Dean L. May
Encyclopedia
Dean Lowe May was an American academic, author and documentary filmmaker and professor of History at the University of Utah
in Salt Lake City, Utah
. May specialized in nineteenth- and twentieth-century social and cultural history of the American West through the study of community and family. He taught American studies as a Fulbright guest professor at the University of Bonn
, Germany
and Ain Shams University
in Cairo, Egypt. May was a member of the Utah State Board of History, editor of the Journal of Mormon History (1982–1985), and served as president of the Mormon History Association
in 2002. May was honored as a Pioneer of Progress in Historic and Cultural Arts by the Days of 47 Celebration Committee for the State of Utah in 2002.
in 1967. Completing his Ph.D. at Brown University
in 1974, he focused on the economics and history associated with the Great Depression
and the administration of Franklin Deleno Roosevelt. His thesis was entitled "From New Deal to New Economics: The Response of Henry Morgenthau, Jr.
and Marriner S. Eccles to the Recession of 1937."
May's training in economics and history led to a position with the Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1974, where he worked with Church Historian Leonard J. Arrington
. During 1974, May was also a fellow at the Newberry Library
and Community History Institute, studying quantitative methods which he used in his studies of Kanab, Utah
and other western
communities. In collaboration with Arrington and Feramorz Y. Fox, he produced Building the City of God: Community and Cooperation Among the Mormons. The work examined the social importance of community and discussed unity, individuality, and human imperfection and failure.
In 1977, May joined the History Department at the University of Utah, and taught at the institution until his death in 2003. For six years, he served as director of the university's Center for Historical Population Studies.
To supplement his university presentations, May wrote and produced an award-winning twenty-segment video series entitled A People's History of Utah (Salt Lake City, University of Utah Instructional Media Services, 1981–88). The series consists of 20 half-hour programs and has been broadcast on public television and used as a supplement to University history courses and in Utah public school classrooms. The series explores the dynamic relationship between the natural and political forces sculpting Utah, and includes an examination of the history and contributions of minority communities and cultures within the state. In a supplementary text by the same title, published in 1987, May discussed his aims as a historian: "History belongs to the people. Though there must be discourse among the scholars--fierce debates and exchanges on arcane topics in professional meetings and journals--the product, to justify our endeavor, must ultimately be accessible to all" (May, A People's History of Utah, p. ix). He produced a second video series Utah Remembers (Salt Lake City, KJZZ, Channel 14, 1986), which consists of seven forty-five-minute programs.
During the summer of 2001, May crossed the North Sea
and the Atlantic
on the Norwegian built Christian Radich, a full-rigged sailing vessel. The voyage reenacted the 19th Century Mormon passages from Europe to the United States. May served as a member of the ship's crew and taught immigration history to his fellow passengers. Seeking to complement the history of the Mormon land migration by wagon and handcart, May focused on the voyage as an element that prepared European converts to forge an LDS community identity.
May presented papers at meetings of Western History, Mormon History, and Social Science History Associations. Nearly four dozen articles were published in Utah Historical Quarterly, Idaho Yesterdays, Journal of Mormon History, Sociology and Social Research, Population Studies, Agricultural History, Church History, and the Journal of Family History. May was a contributor to the FDR Encyclopedia and The Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. His final book, Three Frontiers: Family, Land, and Society in the American West: 1850-1900 (Cambridge University Press, 1994), employs quantitative methods and personal histories to explore three agricultural communities.
When the University of Utah completed its new Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building, it posthumously named its western and Utah history library after May, as well as two other rooms in the building.
, Wyoming
to Frank Peter and Wanda Lowe May. When he was nine, the family moved to a forty-acre farm near Middleton
, Idaho
. May was a devoted Latter-day Saint (Mormon
) and as a young man he served a Mission
for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Northern California
. He married Cheryll Lynn May in 1967 in the Oakland California Temple
and the couple had three children, Timothy, Thaddeus and Caroline. He later served in the LDS Church as a Bishop and as a High Councilor for a stake at the University of Utah.
For the last eight years of his life May sang with the Utah Symphony Chorus.
May died on 6 May 2003, following a heart attack.
