Harold Moroni "Hal" Schindler (December 6, 1929 – December 28, 1998) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

journalist and historian, known for his articles and books on the

American west The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

. Early in his career he also scripted episodes of the television series ''

Death Valley Days ''Death Valley Days'' is an American old-time radio and television anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program ...

'' and ''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character ...

''. He is best known for his 1966 biography of 19th-century

Latter-day Saint Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

Orrin Porter Rockwell Orrin Porter Rockwell (June 28, 1813 or June 25, 1815 – June 9, 1878) was a figure of the Wild West period of American history. A lawman in the Utah Territory, he was nicknamed ''Old Port'' and ''The Destroying Angel of Mormondom''. Rockwell se ...

Biography

Schindler was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to Moroni Helaman Nephi Schindler and Carolina Margaretta Strickstrock, who were German immigrants. Shortly afterward they moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, until 1940 when they moved to

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. He married Benita "Bonnie" Nixdorf Schindler in 1956 and they had three children. He was a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church).See excerpt from the

University of Utah Press The University of Utah Press is the independent publishing branch of the University of Utah and is a division of the J. Willard Marriott Library. Founded in 1949 by A. Ray Olpin, it is also the oldest university press in Utah. The mission of th ...

found in: Schindler had a fifty-year journalism career with the Utah daily

Salt Lake Tribune ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871." History A ...

. Starting as a copyboy in 1945, he rose through the ranks as a police reporter, humor writer, and spent 27 years as a television columnist. He was the editor of the Sunday Arts section and magazine. He also regularly covered Utah history and current events, producing articles in which he chronicled Utah's history leading to statehood. He used pioneer journals to create a series on the 150th anniversary of the

Mormon pioneers The Mormon pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), also known as Latter Day Saints, who migrated beginning in the mid-1840s until the late-1860s across the United States from the Midwest to the S ...

' arrival in the Great Salt Lake Valley. Schindler died of a heart attack in Salt Lake City on December 28, 1998.

History and publications

Schindler's biography, ''Orrin Porter Rockwell: Man of God, Son of Thunder'', is considered a definitive work on the Mormon stalwart and controversial lawman. Published in 1966 by the

, the biography has been reprinted in multiple editions to become its publisher's best-selling book ever. The book won an Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History. Schindler produced an updated edition of ''West From Fort Bridger'', an account of Western trails predating the Mormon exodus, with Utah historian

Will Bagley William Grant Bagley (May 27, 1950 – September 28, 2021) was a historian specializing in the history of the Western United States and the American Old West. Bagley wrote about the fur trade, overland emigration, Native Americans in the United Sta ...

. This edition revised and updated the work of the late Western historians

J. Roderic Korns J Roderic "Rod" Korns (July 24, 1890 – July 2, 1949) was a 20th-century editor, researcher and historian of the American west. He is best known for ''West from Fort Bridger: The Pioneering of the Immigrant Trails Across Utah 1846–1850'', comp ...

and

Dale Morgan Lowell Dale Morgan (December 18, 1914 – March 30, 1971), generally cited as Dale Morgan or Dale L. Morgan, was an American historian, accomplished researcher, biographer, editor, and critic. He specialized in material on Utah history, Mormon ...

. Schindler died while researching and writing a book on the

Utah War The Utah War (1857–1858), also known as the Utah Expedition, Utah Campaign, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between Mormon settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the US go ...

Publications

* ''In Another Time: Sketches of Utah History'',

Utah State University Press Utah State University Press (or USU Press), founded in 1972, is a university press that is part of Utah State University. It publishes works in composition studies, folklore, Mormon history, Native American studies, nature and environment, and w ...

, 1998, , . * ''Orrin Porter Rockwell: Man of God, Son of Thunder''.

, 1966: Paperback, 1993. *

Roderic Korns J Roderic "Rod" Korns (July 24, 1890 – July 2, 1949) was a 20th-century editor, researcher and historian of the American west. He is best known for ''West from Fort Bridger: The Pioneering of the Immigrant Trails Across Utah 1846–1850'', comp ...

and Dale L. Morgan, eds., ''West from Fort Bridger: The Pioneering of Immigrant Trails across Utah, 1846–1850'', revised and updated by

and Harold Schindler, Logan:

, 1994.

References

External links

Hal Schindler, Tribute, Salt Lake Tribune

Tribute by Will Bagley
Reviews of ''Orrin Porter Rockwell: Man of God, Son of Thunder''
Autumn 1967 issue
of ''

BYU Studies ''BYU Studies Quarterly'' is an academic journal covering a broad array of topics related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( Mormon studies). It is published by the church-owned Brigham Young University. The journal is abstracted ...

'', by

Thomas G. Alexander Thomas Glen Alexander (born August 8, 1935) is an American historian and academic who is a professor emeritus at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, where he was also Lemuel Hardison Redd, Jr. Professor of Western History and director of ...

Winter 1983 issue
of '' Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought'', by Eugene E. Campbell
Summer 1984 issue
of ''

'', by Richard H. Cracroft {{DEFAULTSORT:Schindler Harold 1929 births 1998 deaths 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers American male journalists Journalists from New York City American Latter Day Saint writers American people of German descent Historians of the Latter Day Saint movement Historians of Utah Writers from Chicago Writers from New York City Writers from Salt Lake City The Salt Lake Tribune people 20th-century American biographers 20th-century American male writers Latter Day Saints from Illinois Latter Day Saints from New York (state) Latter Day Saints from Utah Historians from New York (state) Historians from Illinois American male biographers