It’s official: we’re award winners! The Utah State Historical Records Advisory Board (USHRAB) has been awarded the 2023 SHRAB Award of Merit from the Council of State Archivists (CoSA) and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). This annual award recognizes an outstanding State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB) and the Utah SHRAB unanimously won for outstanding programming and service to the people of the state.
Every state and American territory has a State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB), which is authorized under the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). SHRABs serve as the central advisory body for historical records planning and for Commission-funded projects developed and carried out within the state. These boards are coordinating bodies which facilitate cooperation among historical records repositories and other information agencies within the state.
The USHRAB was created in 1978 and is administered by the Utah Division of Archives and Records Service. The Board’s mission is to assist public and private non-profit organizations throughout the state in the preservation of and access to records with enduring historical value, and to foster cooperation among cultural heritage institutions and records repositories throughout Utah in carrying out these activities. Along with maintaining its re-grant, consulting archivist, and archival training programs, USHRAB’s project for 2022 was to craft a new five-year strategic plan. The 2023–2027 plan establishes an updated mission, a set of goals, and progress benchmarks. The Board will also expand its support for community-based archives, such as recognizing how community groups conceptualize various archival practices and develop archival frameworks based on community perspectives and needs rather than rely solely on top-down institutional models.