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Bette B. Ashworth memorial collection

 Collection
Identifier: MSS 3280

Scope and Contents

Collection contains letters from famous Utah residents, letters to Max Lachman during World War II, booklets, scrapbooks, photo albums, receipts, photographs of Price and Carbon County, Utah, and marriage certificates. Also contains glass plate negatives by Charles Ellis Johnson and corresponding prints. Also contains articles, postcards, Bingham Canyon and Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen and other ledger books, artwork, legal documents, and other manuscripts collected by Brent Ashworth related to Mormon and American history topics. Includes Mary Hemingway transcript annotated by Ernest Hemingway, manuscript on Dominguez-Escalante expedition by Robb Russell, and other religious and personal documents relating to Bette B. Ashworth. Dated 1802-2017.

Dates

  • 1802-2017

Creator

Language of Materials

Most materials are in English. There are some materials in Russian, Spanish, and German.

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 Bette B. Ashworth memorial collection must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/or the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Coordinating Committee.

Biographical History

Brent F. Ashworth (born 1949) is a collector of documents and memorabilia from Mormon Church history and Utah history.

Brent Ferrin Ashworth was born January 8, 1949, in Albany, California to Dell Sheperd and Bette Jean Brailsford Ashworth. He grew up in Provo, Utah and graduated from Brigham Young High School as student body president in 1966-1967. He graduated cum laude from Brigham Young University in 1967, with a BA in History and Political Science in 1972. He served in the U.S. Army Reserves, and was called to active duty at Ft. Ord, California in 1969. He met Charlene Mills at Brigham Young University and they were married December 16, 1970, in the Salt Lake Temple. They have nine children: Amy Josephine (1973), John Dell (1975), Matthew Ferrin (1977), Samuel Mills (1978, deceased in 1985), Adam Parrish (1979), David Alden (1981), Emily Bette (1983), Luke Ranson (1986) and Benjamin Richard (1988).

Ashworth received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Utah College of Law in 1975. He served in Price, Utah as Assistant Carbon County Attorney, 1975-76 and briefly practiced law with the firm of Frandsen & Keller, 1976-77. He served as Secretary for the South-Eastern Utah Bar Association in 1977. He served as Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Nature's Sunshine Products, Provo, Utah, 1977-2003, was Vice President and General Counsel of Neways International, Springville, Utah, 2003-2004, and has been a legal consultant for Shaklee Corporation in Pleasanton, California, and to several other Utah corporations and clients. Currently, he is a partner with the law firm of Ashworth and Sandberg, Provo, Utah. In 2006, he started B. Ashworths, Inc., a Provo business dealing in rare documents, books, art and collectibles.

After Price, Utah (1975-1977), the Ashworth family resided in Payson, Utah (1977-1982), where Brent served as a city councilman, acting mayor, and bishop of the Payson Park Ward. They moved back to Provo in 1982, where he was selected An Outstanding Young Man of America (1982). He has also served as President of Deseret Village, for the handicapped, in Spanish Fork, Utah (1988-90), President of the Utah Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (1991-1992), American Red Cross board (1988-1994), Vice President of the Squaw Peak Chapter, Sons of Utah Pioneers (1994-1995), Provo Oak Hills Stake High Councilman (1993-1998), President, Emily Dickinson Society of Utah (1995-1997), Chairman, Provo Landmarks Commission (1997), Chairman, Provo Library Board (2000-2006), Trustee, Springville Museum of Art (1998-2001), President, Provo Kiwanis Club (1982), Lt. Governor, Utah-Idaho Kiwanis Clubs (2001-2002), Board, Celebration of Health Foundation (1998), General Counsel, Brigham Young Academy Foundation (1995-2002), Chairman, Art Subcommittee of Provo Library Construction Oversight Committee (1998-99), Co-Chair, Provo City Sesquicentennial Committee (1998-1999), Executive Board Member, Utah National Parks Council, Boy Scouts of America (2000) and Board Member, American Heritage School, American Fork, Utah (2001-2005).

Brother Ashworth is a recipient of the Patriot Medal (1992), presented by the Utah Society, Sons of the American Revolution, the Provo Mayor's Award of Excellence (1999), for serving as the Co-chair of the Provo Sesquicentennial Celebration in 1998-99, the George S. Hixon (2000) and Reed Culp (2002) medals from Kiwanis International and the Silver Beaver Award (2006), from the Boy Scouts of America. He founded the George E. Freestone Boy Scout Museum in Provo, Utah in 2000. The highlight of his scouting career has been his seven Eagle Scout sons. Some know him for his collecting and sharing experiences with religious historical documents. He was honored in February 2013 by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for his additions to the archives over the years, amounting to almost 9,000 documents.

He currently works with the Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Extent

22 boxes (11 linear ft.)

9 oversize boxes (14 linear ft.)

9 folders (0.5 linear ft)

1 oversize folder (0.1 linear ft.)

Other Finding Aids

An incomplete item-level inventory, up to 2007, available online. http://files.lib.byu.edu/ead/XML/MSS3280.xml

Custodial History

Collected by Brent Ashworth and donated to the L. Tom Perry Special Collections in behalf of his mother. Materials donated in 1996, 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Layton Sugar Company financial records and Zelma Butterfield papers donated in 2016.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated; Brent Ashworth; 2001.

Donated; Brent Ashworth; 2005.

Donated; Brent Ashworth; 2008.

Donated; Brent Ashworth; 2013.

Donated; Brent Ashworth; 2014.

Donated; Brent Ashworth; 2015.

Donated; Brent Ashworth; 2016.

Donated; Brent Ashworth; 2017.

Appraisal

Utah and the American West and LDS cultural, social, and religious history (19th Century Mormon and Western Manuscripts collection development policy 1.V, November 2013).

Separated Materials

Utah Copper Company photograph album, approximately 1910-1915, transferred to MSS 3295. Catalogue of Prof. Charles E. Anthon's collection of autographs, 1877, to MSS 5934.

Processing Information

Processed; Jonathan Farrell; 2007.

Processed; Whitney Parry; 2009.

Processed; Peter Hoyt; 2013.

Additional processing; Kelsey Samuelsen; 2013.

Processed; Zoë Brimhall; 2014.

Processed; Sadie Hutchinson; 2015.

Processed; Sadie Julian; 2016.

Processed: Carol Allred, 2017.

Processed; Maddi Stanley; 2017.

Processed; Anne Ashton; 2022. Processed addition to collection and updated finding aid.

Title
Register of Bette B. Ashworth memorial collection
Status
Under Revision
Author
Jonathan Farrell and Whitney Parry
Date
2009
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.

Repository Details

Part of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Repository

Contact:
1130 HBLL
Brigham Young University
Provo Utah 84602 United States