Series 3167

DESCRIPTION: These two volumes contain the journal entries for the territorial legislative council, or senate, from the eighth session through the twenty-fifth session. They constitute the handwritten minutes of the council's proceedings. The legislature began keeping journals with the creation of the territory in 1851. Most early minutes appear to have been discarded following publication. The entries were kept by a clerk and signed by the president of the council. The territorial secretary was to keep custody of the journals and arrange for their publication and distribution. Entries for the House of Representatives are also included for 1880; these were normally kept in House JOURNAL RECORD BOOKS.

Each day's entry covers a standard order of business. The place and date is entered, there is note of the call to order and roll, a prayer, then the daily legislative business, reading of minutes, adjournment, and a closing benediction. While the activities are noted, details are not. The beginning day of each session usually lists those members answering to roll call, thereafter the entries just specify if a quorum is present.

Legislative business is only slightly more detailed. The process of enacting legislation via bills and resolutions is the most frequent business recorded. The title of the bill is noted (the contents are not recorded) as is its status: which reading it is at, whether or not it is passed, whether it has been referred back to committee, what amendments or rewrites are motioned for, etc. The names of individuals motioning for these actions are recorded. Original bills are numbered, proceeded by H.F. for House file and C.F. for Council file, depending on where they were introduced.

The election of senate officers is recorded as is the election by joint session of officials from notary, to county probate judge, to Penitentiary director. The appointment of legislative committees is common at the beginning of each session, with the name of the committee and its members recorded.

Committee reports may also be entered in the record and are a little more narrative than much of the business noted; the reports cover a wide spectrum of business from the condition of coal mines to taxation on federal military reserves. Brief reports of territorial agencies, such as the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society, University of Deseret, Treasurer, and the Auditor's Office, are regularly read into the record.

Messages from the House, usually relating to a joint session or the passage of a bill in that house, are recorded in full. Other less frequent messages are those from the territorial secretary regarding administrative matters or the governor's wishes in relation to legislation. Annual messages from the governor are noted, but may or may not be recorded; if not, the reader is referred to the Executive Journal for the contents. Tributes are rare but long, notably one read into the record in 1878 following the death of Brigham Young the previous year.

ARRANGEMENT: Volumes and their entries are chronological.

RELATED RECORDS: Published Senate journals are available in combination with House entries through 1880 in LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY JOURNALS, series 3145, and separately from 1882 in series 409, SENATE JOURNALS. The LAWS OF UTAH, series 83155, contain the final version of bills and resolutions passed, and many originals appear in LEGISLATIVE RECORDS, series 3150. Governors' messages appear in full in the TERRITORIAL EXECUTIVE RECORD BOOKS, series 242.

PROCESSING NOTE: Microfilmed in 1970. Archivally processed by A.C. Cone in 1990. It is not known if there are other record books; any others may have been discarded at time of publication, and the information would be available in a published form as noted above.

CONTAINER LIST