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Rulon C. Allred journals

 Collection
Identifier: UUS_COLL MSS 533

Scope and Contents

This collection includes select photocopies of Rulon C. Allred’s journals that begin in 1931 and conclude on May 10, 1977, the day of Rulon’s murder. USU Special Collections and Archives made the photocopies while the original journals were on loan in 2013.

The Rulon C. Allred journals would be of use for a variety of research topics. These materials would be an asset to researchers of twentieth century polygamy, LDS fundamentalist sects, the Apostolic United Brethren, and for biographical details of Rulon C. Allred’s life.

Dates

  • 1931-2017

Language of Materials

Material in English

Conditions Governing Access

No restrictions on use, except: not available through interlibrary loan.

Conditions Governing Use

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.

Permission to publish material from the Roulon C. Allred journals must be obtained from the Special Collections Manuscript Curator and/or the Special Collections Department Head.

Biographical Note

Rulon C. Allred was born in Chihuahua, Mexico in 1906. The son of Byron Harvey Allred and Mary Evelyn Clark, Bryon’s second wife, Rulon was raised in a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) family that continued to practice plural marriage after the Church denounced polygamy in 1890. Due to the illegal nature of his father’s marriages, Rulon spent most of his childhood moving throughout the Western United States and Canada but eventually chose to continue the fundamentalist practice of polygamy himself. In 1926, he married his first wife Katherine Handy. However, Katherine refused to live the polygamous lifestyle adopted by her husband and terminated their marriage in 1935. From 1936 to 1941 Rulon married five women, a practice for which the LDS church excommunicated him on May 8, 1940.

In May of 1945, The state of Utah convicted and incarcerated Rulon for his illegal practice of plural marriage. The state prison released Rulon on parole that December and he subsequently moved to the LeBaron polygamous ranch in Los Parceles, Mexico. Rulon eventually became the president of the Apostolic United Brethren, a moderate polygamous sect existing in Utah, Montana, Colorado and Arizona. His sect of LDS fundamentalists was often in conflict with the more conservative LeBaron and Jeffs groups, which, on May 10, 1977, resulted in his assassination by two women under orders from Ervil LeBaron. Over the course of his life Rulon married seven women and fathered a total of 48 children.

Extent

3 boxes (1.5 linear feet)

Abstract

This collection contains photocopies of Rulon C. Allred's journals. Allred lead the Apolistic United Brethern, a fundamentalist, polygamous sect of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, until his murder in 1977.

Arrangement

The journals are arranged chronologically by date of the original.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The Rulon C. Allred Journal copies were donated to USU Special Collections and Archives by Rhoda Allred in 2017. The Allred family donated the original journals to the L. Tom Perry Special Collections at Brigham Young University.

Processing Information

Processed in May of 2017

Title
Guide to the Rulon C. Allred journals 1931-2017
Author
Finding aid/Register created by Cody Patton and Clint Pumphrey
Date
©2017
Description rules
Finding Aid Based On Dacs (Describing Archives: A Content Standard, 2nd Edition)
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid encoded in English.

Revision Statements

  • 2009: Template information was updated to reflect Archives West best practice guidelines.

Repository Details

Part of the Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives Repository

Contact:
Merrill-Cazier Library
Utah State University
3000 Old Main Hill
Logan Utah 84322-3000 United States
435 797-8248
435 797-2880 (Fax)