Pioneer Memorial Museum

The museum's collection contains thousands of artifacts from the Mormon-pioneer era (defined as the time period prior to the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in May 1869). Several of the museum's levels are split into different rooms, each with themes, such as a room with relics related to the Salt Lake Theatre and one containing the possessions of Ellis Reynolds Shipp, an early female doctor in Utah.{{cite news |author= |date=March 21, 1950 |title=DUP Officers Tour New Building |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s69s6q1n/25667090 |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |page=8A |access-date=July 29, 2024}} Other prominent artifacts include: the wagon Brigham Young was riding in when he entered Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847,{{cite news |author= |date=July 20, 1950 |title=Aged Vehicle Gets Last Resting Place |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6pc81hp/25672541 |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |page=10A |access-date=July 31, 2024}} the original eagle from Salt Lake City's historic Eagle Gate,{{cite news |author= |date=July 24, 2022 |title=A look inside Salt Lake City's Pioneer Memorial Museum |url=https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/a-look-inside-salt-lake-citys-pioneer-memorial-museum |work=Fox 13 News/KSTU |location=Salt Lake City |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725055035/https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/a-look-inside-salt-lake-citys-pioneer-memorial-museum |archive-date=July 25, 2022 |access-date=July 31, 2024}} and a supply wagon used by the United States Army during the Utah War.{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/places/pioneer-memorial-museum.htm |title=Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail: Pioneer Memorial Museum |author= |date= |website=nps.gov |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=July 31, 2024}}

Two pieces of art, the Eliza Roxey Snow statue and Ever Pressing Forward statue are installed outside of the building.

The building's exterior was designed to be reminiscent of the historic Salt Lake Theatre. Its structure consists of a concrete frame with cast stone façade and a roof that features a large skylight. The building has three floors, plus a basement, and is owned by the state of Utah (but leased to the DUP).{{cite news |author= |date=May 1, 1949 |title=Early Windup Predicted For Pioneer Memorial |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6jq63gh/26172510 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |page=8S |access-date=July 29, 2024}}{{cite news |author= |date=July 2, 1949 |title=Memorial Building Completion Seen by '49 End |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6v44x61/18565668 |work=Salt Lake Telegram |location=Salt Lake City |page=9 |access-date=July 31, 2024}}

The DUP was formed in 1901 and early on began collecting artifacts. Their office and collection was originally located in the old Deseret Store/Deseret News building, today the site of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.{{cite news |author= |date=August 8, 1905 |title=Pioneer Relics; Historic Deeds |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6d8065q/2107512 |work=Deseret Evening News |location=Salt Lake City |page=2 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} In 1906, the organization was invited by LDS University to move into a room of the Lion House.{{cite news |author= |date=December 22, 1906 |title=Old Rag Carpet of Pioneer Days |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s61z507h/2192929 |work=Deseret Evening News |location=Salt Lake City |page=13 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} In 1911, when the Deseret Museum opened in the newly constructed Vermont Building on South Temple street, the DUP moved their collection into a section of that museum.{{cite news |author= |date=July 12, 1911 |title=Deseret Museum Opened To Public |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6znz8xq/31100059 |work=The Salt Lake Herald-Republican |location=Salt Lake City |page=14 |access-date=July 28, 2024}}{{cite news |last=Philips |first=Albert F. |date=February 5, 1925 |title=As I Remember |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s64x6ghv/19792784 |work=Salt Lake Telegram |location=Salt Lake City |access-date=July 28, 2024}} After a second story addition to the Bureau of Information on Temple Square was completed in 1915, the collection was then moved to that building.{{cite news |author= |date=August 19, 1915 |title=Fine Improvements at Bureau of Information |work=Deseret Evening News |location=Salt Lake City |page=2}} The artifacts then made a move to their final temporary home in 1919, when they began to be displayed in the Utah State Capitol.{{cite news |author= |date=June 2, 1919 |title=Honor Memory Of Utah's First Governor: Daughters of Utah Pioneers Hold Exercises at Installation of Exhibit of Relics At State Capitol |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s65t8fjx/25126830 |work=Deseret Evening News |location=Salt Lake City |page=11 |access-date=July 28, 2024}}

