by Cathy Gilmore | Dec 11, 2018 | Memories, Stories from the Archive
Every Christmas, Leon Chamberlain tells the story of the bicycle to his children and grandchildren. He has written it here for our benefit. -CG
By
Leon Chamberlain
I love going to bicycle shops, so when I recently accompanied my adult daughter to a bicycle shop to select a graduation gift, I lingered among the rows of sleek, new bicycles. Inevitably, I was drawn to what are now called “retro” cycles. The sight of those old-style bikes brought to mind my first bicycle and all the memories that came with it.
As I recall, I wanted a bicycle when I was just six years old. Even at that young age, my hope was tempered by the realities of the time. World War II had just ended and items like bicycles were very scarce. I was also quite young to receive such a coveted Christmas gift, so I knew the chance of getting a bicycle that year was slim. When Christmas passed without a bicycle, I held my hopes out for next year when I would be seven.
Leon Chamberlain (left) stands with a friend outside their home on Navajo Street in the Poplar Grove neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah.
As the war and its scarcities grew distant, I grew more hopeful that there would be a bicycle under the Christmas tree. But when Christmas came and there was no bicycle, I struggled to hide my profound disappointment. My disappointment mixed with jealousy when I learned of my friend’s good fortune. His dad had salvaged a bicycle at a junkyard and fixed it up for Christmas. “Maybe my dad could go to the junkyard and find me a bicycle,” I thought. But the spring and summer months passed without a bicycle, and it wasn’t until the next Christmas season that my longing was once again renewed.
Leon Chamberlain standing on the south side of his home on Navajo Street.
It was 1948, and to me it was the mother of all winters. There was over two feet of snow in our yard, and the streets in my neighborhood were coated with snow and ice. The wind blew drifts so high we could climb to our rooftop and slide down the drifts banked up against the garage. I was eight years old, and my guarded yet unflagging hope for a new bicycle never left my mind.
That Christmas Eve, I could not sleep. Through the darkness, I crawled on my belly from my bedroom to the living room to see if the bicycle had arrived. I strained my eyes through the dim light, but I couldn’t discern a bicycle. I repeated this exercise several times without any success. The anticipation was excruciating, and as the first gray light of morning entered my room I pled with my parents to be allowed into the living room.
There it sat. A 26-inch balloon-tired Yale bicycle. A Yale? Yes, a Yale. I was very familiar with the brands of bicycles by then: Schwinn, Columbia, Raleigh and Roadmaster. I had never heard of a Yale and have never seen anther one since. That did not matter. I had a bicycle and that’s all that mattered.
I did have a problem, though: I wanted to ride my bicycle and there was literally no place to ride it. Despite blankets of ice and snow, I braved the below-zero temperature and immediately set to work shoveling a path for my bicycle. Beginning at my back door, I tunneled a 25-foot square course through the snow. I could barely reach the pedals as I shakily guided my new bike though the narrow course I had cleared. As ice formed on the spokes, the bike became more difficult to ride, and after a few trips around the course my enthusiasm waned. My patience was again tested as I was compelled to wait through the long winter in anticipation of riding my new bike.
That Yale was the only bicycle I had growing up. When I got tired of the color, I painted it a different one. I would completely take the bicycle apart from one end to the other and reassemble it again. I knew that bike backwards and forwards and probably rode it several thousand miles. I had no desire to have another bike, and it wasn’t until my interests shifted to cars that I parked my Yale in the back of the garage, never to be ridden again.
Leon Chamberlain with his ’51 Ford.
His first car, a ’41 Ford, didn’t last too long*
I have since bought several bicycles and enjoyed riding them, but as I shopped with my daughter it became clear that while I could buy any bicycle in that shop, none could bring the happiness that my Yale did. It wasn’t until many years after that Christmas that I discovered that my Yale was second-hand, and that my parents had much difficulty acquiring it.
Perhaps at some future time I will again have the chance to ride my Yale along the streets of Salt Lake City, the breeze blowing in my face, my shirt unbuttoned and my hands behind my head. It doesn’t get any better than that.
