in the humanities, usu has long history in the study of the american west. the university, through its departments of english and history, respectively, is the host institution for the scholarly journals "western american literature" and the "western historical quarterly", the official publications of the western literature association and the western history association, respectively. the mountain west center for regional studies, a humanities outreach center at usu, sponsors public events and research focusing on the cultures and history of the interior west and larger american west. university special collections and archives, located at the merrill-cazier library, has extensive archival holdings documenting the histories of utah, the intermountain west, and the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, as well as one of the nation's largest collections pertaining to american folklore, and the lives and works of western authors such as jack london and poet may swenson, a logan native and usu alumna.