No. 677 Robert M. Utley

Transcript (28 pages) of an interview by Greg Smoak with Robert M. Utley at Denver, Colorado, on 5 October 2012. Part of the Western History Association Oral History Project, Everett Cooley Collection tape no. U-3171Robert M. Utley (b. 1929), former Chief Historian of the National Park Service and a founder of the Western History Association, remembers the WHA´s founding and reflects on its subsequent evolution from an organization created as a bridge between academic historians and history buffs to a strongly academic group with a professional journal. Deprecating his role founding role by saying that he was chosen because he had no reputation to ruin, Utley recounts the organization´s genesis at Santa Fe in 1961, and its formal creation in Denver in 1962. He focuses on the interplay between the different founders, remembering the key role that famous Western historian Ray Allen Billington played, along with K. Ross Toole of the Museum of New Mexico and, later, John Caughey. Most early members, Utley recalls, were members of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association as well. He also emphasizes historian John Alexander Carrollâ´s major, but unsung, role in founding and maintaining the WHA in its early years. The split between academics and history buffs receives particular attention, as Utley relates the tribulations of the WHA´s journals. The interview also contains numerous anecdotes, including the memorable "Jesus" incident in Denver. Project: Western History Association. Interviewer: Greg Smoak