Views from the Road: Highway 89

Jim Kichas Digital Archives, History

While not as well known or celebrated as Route 66, Highway 89 is a defining artery of tourism and exploration in the western United States. Traveling from the high mountains of Montana to the low deserts of Arizona, Highway 89 passes through (or is adjacent to) seven national parks, including Saguaro, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and …

Preserving Utah State Prison Records

Jim Kichas History, News and Events

Our State Government Team has been providing assistance to the Department of Corrections as they work to move the State Prison from its current site in Draper to the newly constructed site west of the Salt Lake International Airport in 2022. With so much history, and lots of official records, this is a massive project that we are excited to …

Salt Lake City NAACP Youth Council Lunch Counter Petition

Heidi Steed History, News and Events

After the Great Depression, the United States saw a nationwide trend toward increased political engagement among young people. The NAACP, originally founded in 1909, took advantage of this movement to significantly restructure its youth program. The subsequent changes to the Youth Council formalized the participation of young people within the NAACP by allowing its youngest members more opportunities to interact …

Insights from Heber’s Sexton Report

Mahala Ruddell History, Research

In March 2019, Heber City transferred a large batch of historical records to the State Archives. Although we were able to fully process and create finding aids for the bulk of the transfer that same year, the subsequent coronavirus pandemic interrupted our project. We are now eagerly wrapping up the final pieces, most of which are records from the Heber …

Highlights with Heidi: Research Archivist at Utah State Archives & Records Service

Highlights with Heidi: Clarkston Records

Lauren Katz History, News and Events

This special find actually came from our OTHER Heidi who is a Records and Information Management Specialist for local governments. Recently her team visited the town of Clarkston in Cache County and were able to bring back some records to keep in our repository. Once everything is processed we will share more, but we couldn’t help sharing this sneak peek.  …

New Digital Collection: Colorado River Compact Records

Jim Kichas Digital Archives, History, News and Events

November 24, 2022 will mark the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Colorado River Compact. In the eleven months between January and November of 1922, multiple meetings were held between federal and western state representatives that resulted in the Colorado River Compact. Over the course of its history, the legal framework that has emerged to manage development of the …

The Law of the River: The Central Utah Project

Jim Kichas History

This is the third (and final) in a series of blog posts that will explore records held by the Utah State Archives that help illuminate the story of Utah’s role in the larger western movement to tame and develop the Colorado River as a vital resource in the arid west. ENVISIONING THE CENTRAL UTAH PROJECT Due to circumstances of geology and …

The Law of the River: Developing the Upper Basin

Jim Kichas History

This is the second in a series of blog posts that will explore records held by the Utah State Archives that help illuminate the story of Utah’s role in the larger western movement to tame and develop the Colorado River as a vital resource in the arid west. UPPER COLORADO RIVER BASIN COMPACT With the passage of the Colorado River Compact …

Sanpete County Records Now Online

Gina Strack Digital Archives, History

A small digital collection that contained only the earliest Spring City Council minutes has now been expanded to include several maps from the same city. Records in this collection were created by various local government entities in Sanpete County and document the history of the county. Sanpete County, located in central Utah, is a largely agricultural county founded in 1850. …

Looking Back: 1980 Capitol Windstorm

Alan Barnett History, News and Events

Here along the Wasatch Front, we periodically get some pretty wild windstorms. Some do more damage than others, so some are more memorable than others. In September 2020 we had a particularly strong storm that uprooted hundreds of trees and caused prolonged power outages. Coming as it did on the heels of Salt Lake’s largest recorded earthquake and in the …