The Deseret Museum was a museum in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was originally opened as the "Salt Lake City Museum and Menagerie" by John Willard Young, with as curator, in 1869. Ownership was transferred to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1878 and Joseph L. Barfoot became curator until his death in 1882. In 1885, the Salt Lake Literary and Scientific Association acquired the property and renamed it the "Deseret Museum". In 1891 James E. Talmage became curator and was assisted by J. Reuben Clark Jr. until 1903. When Talmage was called to the Quorum of the Twelve in 1911 his son, Sterling B. Talmage, became curator.