" Community with no history is a community with no past and no future."
Pam Todd, a private resident of Kearns for over 40 years, established the Kearns Historical Society in 1998. Once considered as a hobby, over time it grew into a large project, today it is registered as a non-profit organization, but; it is also considered a private entity. It has remain to be debt free, and self funded it dose not qualify for any state, federal or local grants. The reason is I do not meet within the guidelines of having a foundational researched base, no research has ever been done on the history therefore, it has been classified as a “Lost” history. Another problem is that this collection is a private one; it was started in April of 1968 just after my family moved to Kearns.
My research has spanned across all 50 states and into 9 different countries, it has taken me 40 years of hard work. Time was not on my side, and I failed to have a “how to do list”, complete with no starting point, and for a time it almost looked like it would be impossible to locate, just as our parents had been telling us growing up. There is no official registry of names; however, since 1998 I have slowly been creating one, as research had developed, and in the end that list has become my starting point to this research.
How did the history get lost?
The Mormon Pioneers, traditionally established most communities in Utah in 1847. After their arrival, homesteaders traveled throughout the state settling small communities. A small handful of pioneers were sent to this area but quickly left halfway during the first season when the wind blew their crops away, traveling south in hopes of finding a better area. The land remained useless until the mining industry was promoted in Utah. Initially identified as “Baccus” on all the state maps it fast developed into a large dry farm area, until 1942 when the Government acquisition the land to construct a temporary military base. This base later became known as “Kearns,” at first it purpose was to be a basic training center, and testing site for the air crews. It later became a specialized training center and then within the last two years of operation it was the largest overseas replacement center for the military being centrally located between four of the deportation sites for shipping men to war.
Records for both the men and the base were kept much differently than that of a non-provisional base. Personnel records followed the men. Records for the base were kept at the territorial headquarters under whose command the base was under at that time. For a short time the Kearns records were kept at Fort Douglas from 1942-1943, the remainder of the time from 1943-1946 the records can be located at a number of locations depending on the jurisdiction and the command at the base at that given time. These records are located in five different bases outside of Utah, most of which have been deactivated.
After the war ended all records, became property of the War Department and was sent to Washington DC. In 1956, the National Personnel Records Center was created and those records were sent to Overland Missouri. It was created after a series of mergers had taken place beginning after WWI and encompassed a host of other military agencies records. On July 12, 1973, a fire occurred at the center losing approximately 16-18 million official military records most of which were personnel records because of the fire. The WWII records remained sealed until 2000 when they were unsealed and presently opened to the public.
After the war had ended and the base had closed the land laid dormant for another 2 years while it was under public dispute as what to do with the land, all the while the War Department had retained ownership of the land. By July of 1948, the first 100 homes had started being constructed, and the first 100 residents had fully moved into all the new homes. The new homes were selling almost over night and by 1950 almost 300 homes had been completed. By the time a community had completely materialized the only thing a person could hang their hat on at the end of the day was the fact that Kearns once was an overseas replacement depot.
It was not until 1990 that I decided to re-visit the history of Kearns, because the history was still lost. No major library or historical society had much in their holdings about Kearns. I called a couple of museums in the area and historical societies and asked only 2 questions – (1) When did the base open, (2) when did it close no one had the answer and no one had a record of it. Basically it was at this point I decided I would pick up again where I had left off but this time I would have 2 objectives in mind; (1) to locate the history and bring it home. (2) To somehow obtain a museum for Kearns. By 1996 I was well on my way, information was arriving daily sometimes more than 3-4 records a day. It was in early February 1997 I registered the Kearns Historical Society as a DBA, this was an effort of protecting my work and the community history. A year later I reorganized and registered the Kearns Historical as a non profit. Keeping it as a private collection, remains to this day a way to keep the history home, and knowing where the records.
Collections Management
Most of my collection has been donated to me, by those that I located and spoken with about their personal connection to Camp Kearns. Some of this collection was offered to me for a price, and most of everything has came from out of state. As soon as a item is received it is inspected and information is recorded on the condition it is assigned a number, a picture is take and an information sheet is made up. It is then packaged and put away, or it is filed. An inspection is done once a year for environmental damage or other hazards that may be larking. As of this date there have been no items including documents that have received any extra damage from my care.
As with any collection, lighting and humidity are the two major concerns for damage, as each promotes decay and aids in the creation of molds. My collection is stored in a dark area, and off the floor, most objects are doubled packed in containers after being properly wrapped and cared for.
Community Access
For the last 15 years I have been able to do small displays at our community events; “Taste of Kearns.” This has been widely accepted and is one of the most visited booths during the event. I have been doing workshop for the Miss Kearns Pageant, for the past 14 years. For the past three years I have hosted “Kearns Museum for a Day”– A nationwide event through the Smithsonian Magazine - locally this event is sponsored through Museum Services and the Utah Museums Association. Although Kearns dose not have a museum, a building is donated to me for a day during the last Saturday in September, so I can host the event. I have had between 180-248 guest, only being opened to the public for 9 hours each year.
