History Makes Recession Road Less Rocky

Find a path; leave a trail.

We're hearing the challenges in every newscast, reading them on the stock market pages, and feeling them in our homes and wallets. We don't need more information on recession difficulties—we need information on recession solutions.

Heritage Associates knows history has the answers. How did a business survive during the depression? What did your grandmother do to stretch a depleted pantry? Who did your grandfather turn to in a personal crisis? Where did his employer find money to meet pay roll?

Our problems aren't new; we're new to the problems. Remedies are available if we look to the past, and apply age-old values to our future.

A corporate history is the perfect way to reassure clients and employees that solving problems is a tradition in your company. Remembering pressures of former economic downturns, and the vision and innovations that led to renewal will encourage creativity. An anniversary booklet enumerating goals and accomplishments will remind all concerned of your time-honored dependability.

Families look to those who survived personal struggles for assurance. True heroes are difficult to find in our society, but there are many hidden in the branches of a family tree. When their stories are told, descendants will recognize that courage and optimism are part of their heritage, and renew their own resolve.

We are living through a time that will provide hope to future generations; we are making valuable history on a daily basis. Those that follow us will need our experience to get through rocky patches of their own.

Make sure those coming behind you
have a trail to follow.

Right now is a crucial time to keep a record of setbacks, snags, solutions and successes. Heritage Associates LLC is prepared to help you. A successful history will repeat itself.

W. Dee Halverson

Lund, Nevada

Lund, NV

From London to Lund, Heritage Associates specializes in research on location.

No matter where the story takes place, the process is similar for Dee Halverson. In this case the fieldwork took place in fields surrounding a beautiful valley 75 miles from Ely, Nevada. Small local museums and archives gave clues to the first settlement, with detailed maps, old photos and early documents. The family who commissioned this history recommended folks for oral interviews. With diaries, letters, old newspaper clippings and scrapbooks, the story began to unfold.

Thirty Mormon pioneer families from St. George, Utah, made the 250-mile trek north by covered wagon in the late 1890's. One young wife wrote that her husband left her behind to safely deliver her new baby. Ten days later she joined a group to travel with her 2-year-old daughter and infant son on a 2-week journey to join him in her new home—a tent-covered dug-out.

The desert conditions were improved
by bringing water to the community from nearby streams.

There is still evidence of the logs that were
hollowed out and used as water pipes.

The old school is a monument to education.
Fannie was a school teacher who lived with the Carter family
and eventually fell in love with one of their sons.
She taught all ages in one small room.

Log cabins and adobe houses replaced
tents and dug-outs.

Windmills provided power.

And the desert began to blossom.


These folks made a difference
and they all have stories to tell.

Book Designs

All art work is from the book: The LDS Conference Center

When Dee Halverson studied architectural preservation in York, England he became acquainted with what has become a favorite quote by John Ruskin:

"When we build let us think that we build for ever. Let it not be for present delight, nor for present use alone; let it be such work as our descendants will thank us. Let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say as they look upon the labour, 'See! This our fathers did for us.'"

Heritage Associates originally produced The LDS Conference Center: The Story of Its Construction to honor Legacy Constructors and more than 4,000 workers, who built the magnificent edifice in just over 1,000 days. That book was edited and reworked for the public, and is now available again in a new edition.


Amy Robinson is a freelance graphic artist and an associate of Heritage Associates LLC. She has laid out each of the books and talks here about her craft:

"The Conference Center is a beautiful and modern edifice in historical downtown Salt Lake City. Standing across the street from the Salt Lake Temple built by pioneers, this new building is a testament to the longevity of faith and tradition amongst an ever changing world. I wanted to celebrate this notion in the design of the 2nd edition.

"One of the first things I like to design is the book's cover. A unique, interesting cover draws readers to a book. I want it to say something even before you read the words.

"For various projects I've searched for inspiration in old photos, a family's heritage, or, as in the case of the LDS Conference Center, architecture. Once I have a theme I carefully select fonts to carry a certain style throughout the book. I want each of the books I design to reflect the character of the stories inside.


"My work is in the details: the font, the colors, borders, text flow and pictures. I love to personalize all of these details to create a certain feel for a book. With the LDS Conference Center book, I wanted to create a feeling of reverence and beauty while celebrating the modernity of the building's design.