By 1936, the DUP was making plans to build their own headquarters and museum on the Utah State Capitol grounds, hoping to have it completed by the Mormon pioneer centennial celebration in 1947.{{cite news |author= |date=April 6, 1936 |title=Daughters of Utah Pioneers Hold Spring Sessions Today |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6pryfnq/30599061 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |page=20 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} In 1937, the DUP decided to model the exterior of the museum on the demolished Salt Lake Theatre and to build it on a small plot of land called the triangle, just southwest of the capitol building.{{cite news |author= |date=December 14, 1937 |title=Replica of Old Theater Will Be Built |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6d2skkk/30744524 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |page=24 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} The Utah State Legislature passed a bill in 1941, agreeing to lease the land to the DUP.{{cite news |author= |date=March 3, 1941 |title=D.U.P. Hall Bill Is Signed |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6rg0ss0/25593253 |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |page=8 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} The bill required the DUP raise $50,000 towards the building by 1943. That date was later extended to 1945, and then again to 1946 when the required sum was increased to $75,000. The state would provide $225,000, which, when added to the portion raised by the DUP, would provide $300,000 for the building's construction.{{cite news |author= |date=January 8, 1946 |title=DUP Insists On Triangle For Building |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6h1818j/25724452 |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |page=9 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} The DUP presented their $75,000 check to the state in January 1946, and Utah Governor Herbert B. Maw gave the final go ahead to design and construct the museum.{{cite news |author= |date=January 23, 1946 |title=Maw Directs State Board to Proceed With Plans For Construction of Pioneer Memorial Building |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6tb666v/25724734 |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |page=6 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} Lorenzo Snow Young was hired as architect.{{cite news |author= |date=March 26, 1946 |title=Ground Breaking Conducted By DUP |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6zs7vtw/25725974 |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |page=9 |access-date=}}

Some nearby homeowners fought against the museum, over concerns it would ruin the symmetry of the capitol grounds, that the lot was too small and parking would be inadequate and would create traffic hazards.{{cite news |author= |date=January 26, 1946 |title=21 Request Maw Block Memorial |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6f52nfq/25724790 |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |page=7 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} Salt Lake City was unable to enforce zoning regulations on the museum, due to it being state owned.{{cite news |author= |date=January 4, 1946 |title=Memorial Site Not Subject To Zoning Law, Says Ruling |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6wb08h2/25724376 |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |page=20 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} The local chapter of the American Institute of Architects also protested the building, because of both its design based on the old theatre building and what they considered a poor site choice. This resulted in the building's architect resigning from the organization.{{cite news |author= |date=August 15, 1947 |title=Memorial Plan Opposed By Architects |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6zw2vbr/17336866 |work=Salt Lake Telegram |location=Salt Lake City |page=5 |access-date=July 31, 2024}}{{cite web |url=http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/UU_EAD/id/2029 |title=Special Collections, Inventory of the Lorenzo Snow Young papers: Biographical Note/Historical Note |author= |date=2005 |website=lib.utah.edu |publisher=J. Willard Marriott Library |access-date=July 31, 2024 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021224438/http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/UU_EAD/id/2029 |archive-date=October 21, 2013}} Groundbreaking services for the museum were held on March 25, 1946, with addresses by George Albert Smith, president of LDS Church, and Kate B. Carter, president of the DUP.{{cite news |author= |date=March 26, 1946 |title=DUP Breaks Ground for Pioneer Hall |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6qg39z4/30615809 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |page=9 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} Construction bids later that year came in nearly double what had been set aside for construction;{{cite news |author= |date=November 13, 1946 |title=DUP Memorial Bids Top Funds |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6cz86ht/25730678 |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |page=9 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} the DUP asked the legislature for $200,000 in additional funding during the next session,{{cite news |author= |date=January 3, 1947 |title=DUP Requests $200,000 for Utah Memorial |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s62573pq/28967900 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |page=13 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} and were granted $150,000.{{cite news |author= |date=May 10, 1947 |title=DUP Promised Million for Building Aug. 1 |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6nd1kpx/28971389 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |page=17 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} After another check was provided to the state for $14,000 by the DUP, construction was approved in October 1947.{{cite news |author= |date=October 7, 1947 |title=Commission Okehs $462,585 In DUP Memorial Bids |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6896rdv/28975756 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |page=9 |access-date=July 28, 2024}}

