Juanita Brooks

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Juanita Leone Leavitt Pulsipher Brooks (1898 -1989) was an American historian and author, specializing in the American West and Mormon history, including a book on the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

Brooks was born in Bunkerville, Nevada, in 1898. She was raised in Bunkerville and in 1919 married Ernest Pulsipher, who died of cancer little more than a year later, leaving her with an infant son. She acquired a bachelor's degree from BYU and a master's degree from Columbia University. Settling in St. George, Utah, she became an instructor of English and dean of women at Dixie College. In 1933 she resigned from the college to marry widower Will Brooks and become the stepmother to his four sons. Within five years the couple added a daughter and three sons to their family.

Brooks was a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For many years she served on the Board of the Utah Historical Society where she devoted herself to unearthing diaries and records of early settlers and organized a Utah library of Mormon history. She wrote numerous historical articles and a variety of family narratives, including a classic biography of her pioneer grandfather, Dudley Leavitt.

Brooks notable books on Mormon history include The Mountain Meadows Massacre (1950) and John Doyle Lee: Zealot, Pioneer Builder, Scapegoat (1961).

[edit] Publications

A Mormon Chronicle: The Diaries of John D. Lee. Robert Glass Cleland, editor, and Juanita Brooks, editor. Huntington Library Press, reissue June 2004 (Paperback, 868pp), 3 Volumes in 1 book. ISBN 0-87328-178-0. First published in 1955.
Dudley Leavitt,: Pioneer to Southern Utah. January 1942.
Emma Lee. Utah State University Press, Logan, UT, 7th Printing 1984. ISBN 0-87421-121-2. First published in ( ).
Frontier tales; true stories of real people. Western Text Society, Special publication - 1972.
History of the Jews in Utah and Idaho 1853-1950. June 1973.
Jacob Hamblin, Mormon apostle to the Indians. reissue 1980.
John Doyle Lee: Zealot, Pioneer Builder, Scapegoat. Utah State University Press, Logan, UT, reissue November 1992 (paperback, 404pp). ISBN 0-87421-162-X. First published in 1961.
Mountain Meadows Massacre; University of Oklahoma Press (Tdr) reissue May 1991; (softcover, 318 pages). ISBN 0-8061-2318-4. First published in 1950.
On the ragged edge;: The life and times of Dudley Leavitt. 1973.
Quicksand and cactus: A memoir of the southern Mormon frontier. reissue 1982.
On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout edited by Juanita Brooks. First edition 1964. Published by University of Utah Press. Republished in 1974 by University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, Utah. [Juanita's daughter-in-law was the Great Granddaughter of Hosea Stout].
”Uncle Will Tells His Story” published by Taggart & Company, Salt Lake City, Utah. 249 pages. Only 2500 copies were printed.. [“Uncle Will” is the biography of her husband, written as though he was telling her stories of his life. According to Ken Sanders Rare Books in Salt Lake City, Utah, Juanita Brooks was the first place winner of the Utah State Institute of Fine Arts Creative Writing Competition for autobiography in 1969].

[edit] Trivia

Brooks (nee Leavitt)'s name was spelled Waneta as a child. [1] (1910 NV Census, p68B:70)

[edit] References

Bringhurst, Newell G., Fawn McKay Brodie: A Biographers Life, University of Oklahoma, 1999
Morgan, Dale, Dale Morgan on Early Mormonism Signature Books
Peterson, Levi S. Juanita Brooks: Mormon Woman Historian (Utah Centennial Series, Vol 5). University of Utah Press, October 1988.
Scanlon, Jennifer (1996). American Women Historians, 1700s-1990s: a biographical dictionary. Greenwood Press, 30-31. ISBN 0-87480-512-0.