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Mary Stovall Richards collection of family papers

 Collection
Identifier: MSS 8247

Scope and Contents

Contains materials collected by Mary Stovall Richards pertaining to herself, her mother Victoria Goulding Stovall, and her grandmother Mary Luella Merza Young Goulding. Includes papers relating to the family in the forms of correspondence and home reference books. Also includes arts related materials gathered from patronizing the ballet, opera, and plays in Chicago, Illinois and church papers gathered through membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Also includes various newspaper clippings of major historical events. Materials dated 1838-1991.

Dates

  • 1838-1991

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

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

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

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

8 boxes (4 linear ft.)

2 oversize folders (0.40 linear ft.)

2 oversize folders (0.20 linear ft.)

1 folder (0.05 linear ft.)

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

Arranged in four series: 1. Stovall family papers, 1838-1977 2. Stovall family arts papers, 1929-1951 3. Stovall family church papers, 1933-1991 4. Stovall family newspaper clippings, 1913-1963.

Custodial History

Donated by Mary Stovall Richards, daughter of Victoria Goulding Stovall, grandaughter of Mary Luella Merza Young Goulding, in 2013.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated; Mary Stovall Richards; 2013.

Donated; Mary Stovall Richards; 2018

Appraisal

LDS, Utah, and Western American women (20th Century Western and Mormon Manuscripts collection development policy, 5.V, 2007).

General

Former title: Victoria Goulding Stovall collection.

Processing Information

Processed; Peter Hoyt, student manuscript processor, and John M. Murphy, curator; 2013.

Processed; Lettie Burton, student manuscript processor, and John M. Murphy, curator; 2019.

Title
Register of Mary Stovall Richards collection of family papers
Status
Completed
Author
Peter Hoyt and John M. Murphy
Date
2013 September 3
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