Here are some slices of life stories that are now archived at the
University of Utah's J. Willard Marriott Library's Special Collections.
You can listen here and then go to the Marriott Library to
listen to more life stories and read transcripts of these.

Max Harward, a scientist and teacher, grew up helping on his father’s sheep ranch on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. In fact, in retirement Max has been active in historical research that has lead to the founding of a museum on Antelope Island, a place he fondly remembers as helping him become a man.

mp3 5.6MB

In this recording made just before her 88^th birthday, Alice Kasai, a long time community activist, speaks very personally about the Japanese-American internment during World War II.

mp3 5.5MB

Elvira (“Cookie”) DiIorio, an actress and model, met her husband in his family pizza restaurant, where his mother kept a keen eye on everything that went on.

mp3 4.3MB

Charlie Piper, an Arapaho Indian from Wyoming, teaches traditional dance and drumming at the Indian Walk-In Center in Salt Lake City. He often tells the young people there about his own youth and how his grandfather instilled traditional values. 

mp3 5.3MB

Helen Nisenblat was born in Odessa, Russia, where she lived until moving first to St. Petersburg in 1979 and then to Utah in 1990. During World War II, though, Helen’s family was evacuated from Odesssa as the German army approached. This is her story about being evacuated.

mp3 4.1MB

Myrtle Muir, now 93 years old, has loved to dance all her life. In fact, she got to know both of her husbands on the dance floor. In this story she tells us that “I liked the way he danced, but I really didn’t care for him!”

mp3 4.9MB

Don Desimone, the 1992 national hobo king, talks about his early days in riding the rails, living in “jungles” or hobo camps and “making do.”

mp3 4.9MB

Ellen Kuhel, born in Tabiona, Utah married a Pakistani man she met in Salt Lake City. When she was only 21 years old her husband took her to Pakistan to meet his family. And she immediately loved them despite the language differences.

mp3 5.7MB