Soon after construction began, a lawsuit before the Utah Supreme Court halted work on the museum. The lawsuit charged that the project was in violation of the constitutions of the United States and Utah because it provided taxpayer money and special privileges to a private corporation (the DUP).{{cite news |author= |date=November 3, 1947 |title=Suit Asks Prohibition |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6zm0fs3/25701681 |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |page=5 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} The state asked for the suit to be dismissed as the building would be state owned, on state property, and only leased to the DUP to serve the public.{{cite news |author= |date=November 16, 1947 |title=State to Seek Dismissal Of DUP Case |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s63g084c/28977146 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |page=B1 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} Following a hearing on the case in February 1948, the Utah Supreme Court (in a 3-2 decision) ruled in July of that year that the agreement was constitutional and allowed construction to resume.{{cite news |author= |date=July 15, 1948 |title=Building Will Resume on DUP Shrine |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6hb44cq/25709704 |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |page=B1 |access-date=July 28, 2024}}{{cite news |author= |date=July 15, 1948 |title=High Court Upholds Legality of DUP Memorial Building |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6nd14vs/26429454 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |page=19 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} The case was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States which declined to review it.{{cite news |author= |date=March 15, 1949 |title=Utah Memorial Case Refused By Top Court |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6b04qhj/29014634 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |agency=UP |page=14 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} Construction was greenlit in October 1948,{{cite news |author= |date=October 7, 1948 |title=Construction 'Green Light' Goes to DUP Memorial |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6sr4429/26432957 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |page=17 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} and resumed that December.{{cite news |author= |date=December 4, 1948 |title=Work Resumes on DUP Pioneer Relic Building |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6907306/25715825 |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |page=B8 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} The construction delay increased costs,{{cite news |author= |date=October 26, 1948 |title=Tells Memorial Cost |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6gj0smz/17764746 |work=Salt Lake Telegram |location=Salt Lake City |page=21 |access-date=July 28, 2024}} which resulted in additional appropriations from the state and fundraising by the DUP to complete the building.{{cite news |author= |date=April 9, 1949 |title=Extra $17,000 Given To DUP |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6130rpx/25652200 |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |page=B1 |access-date=July 29, 2024}}{{cite news |author= |date=November 5, 1948 |title=Historical Volume to Spur DUP Memorial Building |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6227zdf/26434270 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |page=31 |access-date=July 29, 2024}}

Much of spring 1950 was spent cleaning and preparing to move the artifacts from the Utah State Capitol to the museum.{{cite news |author= |date=April 23, 1950 |title=Relics Get Cleaning For New Home of DUP |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6227ss9/25668585 |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |page=A9 |access-date=July 29, 2024}} In June 1950, the collection began to be moved from the capitol to the new museum.{{cite news |author= |date=June 24, 1950 |title=DUP Steps Up Relic Shift From Capitol |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6w71rgr/26979332 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |page=16 |access-date=July 29, 2024}} The completed building cost $600,000 ({{Inflation|US|600000|1950|fmt=eq}}).{{cite news |author= |date=July 14, 1950 |title=DUP Presents Museum at July 22 Rites |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6993cp2/26980183 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |page=21 |access-date=July 31, 2024}}

Image:Original Eagle 4555.jpg]]

