family papers must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/or the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Coordinating Committee.

Biographical History

From the Collection:

Mary Luella Merza Young Goulding (1880-1965) was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints living in Salt Lake City and Chicago.

Mary Luella Merza Young Goulding was born on October 31, 1880 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Luella Lucy Cobb and John Willard Young. She lived in Utah until 1905, when she moved to Southampton, Hampshire, UK. She immigrated back to the United States in 1909 through New York, before marrying Howard Oliver MacNeal Goulding on November 23, 1909 in Wheaton, DuPage, Illinois. After they were married, they moved to New York City where Mary Young Victoria Goulding was born in 1912. By 1920, the family had moved to Salt Lake City. They relocated to Chicago in 1929, where they lived for the next few decades.

Goulding died January 11, 1965 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Biographical History

From the Collection:

Mary Stovall Richards is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who worked as a historian and educator at Brigham Young University.

Mary Elizabeth Stovall Richards was born on July 15, 1951 in Chicago, Illinois to Max Lee and Victoria Goulding Stovall. She grew up in Greenville, Mississippi. In 1973, she graduated from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah with a bachelor in history and a teaching certificate; and graduated with her masters and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago with a Doctor of Philosophy in American History in 1983. From 1983-1991, Richards worked as an assistant professor of history at Brigham Young University. She also worked as the Director of Women’s Research Institute at Brigham Young University from 1983-1988. In 1991, she became an associate professor of history. While at BYU she taught courses on Southern history and literature, family history, and the Progressive Era. Richards also worked as a member of the editorial board of Family Perspective, the Utah Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, the Southern History Association, the Southern Association of Women Historians, and the Mormon History Association Kappa Phi. On June 5, 1991, Richards married Paul Chipman Richards. Richards retired from the university in 2013.

Biographical History

From the Collection:

Victoria Goulding Stovall (1912-2008) was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ in Illinois and Mississippi. Mary Young Victoria Goulding Stovall was born on February 8, 1912 in New York City, New York to Howard Oliver Goulding and Mary Luella Merza Young Goulding. She was raised in New York City, Salt Lake City, and the California Bay Area. She moved to Chicago in 1929, where she supported her mother through the Great Depression and World War II by working as a hotel cafeteria worker, a bookkeeper, and an insurance claims processor. Stovall was a great devotee of the symphony, opera, ballet, and theatre. She was also an artist working with paint, embroidery, needlepoint, and quilts.

She married Max Lee Stovall on May 19, 1945 in Chicago, Illinois. They had one child, Mary Stovall Richards in 1951. They moved to Greenville, Mississippi in the early 1950s, where Stovall was active in the Greenville Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Due to declining health, she moved to Orem, Utah in 1999 to be with her daughter and son-in-law.

Stovall passed away in Orem, Utah on June 19, 2008.

Extent

2 boxes

Language of Materials

English