*My ’41 Ford had been through a lot. I remember driving to West High School, and my friends in the back were complaining they were cold. Before I knew it, my friends had built a small fire on the floor of the car to warm them up. The brakes also went out in that car. I remember carefully driving all the way home from West High to Navajo Street without having to use the brakes. Unfortunately, I did not calculate how I would eventually stop the car once in the driveway and sailed right into the garage door.
by Cathy Gilmore | Dec 7, 2018 | Resources
It’s December, and the records are piling up like snowdrifts in my office. As one who digitizes records for me, my family, and for Kindex, I’ve experienced the cyclical nature of scanning. Like laundry, scanning is never really done. With new records being created or found every day, the waves of scanning will continue. For December in particular, the wave of scanning is more like a tsunami (the photo above representing some of my ongoing scanning projects).
November and December are times of gratitude and gift-giving. Such times generate a need for both a remembrance of our past and view toward a future where nothing will be lost. It is with these emotions that records find a way to my door. How it happens is a phenomenon worthy of another post on the interplay of dumb luck and divine intervention. Like the cars that stretch for miles in the closing scene of the movie Field of Dreams, the records find their way here.
The other day I was musing about all the records I’ve scanned, and while I’m determined to learn exactly how many records I’ve digitized, my top-of-the-head estimate is at least 60,000. I say this not to boast, but rather as a consolation for the times I wonder if all my efforts will make a difference—to Kindex, to my family, and to history. Surely on one of those 60,000 pages is the face of one otherwise doomed to be lost, the words of an ancestor that will be read for the first time. Surely this hope is enough to get me through this next batch, and then the next one.
Maybe when I die my children can create a baseball card of sorts, with a nod to my final numbers. I know, they are just papers. But to me, they have life. The rustlings are the breath of my ancestors; the ink and paper were in their hands. They bent over them, writing by lamplight. They laughed and wept, holding them. They carried them in their pockets, and hid them in their secret places. Like Norman McLean in A River Runs Through It, I am likewise haunted by the words of the past:
“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.”
by Cathy Gilmore | Sep 19, 2018 | Features
Kindex Co-founder Cathy Gilmore presented “Hoarder to Order: a Step-by-Step Family Record Rescue” at RootsTech 2018. This presentation examines why records are at risk, discusses obstacles to family record preservation, and gives a step-by-step overview of how record-keepers can rescue their family records. We will be sharing excerpts from her presentation on the Kindex blog.
Part I: Am I my Brothers (Record) Keeper?
Part II: A Family Record Risk Assessment
Now that we’ve discussed the important role of record-keepers, and what risk factors help us prioritize our record rescue, we are finally ready to begin a record rescue in earnest. Put very broadly, here are the basic steps of the record rescue.
Before a single record is gathered, scanned, or indexed, we must prepare for the rescue by asking a few important questions. The first: What is your Why?
Establishing your “why” is a crucial step, because it’s a reason you will turn to again and again. Record rescuers will face countless challenges, face adversity, and experience burnout (and that’s just the first week!). Your “why”” will inspire you and others stay focused on the goal more than a “what” ever could.
Knowing your “why” will help you visualize what you want to have happen as a result of your record rescue. Your “why” can be specific or broad, tangible or intangible. Here are some examples:
- “I want my family to know who my grandmother was”
- “I want to ensure my Great-Grandfather’s influence will be felt for generations”
- “I want to help future researchers and historians”
- “I want my father to be remembered”
- “I want to change the hearts of my family”
Now that you’re thinking about your “why”, let’s also think about the “what”. The “what” is the scope of your record rescue. Your scope should answer these questions:
Who? Which? What? When?
In other words:
- Whose records are we rescuing?
- Which records are included?
- What are we doing to the records?
- When will we complete it?
For example:
- We are scanning grandma’s love letters by Christmas! (not photos, not greeting cards, not family letters)
- We are gathering all of the family records pertaining to Aunt Betty before she moves into her new home.