The opening ceremonies for the museum lasted three days, from July 22–24, 1950. The museum officially opened on July 22, with dedication services held on July 23. Church Apostle Ezra Taft Benson dedicated the building on behalf of George Albert Smith, who was too ill to attend. Services also included remarks from Governor J. Bracken Lee; Utah's secretary of state, Heber Bennion Jr. (who presented the building to the DUP on a 99-year lease); and Amy B. Lyman. That evening, actor Moroni Olsen participated in the ceremonies by giving a reading of the dedication poem.{{cite news |author= |date=July 22, 1950 |title=LDS President To Dedicate DUP Building |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s68d51xj/26980528 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |page=17 |access-date=July 31, 2024}}{{cite news |author= |date=July 23, 1950 |title=Dedication Crowns 10 Years of Work |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6964gmr/25672635 |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |page=B1 |access-date=July 31, 2024}}{{cite news |author= |date=July 24, 1950 |title=DUP Realizes Dream in Rites' Reality |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s60w3jgh/26980654 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |page=13 |access-date=July 31, 2024}}{{cite news |author= |date=July 24, 1950 |title=Rites Dedicate DUP Museum |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s65f3qxg/25672706 |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |pages=A1, A9 |access-date=July 31, 2024}} On the final day of ceremonies, July 24 (known as Pioneer Day in Utah), an open house with 65 surviving pioneers was held at the museum. The oldest of the group was 102-year-old Anne Catherine Milne, who had arrived to Salt Lake City via wagon 90 years prior.{{cite news |author= |date=July 25, 1950 |title=DUP Honors Old-Time Plains Band |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6w431z2/26980681 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |page=17 |access-date=July 31, 2024}}

A second exhibit building, called the Carriage House and connected via underground passageway to the main museum, was dedicated October 6, 1973. The construction was paid for by DUP member Sara Marie Jensen Van Dyke, who had willed her estate to the organization.{{cite news |author= |date=October 6, 1973 |title=DUP Carriage House highlights convention |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6x4023f/26417506 |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |page=3A |access-date=July 31, 2024}}{{cite news |author= |date=October 7, 1973 |title=DUP Rites Open Carriage House |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City |page=22C}}

The museum was rededicated on October 8, 2010, with a dedicatory prayer by Marlin K. Jensen, Church Historian and Recorder, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony which included Governor Gary Herbert. The rededication followed extensive renovation of the museum.{{cite news |last=Wadley |first=Carma |date=October 5, 2010 |title=The latest chapter: Pioneer Memorial Museum will be rededicated Friday after building is upgraded |url=https://www.deseret.com/2010/10/5/20144951/the-latest-chapter-pioneer-memorial-museum-will-be-rededicated-friday-after-building-is-upgraded/ |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |access-date=July 31, 2024}}{{cite news |last=Wadley |first=Carma |date=October 8, 2010 |title=Pioneer Memorial Museum rededicated |url=https://www.deseret.com/2010/10/8/20145885/pioneer-memorial-museum-rededicated/ |work=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |access-date=July 31, 2024}}

{{portal|Museums|Utah}}

• Buildings and sites of Salt Lake City
• List of museums in Utah

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite journal |last=Barton |first=Bette F. |date=2010 |title=Pioneer Memorial Museum: A Dream That Became a Reality |journal=Pioneer |volume=57 |issue=4 |pages=4–12 |publisher=Sons of Utah Pioneers |url=https://archive.org/details/SUPPM20104/page/n5/mode/2up}}

{{commons category|Pioneer Memorial Museum}}

• [https://www.dupinternational.org/dyn_page.php?pageID=11 Official website]
• [https://byujourneys.byu.edu/pioneer-memorial-museum Pioneer Memorial Museum], BYU Journeys

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Category:1950 establishments in Utah

Category:Daughters of Utah Pioneers museums

Category:History museums in Utah

Category:Mormon migration to Utah

Category:Museums established in 1950

Category:Museums in Salt Lake City