Lyuba Basin appeared in a studio on May 28, 2026, to discuss the Designing Deseret Symposium: Exploring the Deseret Alphabet, according to a PBS Utah video transcript. In that appearance, Basin explained that the event was intended to highlight the Deseret alphabet, a phonetic writing system developed in the mid-19th century by leaders of the LDS Church and the Board of Regents of the original University of Deseret. Basin noted that the alphabet is unique to the Utah territory and was designed so that each sound has its own letter to make reading and writing English easier to learn.
As of May 28, 2026, Basin was helping to provide information regarding how the event would allow attendees to dive hands-on into the origins and influence of the script. The symposium was designed to include a slate of speakers discussing the history of the alphabet as well as its current cultural and artistic uses. According to the symposium schedule for June 1, 2026, Basin was set to deliver introductory remarks at the Gould Auditorium within the J. Willard Marriott Library.
This symposium, which was hosted on June 1, 2026, was a collaborative effort involving the Utah Bibliographic Society, Utah State University, Brigham Young University, and The Church History Library. The event aimed to teach participants why and how the Deseret Alphabet came to be and to encourage its revival. According to the J. Willard Marriott Library blog, the organizers hoped to provide space for students, scholars, librarians, artists, and other professionals to analyze the alphabet from various perspectives to reignite its afterlife.
The Deseret Alphabet itself is described in the June 1, 2026, symposium schedule as an ambitious experiment in language reform and cultural identity that was championed by Brigham Young in 1854. While the script did not gain widespread adoption, it remains a resource for linguists studying the historical development of English in Utah and was adopted into Unicode in 2001. The symposium sought to explore these connections, including how the alphabet interacts with modern visual culture and graphic design.
Residents encounter the work of the symposium through academic lectures and experiential sessions. For example, the June 1, 2026, schedule included presentations on the history of printing in the American West and the typographic design of the alphabet. The symposium was held in conjunction with a physical and digital exhibition on the fourth floor of the Marriott Library regarding the Deseret Alphabet, which was described by the Rare Books Team as a nineteenth-century typographic pet project of Brigham Young.
What this means for Deseret
For the people of Deseret, the work of Lyuba Basin highlights how historical linguistic experiments like the Deseret Alphabet continue to influence local culture. Through academic symposia and exhibitions, Basin helps connect mid-19th-century religious and educational developments to modern artistic and linguistic studies, ensuring this unique piece of Utah history remains a subject of active scholarly and cultural exploration.
