Item Detail
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Bullock, Maurine Olson
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1897- 1997
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MSS SC 2929
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Autobiography
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Maurine Olson Bullock was born on December 9, 1897 in Springville, Utah to Edwin and Dora Lowry Olson. Her parents shared their duplex with her mothers sister, Olive Lowry, and husband, George Edward Anderson who was a well-known Latter-day Saint photographer. Maurines father ran the Reynolds General Store and participated in Andersons photography business, selling cameras and taking pictures for hire. Maurines grandparents lived in Manti where she visited them frequently until 1906 when her grandparents lived with her family because of her fathers mission to the northern states for two years. During her childhood, she attended Grant School in Manti which is now gone. In 1909, Maurine and her family moved to Provo where her father had set up his own photography studio, Olson and Hafen Photographers. While in Provo, she attended four different schools. After attending Brigham Young High School, Maurine smoothly transitioned into taking classes at Brigham Young University. There, she took art and education teaching classes from Belle Spafford who later became the Relief Society General President for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and she attended with Ernest L. Wilkinson who later became the president of Brigham Young University. Maurine did not finish her college education because her family decided to move in 1921 to Long Beach, California to sell their grandfathers bungalow which he left them. During her time in California until 1926, Maurine started working as a sales clerk at Bullocks and Hinks department stores even though her family returned to Utah in 1924. Maurine moved to Salt Lake City and started working at another department store, Auerbachs where she worked for many years. During that time, Maurine was able to take a trip east to visit church sites, go to three Worlds Fairs, and travel in the south. During World War II, Maurine worked at Fort Douglas in the post office. After the war, she returned to working in Auerbachs. In 1958, Maurine met and married Ben Bullock at the age of 60 and they lived together for four years until his heart attack in 1962. Maurine continued to travel and work selling Avon products until she retired at age 84. Maurine died on March 20, 1997 in Provo, Utah.
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This folder contains a hard-bound, typed book of Maurine Olson Bullocks autobiography. A professor at Brigham Young University, William G. Hartley, recorded approximately 20 interviews with Maurine in 1 to 2 hour intervals which he then transcribed. The transcription was given to Maurine and other family members to review, correct and return to him which he then turned into the book of her story. Included along with Maurines autobiography are short sketches of the lives of her family members including her mothers parents, her grandfather, and her father. There are ten sections in the book with a varying number of sub-sections and each section is titled with a different time of her life: Starting the Century in Springville; Photographers Family in Provo; School days at B.Y. High and BYU; Adventurous Car Trip to California; Southern Californians, 1920-1922; Being on my own in Berkley; Young Adult in Salt Lake City; Living in the Avenues; The War Years, Forties, and Fifties; Marriage and Return to Provo. Because Maurines father was a photographer, Bullock has numerous photos of her childhood and adulthood included at the end of each section of the book. Also included among the pictures are some of her drawings and postcards. Maurines account gives a personal story about a century of change, recounting humorous stories of her family and covering important historical events.
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1897- 1997