Book is 23-year labor of love

In 1983, historians Patricia Scott and Linda Thatcher decided to do a book on Utah women. They called some of their fellow historians and asked each to write a chapter. Scott and Thatcher thought their book would be finished in a couple of years — at the most.

Last October, "Women in Utah History: Paradigm or Paradox?" finally made it into print. And in March, which is women's history month, authors of several of the chapters will give lunchtime lectures at the Utah State Historical Society.

Susan Whetstone speaks first, at noon on Wednesday, at the Utah State Historical Society, where she is the photo librarian. She'll talk about her search for unusual photos, her efforts to illustrate this book in a way that makes history more lively and personal.

Take, for example, the photo of the Navajo women weaving. In many ways it is a familiar photo — women, loom, rug and a cliff in the background. But look a little closer and you'll notice a white cat walking along the top of the loom.

Whetstone read the book at least four times, during the months she was thinking about photos to illustrate it. She knew something of women's history before she read it but learned more from the authors of this book, she says.

Scott likens the process of publishing this book to giving birth and says 23 years is a long time to carry a baby. Thatcher says, "It is difficult to have a project go on for so long. It would have been easier to just forget about it."

And yet Scott and Thatcher believed the book was important. There have been a number of books about individual Utah women, they explain, but this was a thematic approach. Their book covers women's history by topic: women in churches, education, politics, work, the arts, polygamy, farming, women's clubs and women's life cycles.

Thatcher says the book was held up when authors of each chapter turned in their work, but some didn't have time to do revisions right away. Then, as time went by, history kept happening. With each passing year, more updates were needed.

Thatcher and Scott knew it would be a good book if it were ever finished. They were happy with the facts the authors were putting together.

John Sillito was working on the chapter about Utah women in churches. Jill Mulvay Derr was researching women's organizations, from the forming of the Ladies Literary Club in 1877 to the choosing of the delegates to the 1977 International Women's Year convention. Helen Papanikolas was doing a chapter about ethnic women. Kathryn MacKay was covering women in politics.