"I used contrasts to create a tone. For instance: a classic font contrasting with a very modern font throughout the book creates a juxtaposition between old and new. The same thing happens when you mix bright, vivid, digital images with old black and white photographs. We feel a sense of time and timelessness in this marvelous building.

"Themes and ratios from the building's architecture inspired borders, titles and textures within the book. We kept much of the text and many of the same images used in the 1st edition, but with the advances in printing and designing software, the 2nd edition has an elegance and style that was lacking before. We tightened the kerning of the text, and used high quality digital images to create a more streamlined effect."


Amy's training as an art historian benefits her work. "Studying classic and modern art has given me the eye of an artist. Learning about shape, line, texture, and color through the eyes of Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Mondrian has aided me when creating my own projects. The many different styles of art throughout history has opened my eyes to ways to display feelings and thoughts. This variety helps me create a custom design fitting the needs of my clients."


"I did not set out to be a graphic designer. I went to college and studied Art History. After graduating, I knew I needed to learn a profitable skill and graphic design was a perfect fit! My brother, Peter, took me under his wings and taught me all that he knew. His training and a lot of trial and error has brought me to the point I'm at now. There is always more to learn, since the technology is always advancing."

Amy Robinson

Amy is a mom with three young daughters, whom she home schools. Volunteering in her church and neighborhood keeps her busy. "Every day is a struggle to balance the many roles I play. I feel lucky that I can stay home with my children. Before I had them, graphic designing was my identity. Now, it has been labeled my "profitable hobby." When the kids are playing or sleeping, I sit down at my laptop and have a little fun designing. I like the feeling of being productive through my creative outlet. I create invitations, scrapbook pages, flyers and other smaller projects for clients when I'm between books."

Heritage Projects appreciates Amy's talents.

The LDS Conference Center

The LDS Conference Center 2nd Edition

Heritage Associates originally published The LDS Conference Center in 2000 to correspond with the opening and dedication of the building. W.Dee Halverson compiled dozens of interviews with the major players who conceived, designed, built and finished the majestic edifice in record time.

The story is told using personal experiences, magnificent photographs, and structural information unavailable elsewhere. In fact, the text of the book forms the basis of the narrative given by over 900 volunteer guides who lead thousands of tours every year in Salt Lake City.

The first 10,000 books sold rapidly and The LDS Conference Center has been out-of-print for several years. Due to high demand, Dee has prepared a second edition, with additional information and photographs in an updated format. This book is going to print immediately and will be available to the general public soon.

"The book is one-of-a-kind. I'm asked about it wherever I go, and am pleased to offer it again as a tribute to the vision of President Gordon B. Hinckley and all those who were part of the creation of the LDS Conference Center," said Dee Halverson.

Often Dee's projects are researched and written for specific clients. This book was prepared for everyone who believes (or wants to believe) in miracles.

New Publication

All images from Heritage Associates Projects

Finishing a book at Heritage Associates is like having a baby. After long months of excited preparation, followed by intense labor at the end, the whole team gathers to congratulate each other on a job well-done, and gaze fondly at the newborn. It is already known and loved, but everybody wants to see what it looks like.

Marta Dansie, a talented free-lance graphic artist (and daughter of Dee Halverson) has been a layout designer for Heritage Associates' books since 2001. Marta collects ideas. She has dozens of files filled with clippings, photos and illustrations of anything she thinks she might need one day. Combined with an artistic eye and a poet's imagination, her compositions are always distinctive. I asked her about the process she uses to create a rich, unique and interesting page-by-page design.

Marta said:
I love starting a new book! When Dee has finished writing the text, he hands the chapters over to me in a hefty three ring binder. His books are usually histories about individuals, families, cities, or businesses, so there is a lot of new material to get familiar with. I learn so much about interesting people and places in this first step.


I try to get the vision of what each particular book should look like as I read. Designing books is first and foremost about enhancing the author's text. Dee travels near and far, puts in hours of research, and performs numerous interviews before he even begins telling the tales. When the manuscript is ready for me to start designing, it contains many months of work. I hope to highlight the words and bring the histories to life with art. I jot down ideas for design that come to me while I pore over the chapters.


Once I'm acquainted with the text, I begin the task of scanning the images to be featured in the book. It's best to err on the side of too many images and artifacts, guaranteeing that we feature the very best images in each chapter.