Today I own the largest and most complete holding on the history of Kearns Utah anywhere in the state of Utah. I estimate that about 85% of the lost history has made its way back home, and after 70 long years a timeline of history can now be written. On September 09, 2011 I was award the Outstanding Contribution Award from the Utah State Board of History.
My research has spanned across all 50 states and into 9 different countries, it has taken me 40 years of hard work. Time was not on my side, and I failed to have a “how to do list”, complete with no starting point, and for a time it almost looked like it would be impossible to locate, just as our parents had been telling us growing up. There is no official registry of names; however, since 1998 I have slowly been creating one, as research had developed, and in the end that list has become my starting point to this research.
How did the history get lost?
The Mormon Pioneers, traditionally established most communities in Utah in 1847. After their arrival, homesteaders traveled throughout the state settling small communities. A small handful of pioneers were sent to this area but quickly left halfway during the first season when the wind blew their crops away, traveling south in hopes of finding a better area. The land remained useless until the mining industry was promoted in Utah. Initially identified as “Baccus” on all the state maps it fast developed into a large dry farm area, until 1942 when the Government acquisition the land to construct a temporary military base. This base later became known as “Kearns,” at first it purpose was to be a basic training center, and testing site for the air crews. It later became a specialized training center and then within the last two years of operation it was the largest overseas replacement center for the military being centrally located between four of the deportation sites for shipping men to war.
Records for both the men and the base were kept much differently than that of a non-provisional base. Personnel records followed the men. Records for the base were kept at the territorial headquarters under whose command the base was under at that time. For a short time the Kearns records were kept at Fort Douglas from 1942-1943, the remainder of the time from 1943-1946 the records can be located at a number of locations depending on the jurisdiction and the command at the base at that given time. These records are located in five different bases outside of Utah, most of which have been deactivated.
After the war ended all records, became property of the War Department and was sent to Washington DC. In 1956, the National Personnel Records Center was created and those records were sent to Overland Missouri. It was created after a series of mergers had taken place beginning after WWI and encompassed a host of other military agencies records. On July 12, 1973, a fire occurred at the center losing approximately 16-18 million official military records most of which were personnel records because of the fire. The WWII records remained sealed until 2000 when they were unsealed and presently opened to the public.
After the war had ended and the base had closed the land laid dormant for another 2 years while it was under public dispute as what to do with the land, all the while the War Department had retained ownership of the land. By July of 1948, the first 100 homes had started being constructed, and the first 100 residents had fully moved into all the new homes. The new homes were selling almost over night and by 1950 almost 300 homes had been completed. By the time a community had completely materialized the only thing a person could hang their hat on at the end of the day was the fact that Kearns once was an overseas replacement depot.
It was not until 1990 that I decided to re-visit the history of Kearns, because the history was still lost. No major library or historical society had much in their holdings about Kearns. I called a couple of museums in the area and historical societies and asked only 2 questions – (1) When did the base open, (2) when did it close no one had the answer and no one had a record of it. Basically it was at this point I decided I would pick up again where I had left off but this time I would have 2 objectives in mind; (1) to locate the history and bring it home. (2) To somehow obtain a museum for Kearns. By 1996 I was well on my way, information was arriving daily sometimes more than 3-4 records a day. It was in early February 1997 I registered the Kearns Historical Society as a DBA, this was an effort of protecting my work and the community history. A year later I reorganized and registered the Kearns Historical as a non profit. Keeping it as a private collection, remains to this day a way to keep the history home, and knowing where the records.
Collections Management
Most of my collection has been donated to me, by those that I located and spoken with about their personal connection to Camp Kearns. Some of this collection was offered to me for a price, and most of everything has came from out of state. As soon as a item is received it is inspected and information is recorded on the condition it is assigned a number, a picture is take and an information sheet is made up. It is then packaged and put away, or it is filed. An inspection is done once a year for environmental damage or other hazards that may be larking. As of this date there have been no items including documents that have received any extra damage from my care.
As with any collection, lighting and humidity are the two major concerns for damage, as each promotes decay and aids in the creation of molds. My collection is stored in a dark area, and off the floor, most objects are doubled packed in containers after being properly wrapped and cared for.
Community Access
For the last 15 years I have been able to do small displays at our community events; “Taste of Kearns.” This has been widely accepted and is one of the most visited booths during the event. I have been doing workshop for the Miss Kearns Pageant, for the past 14 years. For the past three years I have hosted “Kearns Museum for a Day”– A nationwide event through the Smithsonian Magazine - locally this event is sponsored through Museum Services and the Utah Museums Association. Although Kearns dose not have a museum, a building is donated to me for a day during the last Saturday in September, so I can host the event. I have had between 180-248 guest, only being opened to the public for 9 hours each year.
Today I own the largest and most complete holding on the history of Kearns Utah anywhere in the state of Utah. I estimate that about 85% of the lost history has made its way back home, and after 70 long years a timeline of history can now be written. On September 09, 2011 I was award the Outstanding Contribution Award from the Utah State Board of History.