?2003 Brigham Young University. All rights reserved.
These photocopied manuscripts were made and donated to the Brigham Young University Library by Shannon Howells in 1989. She obtained the originals from her great aunt, Helen Talmage Parry, a daughter of May and James. It is almost certain that the original manuscripts were accumulated by May and either were among her effects when she died or were given to her daughter Helen prior to May's death.
The collection is open for research use by any qualified scholar but no item may be copied or published in its entirety without permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright is held by the descendants of the members of the Talmage family.
Permission to publish material from the Merry May Talmage (1868-1944) Papers must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/or the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Board of Curators.
Merry May Booth Talmage was born September 29, 1868 in Alpine, Utah, the tenth and last child of Richard Thornton and Elsie Edge Booth. May Booth's parents were natives of Lancashire, England and had converted to Mormonism there. They immigrated to Utah in 1857, crossing the plains by ox-cart and settling in Alpine.
May acquired her early education in the local district school and moved from Alpine to Provo in 1865 to enroll in the two-year "Normal" (i.e. teacher preparation) course in the Brigham Young Academy. She was sixteen. Among her teachers, in addition to Karl G. Maeser, was James E. Talmage, who had recently returned from two years of study with honors in eastern universities. May enrolled in his class in astronomy and her favorable impressions of him grew deeper the longer she knew him. While there was no social contact between the professor and the student outside of the classroom, there is evidence that the professor was also deeply impressed by his pupil.
While pursuing her studies May engaged in social and other extra-curricular activities, and served a term as secretary of the Polysophical Society, BYA's major on-campus intellectual/social organization of the day.
Upon the completion of her courses, she left home to teach school in Kaysville. In February, 1888, the winter after May received her Normal Certificate and during her first year in Kaysville, James paid her a visit. Ostensibly, he traveled to Kaysville to study the waters of the Great Salt Lake. But, he also used the study as an excuse for calling on May with the intention of establishing a permanent relationship with her.
On their first formal date, James asked May (whom he referred to as "Maia") to be his wife. Five months later, on June 14, they were married in the Manti Temple. They became the parents of eight children: Sterling, Paul, Zella (who died as a child), Elsie, Karl, Lucile, Helen and John.
May Booth Talmage was a fine example of the highest ideals of Latter-day Saint womanhood. Home and family were her primary interests, along with her devotion to Gospel principles and duties. While maintaining their home and raising the children, she sustained her husband in his professional career, in his early church callings, and later when he was called to the Council of the Twelve Apostles and full time church service.
May also found time for her own cultural development and pursuits, for
church and civic responsibilities, and for participation in women's activities,
at times nationally and even internationally as well as in her home community.
She was active in Sunday School, Primary and Relief Society at the ward level,
and for almost forty years served on the General Board of the Young Women's
Mutual Improvement Association. For several years she was chairman of the
committee on the
She was a member of the Executive Board of the Utah Territorial Women's Suffrage Association and represented Utah women in presenting a paper at the World Congress of Women at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 and as a delegate to the triennial meeting of the National Council of Women in 1906. She served a term as vice-president of the BYU Alumni Association and was vice-president of the Free Kindergarten Association when it was organized in Utah. She was the first president of the Parent-Teacher Association of the Lowell School in Salt Lake City and was a charter member of the Authors' Club and the Friendship Circle.
In the earlier years of her married life, May remained at home to care for the growing family when her husband made numerous trips to the eastern U.S. or Europe either for the Church or to attend scientific and professional meetings. In 1924, however, when Elder Talmage was assigned to Europe to preside over the European Missions of the Church, May accompanied him. From 1924 through 1927 she presided over the Relief Societies of those missions and for two years supervised MIA activities in the British Mission. She travelled extensively in Great Britain and on the continent in the course of her duties.
When May Booth Talmage died on April 6, 1944, the
Elder James E. Talmage, May's husband, was a geologist, educator,
prominent author and LDS Apostle. Born in the town of Hungerford, Berkshire,
England, on September 21, 1862, he came to America with his parents, arriving
in Salt Lake City in 1876. James studied at Brigham Young Academy, Provo, Utah;
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, Maryland; and Illinois-Wesleyan University. He was a popular and
active speaker and a prolific writer, being best known for his works
Most of the information in the above biography of May Booth Talmage
was excerpted freely (without quotation marks) from a biographical sketch
written by her son, John. It is available along with additional biographical
and genealogical information in typescript form in MSS 229, The James Edward
Talmage Papers, box 24, folder 8. For a more detailed biography of Elder
Talmage see the
This collection comprises personal and family correspondence (1890-1934) of the Talmage family and a journal (1887-1892) of May Talmage. It includes letters exchanged by May and James Talmage and correspondence with their children. There is also correspondence with a few other family members, and a few friends, colleagues and church members. Most of the materials were sent to May and preserved by her. Thus, from an archival perspective, they are largely an incoming segment of her personal archives or papers and are appropriately designated as the Merry May Booth Talmage Papers with most of the incoming letters being from her husband.
The bulk of this correspondence was generated by their trips, both his frequent and lengthy absences from home on Church or professional business and her occasional travels also. The letters reveal their feelings and concerns about major family events occurring during the time covered by the correspondence and contain regular expressions of their tender feelings toward one another and their children. Major family events occurred during the time period, including the birth of two of their children, Paul and Elsie, numerous holidays, birthdays and other special days spent apart, and several illnesses suffered by James and May. The letters give evidence of the weight and nature of his apostolic calling and its impact on him and his family. Elder Talmage felt keenly the need to stay in close touch with his family and his letters contain wonderfully detailed descriptions of what he saw, what he did and how he felt. Such documentation is a direct outgrowth of travel in the age before airplanes and telephones with their immediacy of contact and ease of movement. Travel in the Americas and Europe in the age of the train, the telegraph and the early automobile lent itself to letter writing.
All items in this collection are photocopies. See also: MSS 229, The James Edward Talmage Collection and MSS 155, The Joseph W. Booth Collection. Joseph W. Booth was Merry May Booth's brother.
Each folder title and descriptive entry below includes, as appropriate, the following information in the order given: name or author, title, record type, span dates, quantity, arrangement, and content. Please note that all of the family correspondence is arranged in chronological order.
The following abbreviations are used in the container list: ANS for autograph note signed; ALS for autograph letter signed; AL for autograph letter unsigned; TLS for typed letter signed; and TL for typed letter unsigned.