Advice on Scope
- Start small. You wouldn’t climb a mountain pulling a mountain of 15 boxes, but you could take a backpack. That’s actually a good rule of thumb: can you fit your record rescue in a backpack? If the answer is no, consider paring down the scope into something with reasonable, reachable boundaries.
- If possible, separate records based on record type. For example, rescuing grandma and grandpa’s love letters is easier when you don’t include t photos, slides, and diaries. The more record types you have, the more complex your project will be, especially during the scanning and preservation stages.
- Show success early and often. Keep your family engaged in the rescue by updating them on your progress and sharing records on social media.
In addition to knowing our “why” and “what”, there is one more step in our record rescue preparation: enlisting help. Stay tuned for our next installment where we discuss ways to engage your family in the rescue.
by Cathy Gilmore | Sep 10, 2018 | Features
Kindex Co-founder Cathy Gilmore presented “Hoarder to Order: a Step-by-Step Family Record Rescue” at RootsTech 2018. This presentation examines why records are at risk, discusses obstacles to family record preservation, and gives a step-by-step overview of how record-keepers can rescue their family records. We will be sharing excerpts from her presentation on the Kindex blog.
In Part I of our Hoarder to Order series, we asked “Am I my Brothers (Record) Keeper?” and discussed the imporant role of family record rescuers. If you are one of those heroes committed to rescuing records, it may be difficult to know where to start. Knowing the risks that face family records helps us prioritize and understand what it means to truly rescue a record. Let’s start by stating the risks, identifying reasons why this happens, and how we can help.
Risk #1: Permanent Record Loss
Risk Factors
|
Result
|
How We Rescue
|
| Death Downsizing Relocation Record owner has mental or physical challenges |
Records are thrown out |
Take an inventory of family records to know who has what |
Let’s start with every record-keeper’s biggest nightmare right out of the gate: Records get thrown away. This risk is at its greatest when a family member dies, moves, or is purging their belongings. The presence of mental or physical challenges can often prevent record owners knowing how to keep and care for records. As a record rescuer, your job is to discover who has what records through conducting a basic inventory. Conducting a family record inventory is the first, crucial step in a record rescue. But what are the remaining risks?
Risk #2: Temporary Record Loss
Risk Factors
|
Result
|
How We Rescue
|
| Changes of record ownership (records passed down through generations) Hoarding, disorganization |
Records are lost or misplaced |
Update inventory & gather records (where possible) |
If you’ve kept your family record inventory updated, and gathered records (where possible) to prevent record loss, well done! But what are the remaining risks?
Risk #3: Record Damage
Risk Factors
|
Result
|
How We Rescue
|
| Records exist in original state only (not scanned or digitized) Improper storage or handling Records are exposed to, or at high risk for natural disaster (fire, flood, etc.) |
Records are damaged |
Digitize records and ensure physcial reocrds are properly stored |
So you’ve done an inventory, gathered records to prevent record loss, and digitized your records. Great! Is your job done? What are the remaining risks?
Risk #4: Inaccessible records
Risk Factors
|
Result
|
How We Rescue
|
| Records scattered among multiple owners Single owner, “Silo mentality” Donated with restrictions |
Records can’t be accessed |
Share digitized records on common platform |
Most responsible record-keepers have digitized their records. But how accessible are they? Do you work in a silo? How do other family members know your records exist?
If uou’ve kept your records, know where they are, scanned them, and made them accessible, are there any other risks? We’ve learned that making records accessible is not the end of the line. If your family cannot easily connect to and share records, there will be a record disconnect.
Risk #5: Record disconnect
Risk Factors
|
Result
|
How We Rescue
|
|
Unindexed records
Records that seem irrelevant, unimportant
Records in unsearchable, undiscoverable databases
Records that are handwritten or hard to read Difficulty extracting meaningful stories
|
Records Disconnect |
Transform your records in ways that make them shareable and connectable.
Make records completely searchable Provide a platform for simple record engagement and research
|
What is record disconnect, and why is it a risk? Because no matter how much work you put into gathering, digitizing and sharing records, if your family can’t connect with them in a meaningful way, they will remain unimportant and therefore at risk of being perpetuated. When is a record truly considered rescued? When it’s accessible, searchable, and relevant to your family.
