LeRoy R. Hafen

LeRoy Reuben Hafen (December 8, 1893 – March 8, 1985) was a historian of the American West and a Latter-day Saint. For many years he was a professor of history at Brigham Young University (BYU).

Biography He was born on December 8, 1893, in Bunkerville, Nevada, to John George Hafen, a polygamist, and Mary Ann Stucki. He attended high school in Cedar City, Utah, for two years and then at the St. George Stake Academy (now Utah Tech University) At Berkeley Hafen studied under Herbert E. Bolton. and then he taught at BYU for 17 years. While Colorado State Historian Hafen was also the director of the Colorado State Museum and editor of the Colorado Magazine. In 1947 Hafen served as a visiting professor at the University of Glasgow and in 1949-1950 he has a fellowship at the Huntington Library. Among the authors whose work appeared in these volumes edited by Hafen were David J. Weber, Abraham P. Nasatir and Carl P. Russell. Hafen also edited Volumes 9, 10 and 11 of the Southwest Historical Series. Hafen also edited (along with his wife Ann) the 14 volume collection of primary sources The Far West and the Rockies, 1820-1875 which was the leading publication of the Arthur H. Clark Company during the 1950s and for the editing of which Arthur H. Clark Jr. had specifically recruited Hafen.

Hafen's book Broken Hand: The Life of Thomas Fitzpatrick involved him in a complex set of interactions to bring it to publication. He originally co-authored it with W. J. Gent with the intent of having it published as a popular history. With the advent of the Great Depression Gent was not able to sell the manuscript. In the summer of 1930 Hafen taught at the University of Colorado and also joined with John Van Male in the formation of The Old West Publishing Company, with the two of them as partners in the business. This ended up being the only book published by the company. Hafen also wrote with Carl C. Rister Western America (1941) which was a text-book on the history of the Trans-Mississippi west in the United States and through 1960 was the only textbook with this as its primary focus.

Among articles of note by Hafen were "The Old Spanish Trail, Santa Fe to Los Angeles" in Huntington Library Quarterly Vol. 11, No. 2, Feb. 1948, p. 149-160.

Many of Hafen's books were written in cooperation with his wife. This included the 15 volume series called the Far West and the Rockie Mountains. The Hafens were the parents of two children.

Legacy Hafen's book The Overland Mail, 1849-1869 was republished in 2004 by the University of Oklahoma Press with a foreword by David Dary.

The Colorado Historical Society gives out a LeRoy R. Hafen award.