Dee rifles through dusty attics, pages through vintage albums and hunts through boxes to find the perfect pieces to add life to his text. Together we decide which photos, documents, and ephemera need to go in which chapter. This is when I familiarize myself with the faces from the text. I like to get to know the characters. I enjoy working with sepia photographs from yesteryear, ancient documents with well-worn deep creases, beloved army letters which have been saved in their ripped envelopes, passports with young, healthy faces ready for adventure, beautiful paper money from all across the globe, and small colorful stamps sent from here to there. I use Photoshop software to improve the speckled, dusty or damaged images. Dee's clients appreciate seeing these treasures combined on an archival CD to keep for future generations.


Coming up with the skeleton of the book is all-important. I attempt to find out what Dee's vision is for his story. He knows it better than anyone and often has ideas of what the book should feel like. Together we determine the basics for the book: size and shape, paper weight and finish, the binding method, the cover material, etc. This is often choreographed with the print shop to discuss price and any limitations there may be. We narrow down the millions of possibilities. I appreciate knowing the boundaries of a project: I can think bigger if I understand the limits.


Then Dee lets me loose with my imagination and the real graphic design comes into play. Concentrating on one chapter at a time, designing a 200 page book becomes a manageable feat. I use InDesign software to create the blank book, set up margins, pick type size, and prep all the page components before actually laying out the text.


I select dozens of fonts that I think might work with the feel of the story. I pair them together and decide on the ones that are legible, interesting, and bring out the flavor of the history within the text. Choosing photos and ephemera that illustrate the words on each page is a big part of my job as a book designer. Using my best judgment I settle on those that suit the story, fit on the page neatly, and add to the overall look of the book. I like colorful images that pop on the page, yet don't distract from the story itself.


I always prepare a prototype of the first chapter for Dee to look over and show the client. Once I know they are pleased, I continue to design the rest of the book, chapter by chapter. I go back and forth, finding images that might work better here or there. By the time I finish designing a book, I know what photo is on page 43 and what clipart I used on page 109. Putting time and effort into careful designing makes both the images and text look like they belong together. My goal in building a book, is to marry the overall design to the author's text in a seamless fashion, enhancing the fascinating stories.


Marta's enthusiasm for her work allows her to work incredibly hard for long stretches to meet deadlines. This is her new baby!

Book Smart

You can recognize a true book-lover by the way he touches an old book. He notices the feel and smell of the leather, the softness of the pages, the embossing on the cover, the colors of the endpapers.

Dee Halverson, president of Heritage Associates, LLC, has always loved historical artifacts of every variety. When he first started collecting old books, he became familiar with the problems peculiar to them: loose hinges, torn linings and dust jackets, frayed spines, and other defects that begged to be fixed.

While studying historic preservation in York, England, Dee had the opportunity to apprentice with a world-renowned book binder (Peter Smith on Grape Lane) where he learned many tricks of the trade. Since then, as Dee acquires books, he examines, cleans, and, when necessary, gently repairs each addition to his library. His book repair kit is stashed in a closet, with supplies that have added life to favorite old books, from nursery rhyme collections to holy scriptures.

It is routine for Dee to investigate the volumes on some one's bookshelf and say, "Can I take this book home and fix it for you?"


He assembles pots of special adhesives, toothpicks, small artist's brushes, wax paper, alcohol, Vaseline, fine grain sandpaper, large soft erasers, clean cloths, elastics and heavy books to use as weights. Baking soda, solid air freshener and even leaves of tobacco can be used to "de-stink" moldy pages in a large suitcase or metal file-cabinet drawer.

The English bibliographer William Blades said, "An old book, whatever its subject, is truly a portion of history. We may imitate it or reprint it, but we can never exactly reproduce it; as an historical document it should be carefully preserved."

To Dee Halverson, every book is a personal friend.

Midway Utah Celebrates 150 Years

Wasatch County, Utah

What are you doing April 15, 2009? Bake a big cake to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Midway, Utah. Dee Halverson will blow out the candles, although his wish is coming true. Since writing Midway: Portrait of a Town, Heritage Associates has worked towards creating a memorial to the earliest pioneers.

On April 15, 1859, after a long, difficult journey up the Provo Canyon Road, Benjamin Mark Smith, David Wood, Jesse McCarrell, Sidney Epperson and Jeremiah Robey and their families were the first to settle the lower part of Snake Creek. They called their settlement "Smith's Grove."