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
in Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
. May specialized in nineteenth- and twentieth-century social and cultural history of the American West through the study of community and family. He taught American studies as a Fulbright guest professor at the University of Bonn
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Ain Shams University
Ain Shams University
Ain Shams University is an institute of higher education located in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 1950, the university provides education at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels.-History:...
in Cairo, Egypt. May was a member of the Utah State Board of History, editor of the Journal of Mormon History (1982–1985), and served as president of the Mormon History Association
Mormon History Association
The Mormon History Association is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the study and understanding of all aspects of Mormon history to promote understanding, scholarly research, and publication in the field...
in 2002. May was honored as a Pioneer of Progress in Historic and Cultural Arts by the Days of 47 Celebration Committee for the State of Utah in 2002.
Education and career
May received a master's degree in history from Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1967. Completing his Ph.D. at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
in 1974, he focused on the economics and history associated with the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and the administration of Franklin Deleno Roosevelt. His thesis was entitled "From New Deal to New Economics: The Response of Henry Morgenthau, Jr.
Henry Morgenthau, Jr.
Henry Morgenthau, Jr. was the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He played a major role in designing and financing the New Deal...
and Marriner S. Eccles to the Recession of 1937."
May's training in economics and history led to a position with the Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1974, where he worked with Church Historian Leonard J. Arrington
Leonard J. Arrington
Leonard James Arrington was an author, academic and the founder of the Mormon History Association. He is known as the "Dean of Mormon History" and "the Father of Mormon History" because of his many influential contributions to the field.-Biographical background:Arrington was born in Twin Falls,...
. During 1974, May was also a fellow at the Newberry Library
Newberry Library
The Newberry Library is a privately endowed, independent research library for the humanities and social sciences in Chicago, Illinois. Although it is private, non-circulating library, the Newberry Library is free and open to the public...
and Community History Institute, studying quantitative methods which he used in his studies of Kanab, Utah
Kanab, Utah
Kanab is a city in and the county seat of Kane County, Utah, United States. The area was first settled in 1864 and the town was founded in 1870 when ten Mormon families moved into the area. The population was 3,564 at the 2000 census...
and other western
Western United States
.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...
communities. In collaboration with Arrington and Feramorz Y. Fox, he produced Building the City of God: Community and Cooperation Among the Mormons. The work examined the social importance of community and discussed unity, individuality, and human imperfection and failure.
In 1977, May joined the History Department at the University of Utah, and taught at the institution until his death in 2003. For six years, he served as director of the university's Center for Historical Population Studies.
To supplement his university presentations, May wrote and produced an award-winning twenty-segment video series entitled A People's History of Utah (Salt Lake City, University of Utah Instructional Media Services, 1981–88). The series consists of 20 half-hour programs and has been broadcast on public television and used as a supplement to University history courses and in Utah public school classrooms. The series explores the dynamic relationship between the natural and political forces sculpting Utah, and includes an examination of the history and contributions of minority communities and cultures within the state. In a supplementary text by the same title, published in 1987, May discussed his aims as a historian: "History belongs to the people. Though there must be discourse among the scholars--fierce debates and exchanges on arcane topics in professional meetings and journals--the product, to justify our endeavor, must ultimately be accessible to all" (May, A People's History of Utah, p. ix). He produced a second video series Utah Remembers (Salt Lake City, KJZZ, Channel 14, 1986), which consists of seven forty-five-minute programs.
During the summer of 2001, May crossed the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
and the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
on the Norwegian built Christian Radich, a full-rigged sailing vessel. The voyage reenacted the 19th Century Mormon passages from Europe to the United States. May served as a member of the ship's crew and taught immigration history to his fellow passengers. Seeking to complement the history of the Mormon land migration by wagon and handcart, May focused on the voyage as an element that prepared European converts to forge an LDS community identity.
May presented papers at meetings of Western History, Mormon History, and Social Science History Associations. Nearly four dozen articles were published in Utah Historical Quarterly, Idaho Yesterdays, Journal of Mormon History, Sociology and Social Research, Population Studies, Agricultural History, Church History, and the Journal of Family History. May was a contributor to the FDR Encyclopedia and The Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. His final book, Three Frontiers: Family, Land, and Society in the American West: 1850-1900 (Cambridge University Press, 1994), employs quantitative methods and personal histories to explore three agricultural communities.
When the University of Utah completed its new Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building, it posthumously named its western and Utah history library after May, as well as two other rooms in the building.
Biography
May was born in WorlandWorland, Wyoming
Worland is a city in Washakie County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 5,250 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Washakie County. The City of Worland is served by the Worland Municipal Airport.-Geography:...
, Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
to Frank Peter and Wanda Lowe May. When he was nine, the family moved to a forty-acre farm near Middleton
Middleton, Idaho
Middleton is a city in Canyon County, Idaho, United States. The population was 2,978 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Boise City–Nampa, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
. May was a devoted Latter-day Saint (Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
) and as a young man he served a Mission
Missionary (LDS Church)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
. He married Cheryll Lynn May in 1967 in the Oakland California Temple
Oakland California Temple
The Oakland California Temple is the 15th constructed and 13th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The LDS temple in Oakland, California was announced on May 26, 1962, and dedicated on November 19, 1964 by David O...
and the couple had three children, Timothy, Thaddeus and Caroline. He later served in the LDS Church as a Bishop and as a High Councilor for a stake at the University of Utah.
For the last eight years of his life May sang with the Utah Symphony Chorus.
May died on 6 May 2003, following a heart attack.
Selected publications
- "A Ray of Millennial Light: Early Education and Social Reform in the Infant School Movement in Massachusetts, 1826-40," with Maris A. VinovskisMaris A. VinovskisMaris A. Vinovskis is an American academic and historian at the University of Michigan and a leading authority on U.S. social and family history. He is the A. M. and H. P. Bentley Professor of History and a Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Vinovskis acts as a...
. Included in Maris A. VinovskisMaris A. VinovskisMaris A. Vinovskis is an American academic and historian at the University of Michigan and a leading authority on U.S. social and family history. He is the A. M. and H. P. Bentley Professor of History and a Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Vinovskis acts as a...
, Education, Society and Economic Opportunity (New Haven: Yale University PressYale University PressYale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day. It became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but remains financially and operationally autonomous....
, 1995), pp. 17–44. - "Sugar House Ward: A Latter-day Saint Congregation," with Jan ShippsJan ShippsJo Ann Barnett "Jan" Shipps is an American historian specializing in Mormon History, particularly in the latter half of the 20th century to the present. Shipps is generally regarded as the foremost non-Mormon scholar of the Latter Day Saint movement, having given particular attention to The...
and Cheryll L. May. Included in James P. Wind and James W. Lewis, eds., American Congregations, Vol I (Chicago: University of Chicago PressUniversity of Chicago PressThe University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of...
, 1994), pp. 293–348. Winner of the T. Edgar Lyon Award for Excellence from the Mormon History AssociationMormon History AssociationThe Mormon History Association is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the study and understanding of all aspects of Mormon history to promote understanding, scholarly research, and publication in the field...
, 1995. - Utah: A People's History (Salt Lake City: University of Utah PressUniversity of Utah PressThe University of Utah Press is the independent publishing branch of the University of Utah and is a division of the J. Willard Marriott Library. Founded in 1949 by A. Ray Olpin, it is also the oldest university press in Utah...
, 1987). ISBN 0-87480-284-9 - Building the City of God: Community and Cooperation Among the Mormons, with Leonard J. ArringtonLeonard J. ArringtonLeonard James Arrington was an author, academic and the founder of the Mormon History Association. He is known as the "Dean of Mormon History" and "the Father of Mormon History" because of his many influential contributions to the field.-Biographical background:Arrington was born in Twin Falls,...
and Feramorz Y. Fox. (Salt Lake City: Deseret BookDeseret BookDeseret Book is the largest Latter-day Saint book publisher and also owns a chain of LDS bookstores in the western United States. Over 150 people work in its Salt Lake City headquarters...
, 1976). ISBN 0877475903 - "Body And Soul: The Record of Mormon Religious Philanthropy," Church History (September, 1988): pp. 322–336.
- From New Deal to New Economics: the American Liberal Response to the Recession of 1937 (New York: Garland Press, 1981) ISBN 0-8240-4862-8
- The Mormon History Association's Tanner Lectures: The First Twenty Years, with Richard L. Bushman, Thomas G. AlexanderThomas G. AlexanderThomas Glen Alexander is an American historian and academic who is professor emeritus from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where he was also Lemuel Hardison Redd, Jr. Professor of Western History and director of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies.-Biography:Alexander was born in...
, Jan Shipps, and Reid Larkin Neilson (University of Illinois PressUniversity of Illinois PressThe University of Illinois Press , is a major American university press and part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic projects...
) ISBN 0-252-07288-X - Three Frontiers: Family, Land, and Society in the American West: 1850-1900 (New York: Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, 1994). ISBN 0-521-58575-9 Winner of the Best Book Award, 1995 from the Mormon History AssociationMormon History AssociationThe Mormon History Association is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the study and understanding of all aspects of Mormon history to promote understanding, scholarly research, and publication in the field...
.