How at risk are your family records?
In reviewing risk factors for family records, have you identified what records are most at risk in your family? Do you have an elderly family member reputed to have many family records. Is someone in your family preparing to downsize? Being aware of family situations helps us prioritize an overwhelming task by beginning where the need is most urgent. Stay tuned for Part III of our Hoarder to Order series, we will start our record rescue in earnest with record inventory and gathering.
by Cathy Gilmore | Jul 23, 2018 | Featured Archive, Stories from the Archive
Note: this article was orginally published December 9 2015. It has been subsequently edited and updated with new photos. -Cathy Gilmore
A recent article on lds.org, Reclaiming Hill Cumorah1, prompted us to share some sources related to Hill Cumorah, its monument, and pageant beginnings. Our grandmother Dorothy Smith Clark’s papers reveal her connections to Cumorah through her parents Hyrum and June Bushman Smith, who were missionaries at the Cumorah Farm from 1935 to 1939, and her friend Torleif Knaphus, who sculpted the Hill Cumorah monument. In searching Dorothy’s diaries and letters on her Kindex archive, we are able to provide insight to our family’s connection to this historic sight.
Friendship with Torleif Knaphus, sculptor of the Moroni Monument
Partly as an effort to expand Dorothy’s educational and artistic opportunity, Dorothy’s family moved to Salt Lake City from Lethbridge, Alberta in 1930. In 1931, the recently widowed Torleif Knaphus took an interest in Dorothy. As her artistic mentor—and for a time—her suitor, Torleif escorted her on artistic excursions, instructed her in sculpting, and employed her in making handmade Christmas cards and sketches. Dorothy must have been flattered, as my grandfather Ellsworth was also competing for her attention. In her diary she wrote:
Sunday April 23, 1933
Went by Orem Electric to annual Springville Art Exhibit with T.S. Knaphus, sculptor. Spent 3 hours in Provo, sight-seeing on our way back to S.L.C. Took kodak snaps on B.Y.U. campus.
This was a very interesting day for me and rather an outstanding one I suppose, inasmuch as I was so kindly favored and well treated by one so prominent in his sphere.
En route he gave me valuable instructions and criticisms on art. Urges strongly that I begin to busy myself with “oils” and harness the talent he believes lies dormant. (I hope to do this soon, as I have been so inspired today). Left Knaphus at 8 P.M. to finish the day with Ellsworth. Youth does have its preferences.2
Indeed it does, as Dorothy settled on Ellsworth and became engaged that summer. Still, Dorothy maintained her friendship with Torleif and continued their mentoring relationship. In September of 1933 she wrote:
Was invited to Knaphus studio this evening where be showed me a newly-designed model of the shaft for the Hill Cumorah Monument. We ate some ice-cream there and talked of my doing some more painting there and maybe helping him with some new panels. Thrilled about getting into that work again.
Grateful for his attention and interest in her art, Dorothy later wrote:
Saturday, November 12, 1933
I have Christmas card orders to fill for Torleif S. Knaphus in return for clay which he gave me for modeling.
He certainly has inspired me and been a great help in pushing me, as it were, along the road to accomplishment. I don’t know many other grown people who have so influenced me to good and been as companionable.
During their engagement, Dorothy encouraged Ellsworth to serve a mission. After he departed in December 1933 to a Western States mission, there is some hint that Torleif was keen to maintain a close relationship with Dorothy as he repeatedly sought out her company. Dorothy wrote:
Wednesday, January 24, 1934
Attended night class tonite and made my first water color scene (copy of Moser’s) in new style (from my former teachings.) Mr. Knaphus met me after work – asked me to go to Beaux Arts Ball this Saturday but I declined.
Although she didn’t attend the dance with Torleif, their close friendship often proved difficult for Ellsworth during his absence while serving as a missionary. On a temple trip to Manti that included the Knaphus family, Dorothy played an April Fool’s joke on Ellsworth and wrote to him that she and Torleif decided on a whim to be sealed there. Practical jokes notwithstanding, Dorothy and Ellsworth married in August 1934.