A few weeks later, another settlement on the upper part of Snake Creek was founded as "Mound City." A fort was established by the two growing communities for protection against Indian hostilities in 1866. Because it was exactly midway between the two earlier settlements it was designated Fort Midway.

The Mound City site has been recognized by an historic monument on the Homestead Road for many years, but the Smith's Grove location has been long forgotten. This year a new LDS Chapel is being constructed on Center Street not far from the original "Smith's Grove" location. Preliminary plans indicate that the Smith's Grove Chapel will be ready for dedication about the time of the 150th anniversary. Plans also include a memorial plaque and monument on the site to honor those who first established Midway.

Home to resorts, golf courses, and spectacular scenery, Midway is one of the fastest growing towns in Utah. Residents both new and old salute the foresight and hardiness of the first pioneers.

Book Work

Dee in Vienna 2008
Antiquariat Books
Weihburggasse 16

Creating a book is an art form, and a specialty of Heritage Associates.

After researching a subject for months, collecting interviews and organizing data, the book work begins. Writing, re-writing, copy editing, inserting and blending; then line editing and rewriting again. Images are accumulated from the start, but now comes the process of sifting through photographs, ephemera, illustrations and examples.

Ideas come by poring through old books, noticing fonts, dropped caps, title pages, appendixes. The heft of a book, and how it's meant to be read is considered. Will the reader be sitting at a table with room to spread out, or will this book be tucked in a backpack to be read on an airplane? The weight and size is critical so it will be comfortable in a reader's hand.

Our graphic artist marries the text to the artwork with incredible composition skills: scanning, cropping, experimenting with margins, designing chapter layouts, spacing the images and connecting them to the story. Captions are added. Paper is chosen by judging weight and glossiness: what will show off photographs the best, without causing glare and eyestrain. The file is finally sent to the printer who creates a prototype for binding.

With the finished book in hand, a die-cut is created for the cover and title. Decisions about the binding are finalized: three-quarter leather, full leather, embossing, color, and the spine lettering. Hand-made marbleized end-papers are chosen for special presentation copies. For one book, actual blueprints of the featured building were used. The book makes the exciting trip to the bindery, where it will become a real book at last. This is an art Heritage Associates is known for.

Roots of Heritage Associates

Bootham Bar, York, England

Heritage Associates, LLC has it's roots in England. Dee Halverson moved his family of nine to the ancient walled city of York for a year in 1985 while he got a master's degree in Historic Preservation at the University of York.

During that time, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was preparing to celebrate 150 years in the British Isles. A professor at BYU was writing a book on the subject and asked Dee to search out some particular historical sites in England. Memorable events and locations were described in diaries written 150 years before by Heber C. Kimball and Wilford Woodruff, but the coordinates had disappeared from modern maps. Names like Hilltop Farm, Castle Frome, Benbow Pond and Job Pingree's Mill were well-known to LDS historians, but the actual places were lost in the depths of the countryside.

English Countryside

Dee was further asked to follow the journals and find appropriate locations for the Church to place historic plaques, hold celebrations, and even purchase property for the British saints to enjoy.

Over several months Dee traveled the length and breadth of England's narrow, crooked roads, using 100-year-old ordnance maps, collecting information from local folks. LDS church members (Mormons) had immigrated en masse to Utah in the 1850's, and their important places weren't important to the people now living in England. Many British Latter-day Saints didn't know the history of their earlier counterparts who had left, and were unfamiliar with the church sites themselves. One major reason for the celebrations, plaques and documentation was to acquaint members with their own church history.

Without the aid of a computer, satellite map, or GPS, Dee gathered precise details. It was an unpaid position; in fact Dee actually paid all his own expenses. But it was like an apprenticeship, and he discovered that he loved gathering history and assembling the pieces together like a puzzle. Facts, locales and human stories must be compiled and put into written form to be accessible to scholars. This on-the-ground research was valuable, necessary, and Dee recognized he was good at it.

Using a magnifying glass to read the old maps, he found significant markets, lodgings, farms and ponds, and then transposed them onto modern maps. Sometimes the roads were gone; often he had to climb out of the car and peer through high hedgerows to see the ruins hidden behind them. Luckily things don't change too quickly in England and he eventually compiled directions to a cemetery in Llanelli, Wales, to a home on the Isle of Man, to a stone wall in Downham, Lancashire, with many noteworthy farms, chapels, and rivers in between. The history now had a setting.

