Alice Merrill Horne

Alice Merrill Horne (1868–1948) was a Utah artist and politician.

Alice Merrill was born in Fillmore, Utah Territory, to Charles Merrill and his wife Bathsheba Smith. Her maternal grandparents were George A. Smith and Bathsheba W. Smith. Alice Merrill married George H. Horne, who spent much of his career as a banker in Salt Lake City. Early in their marriage, George served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in the southern United States, and during this time Alice worked as a schoolteacher in Salt Lake City. George and Alice had six children.

Alice Horne studied at various times at the University of Deseret (now the University of Utah) the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and privately under Utah artists John Hafen, George M. Ottinger, J. T. Harwood, Herman Haag, Mary Teasdel, and Henry Taggart.

In 1898, Horne was elected to the Utah House of Representatives (3rd Utah State Legislature). While in the state legislature, she was a key force behind enacting a bill to create a state art institute and to create a state art collection. The latter is today named the Alice Art Collection after her (State of Utah Art Collections). She also was on the committee that oversaw the acquisition for the current site of the University of Utah.

In 1901, Horne was called as a member of the general board of the LDS Church's Relief Society. She served on the board until 1915 and during part of this time was chair of the art committee. In 1904, she served as a delegate on behalf of the Relief Society to the International Congress of Women held in Berlin. She served as president of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers from April 11, 1903, to April 24, 1905.

Starting in the 1920s, Horne ran an art gallery with the main goal of exhibiting and selling works of inter-mountain artists. Her husband died in 1934 and she continued to run the art gallery until her own death in 1948.

References

• Utah History Encyclopedia article on Horne
• "Past Presidents: Presidents of International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers". International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Retrieved 5 December 2012.