Oral History Program

Address: 225 South 700 East St. George, UT 84770 Phone: (435) 652-2087

Contact: Bonnie B. Percival Special Collections/Archives Librarian Phone: (435) 652-7718 FAX: (435) 673-1169 Email: bpercival@dixie.edu

Hours: Monday-Friday 1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. (or by appointment between semesters and in summer)


In an attempt to help preserve and make available a more comprehensive Local History Collection, the Browning Library began an oral history program in the 1960s. Additionally, extensive oral interviews were recorded by Douglas D. Alder and Karl F. Brooks as part of their research for a history on Washington County, part of the Utah Centennial County History Project. Another set of interviews has resulted from an ongoing Institute for Continued Learning class, "Dixie Pioneers and Storytellers," where local residents are invited to "tell their stories" about life in Utah's Dixie. The Browning Library's Oral History Collection covers the contiguous geographic and cultural area of Utah's Dixie, Washington County, southeastern Nevada, and the Arizona Strip. Most of these oral histories have not been transcribed.

Voices of Remembrance.
(441 audiotapes) The first oral history project, under the direction of Melvin Blomquist, focused on capturing the memories of the local residents of Washington County who were in their sixties. Even though this is the oldest oral history project, few of these audiotapes are transcribed. Southern Utah University has the original reel-to-reel tapes of these interviews in their Special Collections/Archives and have transcribed less than forty of them. Dixie State College of Utah is obtaining a copy of these transcriptions.

Delmar D. Gott Oral History Collection.
(70 audiotapes) Delmar D. Gott, former Director of Library Services at the Browning Library, contacted local residents and community leaders and personally recorded 70 oral histories between the years 1965-1990. This collection contains interviews with a wide variety of people discussing their lifestyles (ranching, farming, government, business, etc.), and the lives of their pioneer ancestors in Southern Utah's Dixie, nearby Nevada, and the Arizona Strip. Maurine Whipple (writer, historian), Juanita Brooks (writer, historian), Ferron C. Losee (President of Dixie College), Ralph Huntsman (painter, Dixie College art professor), and Howard Foulger (collector of Native American art and artifacts) are only a few of the interviewees. This collection is in the transcription process with grant funding.

Douglas D. Alder/Karl F. Brooks Oral History Collection
(80 audiotapes) The Alder/Brooks Collection is a result of local interviews conducted during research for the Centennial County History Series book A History of Washington County: From Isolation to Destination. This collection is in the transcription process with grant funding.

Institute for Continued Learning (ICL) Oral History Collection
(66+ audiotapes). This collection is the result of oral history classes conducted by ICL through the auspices of Dixie State College of Utah for retirees in the local community. Some of this collection is in the transcription process with grant funding. The ICL project is ongoing and new audiotapes are added semi-annually.

Dixie State College of Utah Archives
(11 audiotapes) This collection is sparce and added to irregularly. It consists of commencements, convocations, and miscellaneous College functions. Not transcribed.

Special Collections