Preston, England

After returning to Salt Lake City in 1986, Dee served on the committee that prepared the historical markers. He also established a private preservation trust and raised money to purchase and rebuild some of the buildings he had found in ruins. There are guided tours in Britain designed around these sites today.

Gadfield Elm Chapel

The next year Dee went back to England for a month to set up displays in town halls and libraries around the country, and transport the plaques to their destinations. When it was all over, it was time to find a real job.

In connection with these events, Dee had a chance to interview Gordon B. Hinckley who was a counselor in the 1st Presidency of the Church at the time. He asked Dee about his career plans after the Sesquicentennial was over and Dee told him he was considering a job with the Church archives.

President Hinckley recognized some characteristics and talents unique to Dee. He said this:

"Dee, history is not just in the archives. Most of it is in the attics and basements of everyday people, waiting to be discovered. You tell those stories."

And Heritage Associates was born.

Dee Halverson: History of the Historian

Zhorec, Czech Republic
2008

You might say that I was born to history, because I was one of the first wave of post-World War II baby boomers. My birthday, October 5, 1946, came exactly nine months after my father returned home after serving in the U.S. Army in Europe. His tales of army life in England and France were enhanced by the various wartime souvenirs and artifacts that he kept religiously. The pages of newspaper clippings, maps, foreign stamps and coins fascinated me and stimulated my interest in faraway geography, history and culture.

Even my elementary school, Timpanogos, was named for a long-since disappeared tribe of local Native Americans, as well as an 11,000-foot overwhelmingly beautiful mountain peak nearby. Each day from Kindergarten through 6th Grade my route from home to school and back took me past some historic sites—the small group of well-preserved, Mormon pioneer log cabins in Sowiette Park and the well-preserved artifacts and docents in the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum. There was also a large granite-topped monument with a bronze plaque telling of the settlement of the Provo, Utah area. I was always trying to figure out how to pry loose the large “fool’s gold” rocks embedded within the monument.

Great teachers of history, languages and geography continually inspired me with stories of Richard Halliburton, the world traveler / explorer; Spanish padres and mountainmen fur-trappers who explored our mountains and valleys; and also the faith-driven colonizers of our land. I always found myself connecting with these subjects and disinterested in science, math or trigonometry. When it was time to go to college there was no hesitation for me to dive headfirst into all the Humanities, at the same time that “plastics” and aerospace were all the rage. I would simply not be put off by those who would ask, “But what are you going to do with it?”

Opportunities opened up for me to continue my quest. I cruised through my college courses, always deferring the unattractive classes in the Sciences that were required. Then I was called to serve a two-year mission for my church in West Germany which opened up a whole new world of inquiry. Later I returned to Europe to study more history and culture on a semester abroad program. As an added bonus I met my future wife who was also studying in Austria. Now I had someone to share my passion for the past and other things with. Marty and I were determined to have a dozen children; raise them in a German-speaking household; and some day take them to live in a foreign country.

Although I had set my sights on the Foreign Service, the war in Vietnam came crashing into our lives with the military draft lottery of December 1969. It was the first and only lottery that I was declared a winner—my draft number was 24th out of 365. By the time I had completed the ROTC courses three years later, I had a college degree and a growing family of three children. Before being commissioned I received a medical discharge and started planning all over again.

After a detour into the business world, Marty and I took our seven children to York, England so I could complete an advanced degree in History while living in a medieval, walled-city. Finally, I was on track again. 

Returning home to Utah I decided to hang out my shingle as a Public Historian. In 1985 our company, Heritage Associates, LLC, was founded to provide history-based products to institutions, government, individuals and families. Since that time we have been dedicated to communicating the client’s history in a clear and engaging story. Our purpose is to preserve the personal or corporate memories that create a lasting legacy for future generations.

For nearly twenty-five years it has been my pleasure to research and write over fifty books of corporate, family and personal history; to conduct hundreds of oral-history interviews to preserve past memories; and to weave strands of lives, past and present, into a tapestry which tells the story of what has gone on before. I have done research throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Great Britain. There is nothing that excites me more than working on topics that have never been done or finding artifacts and documents that fill in the missing pieces. It is a blessing to be engaged in work that is meaningful and worthwhile.

At sixty-two I look forward to new projects to immerse myself in, knowing full well that there are simply more great stories out there yet to be told than I have time to complete. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next twenty-five years.

Dee at Riveaux Abbey
Yorkshire, England 2006