Guide to the Palmer H. Pattison scrapbook on Patricia Pattison Lakness

Table of Contents

Collection Overview

Collection Inventory+/-

Biographical Note/Historical Note

Content Description

Collection Use

Administrative Information

Subjects

Collection Overview +/-

Title: Palmer H. Pattison scrapbook on Patricia Pattison Lakness
Dates: 1929-1940 (inclusive)
Collection Number: MSS-019
Summary: This collection consists of a scrapbook of newspaper clippings with handwritten captions created primarily in the 1930s by Palmer H. Pattison while his daughter Patricia attended Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Repository: Westminster College, Giovale Library
Address:
1840 South 1300 East
Salt Lake City, Utah 84105
Phone: (801) 832-2250

Collection Inventory +/-

box 1, folder 1: Scrapbook

Biographical Note/Historical Note +/-

Palmer H. Pattison: Palmer Haughton Pattison was born February 24, 1889 in Red Oaks, Iowa to William E. Pattison and Fannie May (Fisher) Pattison. From the age of 15 until his death at age 64 Palmer Pattison lived in Utah. He married Alvina Lee Berry on June 19, 1916. The couple had three children--Patricia Alvina Pattison (born March 19, 1917), Palmer E. Pattison (born June 21, 1918), and Malcham Berry Pattison (born August 1, 1919). Malcham and Palmer E. were both in the Army during World War II. Their mother Alvina died June 6, 1977 at age 84. Malcham died July 2, 1993 at age 73, preceded by his older brother Palmer E. Pattison.

Palmer H. Pattison died on May 14, 1954 in Salt Lake City and is buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetary, Salt Lake City, Utah. On his death certificate, it states he was a retired owner of a retail store.

Sources for this biographical note, viewed online March 8, 2016:

Patricia Pattison Lakness: Patricia Alvina Pattison was born March 19, 1917 to Palmer H. Pattison and Alvina Lee (Berry) Pattison of Salt Lake City, Utah. She was their first child, to be followed by two brothers. Patricia attended Westminster College from Fall 1931 through graduation in April, 1936. In her senior yearbook, she is listed as involved with: Y.W.C.A., Bazaar Chairman, W.A.A., Pep Club, the Etosian yearbook, Student Body Vice-President, Jr. Class Vice-President, Student/Faculty Committee, Jr./Sr. Banquet Chairman, Home Comming Chairman, Tennis, and Swimming--obviously a student heavily involved in campus life and leadership while attending Westminster College.

On August 25, 1937 Patricia married Melvin ("Mel") A. Lakness, a University of Utah graduate. The ceremony was performed at Ferry Hall on the Westminster College campus. The couple had two daughters, Jean Crocker-Lakness (of Madeira, Ohio), and Katherine Kinane (of New Hartford, Connecticut), and four grandsons. Melvin was an electrical engineer and worked at General Electric for 40 years until retiring in 1976. He and Patricia Lakness lived in Loveland, Ohio for 20 years, moving to Mount Pleasant retirement village in Monroe, Ohio in 1989.

Patricia ("Pat") Alvina Pattison Lakness died August 19, 2006, age 89, at the Mt. Pleasant Nursing Center in Monroe, Ohio. She is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetary, Salt Lake City, Utah. One of her obituaries stated that "a favorite quote of hers was 'She who says it can't be done is interrupted by she who is doing it'." Melvin Lakness died a year later on December 1, 2007 at the age of 93.

Sources for this biographical note, viewed online March 8, 2016:

The Patricia Pattison Lakness Scholarship, Westminster College: In 1994 Patricia and Mel Lakness created and funded the Patricia Pattison Lakness Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded on the basis of character and financial need to a full-time female student who provides responsible leadership in on-campus activities. The Lakness Family has continued to fund the scholarship after Patricia's death in 2006. As of 2014 there were two awards available for $3250 each.

Content Description +/-

This collection is a single scrapbook of newspaper clippings with handwritten captions created primarily in the 1930s by Palmer H. Pattison while his daughter Patricia attended Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The scrapbook consists of 63 unbound three-hole-punched sheets of paper held together by a single ringed clasp. There are additional two loose clippings dating about 1952 about Earl Veldon Larson, born 1922, a graduate of the University of Utah and basketball star who died at age 30--one is a formal obituary entitled "Earl V. Larson" and the other is entitled "Veldon Larsen--A Good Team Man". Many of the clippings in the scrapbook are undated and have been trimmed to just a photograph of an individual or group of people. The handwritten captions provide more information on the images or articles. The clippings have been affixed to both sides of each sheet (thus comprising 126 unnumbered pages). While many of the clippings are identified as from the Salt Lake tribune, and a few from the Deseret news, the majority are not identified by newspaper or date.

