©2003 Brigham Young University. All rights reserved.
The collection of Harvey L. Taylor was donated by the Taylor family to the Brigham Young University Archives after his death.
The collection is open to research use with the exception of the journals. Access to the journals before November 15, 2003, requires written permission from Janyce L. Taylor, 1598 Willow Lane, Provo, UT 84601.
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.
Permission to publish material from the Harvey L. Taylor Collection must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/or the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Board of Curators.
"Dr. Harvey L. Taylor, 89, former vice president of Brigham Young University and educator for 52 years, died Tuesday, Nov. 15, 1983, at Utah Valley Hospital, Provo.
He was born Aug. 28, 1894, in Harrisville, to Harvey Daniel and Letty May Saunders Taylor. He married Lucelle Eliza Rhees, May 18, 1916, in the Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She died April 4, 1977.
He graduated from the University of Utah and Columbia University and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Law Degree by Arizona State University. He was both a teacher and administrator.
His first teaching positions were in Weber and Summit Counties. In 1928 he was invited to serve as president of Gila Junior College in Thatcher, Ariz. He accepted a position as superintendent of Mesa Union High School in 1933 and later was appointed superintendent of Mesa Union High School and later was appointed superintendent of Mesa Public Schools until 1953.
He was then appointed vice president of Brigham Young University and vice chancellor of the LDS Unified Church School System. Later, when the two organizations were separated, he was appointed to be the administrator of all LDS Church Schools as well as seminaries and institutes.
Dr. Taylor has received many honors including the Silver Beaver award from the Boy Scouts of America along with the 50 years BSA Service Award, Mesa's Most Valuable Citizen Award, BYU Alumni Distinguished Service Award, and the Ricks College Distinguished Service Award. Mesa City named a recreation field after him.
He also received the Arizona Governor's Award of Honor to a Distinguished Citizen for Meritorious Service; the Weber State College Alumni Meritorious Service Award; State of Utah Third Juvenile District Court Distinguished Service Award to Youth and the Honorary Master M-Men Award [from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] for distinguished service to youth.
A member of the LDS Church, he served for 30 years as a Sunday School teacher and in many leadership positions. When he retired in 1971 after 52 years of service to education, he was commissioned by the LDS Church Board of Education to write the story of LDS Church Schools. He completed the work in 1972.
Survivors include three daughters: Molliemae Taylor Johnson Hatch of Taylor, Ariz.; Dr. Janyce L. Taylor of Provo; Mrs. Reed R. (Betty L.) Rosenberg of Bakersfield, Calif.; 12 grandchildren; 29 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a son, Dr. Harvey Darrel Taylor."
[Statement excerpted from obituary in the Provo Daily Herald, 17 Nov., 1983]
This initial segment of Harvey Taylor's personal and professional papers fills five containers: 3 cartons, 1 half size document case, and 1 oversize document case. Included are personal journals, writings in personal and family history, and tape and disc recordings; yearbooks and scrapbooks from the educational institutions at which Taylor worked, viz. Weber Academy and Mesa [Arizona] Schools as well as a few Superintendent's Annual Reports, 1946-50 for the Mesa Schools; a few letters; and speeches. A large collection of files generated by Taylor while serving as a vice-president at Brigham Young University is available separately in the University Archives.
The collection is arranged in the following categories or series: Personal, Education, Career, and Retirement. Within each series the arrangement varies, being generally chronological in the career series.
The following materials were separated from the collection.
1. Slide collection (transferred to Photoarchives): In packets by #: (Approximately 500 slides): 1. Mesa Arizona High Schools 2. Seminary, Provo/Seminary, Indian 3. Indian Seminaries/Tuba City/Chapel 4. BYU Folkdancers, Europe, 1964 5. BYU Folkdancers, Europe, 1964 6. BYU Folkdancers, Europe, 1964 7. Mexico Schools 8. Mexico Schools 9. Mexico Schools 10. Church College of New Zealand 11. Hawaii 12. Western Samoa 13. Western Samoa 14. Tonga 15. Australia and Pacific
2.
3.
Primary Teacher's Chorus, Utah County Stakes. (Sheet music included.)
Light of the World Christmas program 1961. Written by Lucelle R. Taylor.
Let Not One Child Be Lost. Written by Lucelle R. Taylor.
Yearbook The Acorn, Souvenir Ed., 1915.
Yearbook The Acorn, 1926.
Scrapbook is a collection of photographs.
"The House of Riminon," by Henry Van Dyke, 1948. Produced by L.D.S. Church in Mesa, Ariz.
"Montezuma," by Bertha A. Kleinman, 1937.
July, 1950, Into the World of Books, Mesa Public Schools, Mesa, Arizona, Dedicated to our childrens' teachers.
Collection of Superintendents Annual Reports, 1946-50.
Book 1
Book 2