Dorothy with her parents Hyrum and June Smith, c1928
Dorothy in Professor Wildhaber’s studio, 1932
Cumorah Farm Mission and Moroni Monument Dedication
That same summer, Dorothy’s parents Hyrum and June Bushman Smith were called to be missionaries at the Cumorah Farm. After their marriage, Dorothy and Ellsworth moved to Idaho, but Torleif’s connection to the family remained as he completed the monument and attended its dedication in July 1935. Over the next year, Dorothy regularly wrote to her family in Palmyra, discussing plans for the Moroni monument dedication and future pageant. In her letters, Dorothy sketched out ideas for local advertisements for the pageant.
On May 26, 1935, Dorothy’s brother Oliver—a missionary in the Eastern States Mission—wrote about local missionary efforts and preparations for the monument’s dedication:
Along with 37 other missionaries of the Easter States mission I am engaged in a special drive in the area within a 20-mile radius of Palmyra, which will continue until the dedication of the Cumorah Monument on July 21. We hope to do some good work by this concentration of effort, which has significance with the connection of the monument. We are visiting every home—rural and urban—in the section. Eleven of us stay together at the LDS hall in Palmyra and drive out 5 or 10 miles every morning to a rural section in which we go tracting until late afternoon, when we return. Our week-ends I have visited Rochester and Buffalo for publicity work. At Buffalo I stayed at Mary Payne Chamber’s place. She has three children. Girl 11, girl 9, and boy 7….
Every day or so there are visitors here from somewhere we have been. Today Bro & Sis Douglas Anderson visited us and went to the Peter Whitmer farm with us in the afternoon. The church was organized there. Next Sunday we are having a session of the Cumorah District Conference here.3
Dorothy’s Visit to the Cumorah Farm
In the spring of 1936, Dorothy and Ellsworth made plans to visit Dorothy’s parents in Palmyra that summer with their young son Norman. In her life sketch she recalls:
The summer of 1936 we vacationed at Cumorah Farm, near Palmyra, N.Y. with my parents. Lois, who had been with us for her senior high school year, returned with us. It was thrilling to see the first pageant presented at the Hill, which was co-authored by my brother Oliver, an Eastern States missionary. I was able to help with publicity posters. Our 15 mos Norman was used in a covered wagon sequence of a pioneer panorama presented one evening at the Hill.4
The 1936 pageant was a family affair. Her parents Hyrum and June and brother Oliver had key roles developing the pageant, and sisters June and Lois Smith participated in the pageant. Even her one-year-old son Norman rode in a wagon as part of the festivities. The images below reveal pages from Dorothy’s Book of Remembrance that chronicled their trip.5
Hyrum Smith (center) standing at the base of the monument. He is a first cousin once removed to Joseph Smith, and served as Torleif’s model for Joseph Smith in this panel. Note Hyrum Smith is a first cousin once removed to Joseph Smith Jr., not a second cousin as the caption indicates.
Additional pages from Book of Remembrance of June Adele Smith, Dorothy’s younger sister. 6
1. Ashton, Curtis, “Reclaiming Hill Cumorah,” April 18, 2014,
https://history.lds.org/article/historic-sites/new-york/manchester/reclaiming-hill-cumorah
2. Smith, Dorothy, Diary 1932-1934, in the author’s possession
3. Smith, Oliver, to Dorothy Smith Clark, May 26 1935,Dorothy Smith and Ellsworth Clark Archive, https://smith-clark.kindex.org/share/1702339dd4b1d708c6ff76822484b96f
4. Smith, Dorothy, Life Sketch, Dorothy Smith and Ellsworth Clark Archive, Jan 31 1975, https://smith-clark.kindex.org/share/16f43a4946cdb126afdfc57b42c44472
5. Smith, Dorothy, Book of Remembrance, Dorothy Smith and Ellsworth Clark Archive, https://smith-clark.kindex.org/gather
6. Smith, June A., Book of Remembrance, in the author’s possession
