Item Detail
-
Carroll, Elsie Chamberlain
-
1882-1967
-
MSS SC 2554
-
History
-
Elsie Chamberlain Carroll was born on 18 November 1882 in Orderville, Utah. She was the fifth of 12 children born to Thomas Chamberlain and Elinor Angeline Hoyt Chamberlain. Her siblings were Eva Hoyt, Harriet, Emily, Clarissa, Israel Hoyt, Estas Josiah, Amanda, Ella, Lillian, Justin, and Lloyd Utah.
Elsie had a successful career in academia. Her education began in the public schools at Orderville and Kanab, and she went on to earn a Bachelor of Art and a Masters degree at BYU. After graduating from BYU, she did graduate work at the University of Minnesota, Stanford, and Columbia, and for many years she served as a teacher in elementary grades as well as high school and college.
On 30 May 1907 in Salt Lake City, she married Charles Hardy Carroll, and together they had 2 children, Helen Chamberlain, and Charles Thomas. Her husband was a prominent Utah physician and the first medical Director at BYU, but sadly he passed away in 1926.
After the death of her husband, Elsie joined the BYU faculty and devoted the next 25 years of her life to teaching in the English Department. Even after her retirement, she worked as an instructor in the Extension Correspondence Department of the university, and as Dean of Women and first house mother of the first womens dormitory on campus, even having one of the original Heritage Halls buildings named in her honor. Elsie also received the Alumni Distinguished Service Award for her services.
She was also a popular Utah author of poetry, short stories, and novels, having many works published in Church magazines and other regional publications. Aside from her creative work, she authored lessons and study materials for the Relief Society, the Young Womens association, and the Sunday School General Boards. Her work as a writer and author garnered her national recognition for an unpublished Mormon novel in 1956, awarded a trial prize by the National Pen Womens Organization. This distinction was coupled with a prize of $1000 at the organizations convention in Washington D.C. that year. Elsie also received a literary award from the Utah Institute of Fine Arts.
Elsie was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving in the Primary, Sunday School, and Relief Society on ward and stake levels. She also volunteered at the Childrens Hospital.
She died on 3 October 1967 in Salt Lake City, Utah at the LDS Hospital, following a brief illness, and was buried in Provo. -
This manuscript is a 329-page typescript book, hardbound in leather and written by Jens Marinus Jenkins, Newbern Isaac Butt, Elsie Chamberlain Carroll, and Bertha C. Roberts. The book is entitled, History of Brigham Young University 1875-1942, and it was commissioned by the university, with BYUs president at the time, Franklin S. Harris, appointing all four authors. There is also mention of a Mrs. Ella L. Brown having been a member of this committee until her retirement in 1941, at which point Bertha took her position. This edition is dated 1 June 1942, and it contains many handwritten corrections throughout the manuscript.
The book covers the history of Brigham Young University, from its humble beginnings as the Brigham Young Academy in 1875 through the time of publication (1942), highlighting the administrative eras of each of the presidents (Maeser, Cluff, Brimhall, Harris), the student associations and development of clubs as the University grew, and policies and governance for various BYU organizations, including the fine arts, sports, academics, and religion.