Alice Merrill Horne

Who was Alice Merrill Horne?

Alice Merrill Horne was a Utah artist and politician.

Horne was born Alice Merrill 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 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 the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and privately under such noted Utah artists as 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. 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.