Many of the articles in the scrapbook relate to the activities of Patricia Pattison Lakness or Westminster College news or events. Some clippings relate to news or events in the greater Salt Lake City area of special interest to Patricia and her family. The earliest clipping in the scrapbook, dated 1929, is an article on Girl Scout awards listing Patricia Pattison of Troop 19 as receiving her "First Class" status. Although many clippings are undated, the latest dates are 1940.

Nurses and nursing is the first subject group in the scrapbook--clippings picturing Holy Cross Hospital and L.D.S. Hospital nurses. There are images of B.C.J. Wheatlake before he became Westminster College's interim president, and Dean Perry L. Stevenson (1933). Scattered throughout the scrapbook are clippings on various people from the Westminster College community and neighborhood, including a few obituaries.

There are 1934-1937 clippings about Westminster College sports (Coach Bryan Patterson's retirement, student athletes, Parson football, tennis, basketball, boxing). These are followed by 1935-1937 articles on the annual Woman's Board apron sales and teas. Next are 1934-1936 clippings on student awards, achievements, scholarships, ROTC, the 1937 military prom, and the University of Utah 1937 Snow Carnival. Dated 1934 are clippings announcing the Westminster College and High School commencement.

Patricia Pattison appears in the next set of clippings, dated 1935-1939. Patricia Pattison and Dick Strike are noted as co-chairmen of the 1935 Westminster College Homecoming committee. She is pictured as the May Queen in 1936. The middle of the scrapbook is filled with engagement and marriage announcements (1934-1940) including the "Pattison-Lakness nuptials" (August 25, 1937), and related articles about various luncheons, showers, and teas honoring the bride. These are followed by various women's achievement articles. A 1935 clipping is about Patricia Pattison, the chairman of the annual Westminster College YWCA bazaar (Dec. 6, 1935 in Converse Hall). A 1937 clipping includes a photograph of the Westminster College Class of 1937 with all names identified in the inked caption. This is the year after Patricia graduated in 1936.

The last few clippings in the scrapbook are about the 1937 graduation rites at Westminster College, an image of the entire 1937 West High School graduating seniors (including Patricia's youngest brother Malcolm [sic Malcham] Pattison), as well as other 1937 clippings about Joy Wheatlake attaining the highest four-year scholastic average, Bettye McClure, president of the Pep Club of Westminster College, and Vernice Smith (Westminster student in 1934 and 1935) being a candidate for "Miss Utah" and graduating from the L.D.S. Hospital Nurses school.

Collection Use +/-

Restrictions on Access:

Open to public research.

Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Twenty-four hours advance notice is encouraged.

Restrictions on Use:

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.

Permission to publish material must be obtained from the director of the Giovale Library.

Preferred Citation:

Palmer H. Pattison scrapbook on Patricia Pattison Lakness, 1929-1940, MSS-019, Giovale Library Archives, Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Administrative Information +/-

Arrangement:

The clippings in the scrapbook are arranged loosely by topical groupings (nursing students, college sports, marriage announcements, etc.), and clearly not in chronological order.

Acquisition Information:

The scrapbook was donated July 26, 2008 to Westminster College by Jean Crocker-Lakness, Patricia (Pattison) Lakness's daughter.

Processing Note:

Processed by Rebekah Sappington in November 2008. This scrapbook consists of sixty-one unbound three-hole-punched sheets of paper held together by a single ringed clasp; the scrapbook has been placed in an archival box but remains in this format. It is probable there was originally a three-hole binder for the sheets, and possibly dividers by subject. The arrangement of the sheets as donated has been retained.

Creator:

Pattison, Palmer H., 1887-1954

Language:

Collection materials are in English.

Quantity:

0.2 linear feet

Language of the Finding Aid:

English.

Author of the Finding Aid:

Finding aid written November 2008 by Rebekah Sappington; expanded March 2016 by Sarah Shaw.

EAD Creation Date:

2016 March 3 by Sarah Shaw

Standard:

Describing Archives : A Content Standard (DACS)

Subarea:

Archives

Related Material:

Related collections and photographs in Giovale Library Archives:

Subjects +/-

Corporate Names:

Westminster College (Salt Lake City, Utah : 1902-1983)--Alumni and alumnae
Westminster College (Salt Lake City, Utah : 1902-1983)--Students

Subject Terms:

College students--Utah--Salt Lake City

Form or Genre Terms:

Clippings (information artifacts)
Scrapbooks

Personal Names:

Pattison, Palmer H., 1887-1954
Lakness, Patricia Pattison, 1917-2006--Archives

Geographical Names:

Salt Lake City (Utah)--History--Sources