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Division of Archives and Records Service
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Utah Archives Month 2015

Jim Kichas
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November 3, 2015
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October was an extremely busy month at the Utah State Archives, filled with conferences, workshops, and events celebrating Utah Archives Month 2015. The Utah State Archives was one of many repositories around the state who developed special programming to publicize the vital role archives and special collection repositories play in preserving our shared cultural record for future access and use.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of our 2015 Utah Archives Month activities is their diversity in format. This marked the first year that staff at the Utah State Archives curated online exhibits specifically for Archives Month. The first of these exhibits focuses on the history of Utah’s development of the Colorado River during the 20th century. The second online exhibit highlights the state of Utah’s legal case against labor organizer (and accused murderer) Joe Hill, who was executed by the state of Utah 100 years ago, on November 19, 1915.

The Utah State Archives was also pleased to host two important training events in October. The first event, held on October 6th, was a WESTPAS disaster preparedness workshop, entitled Protecting Cultural Collections: Preparedness, Response & Recovery. We were also pleased to host a Society of American Archivists digital archives specialist certification course dealing with copyright issues in digital archives that was held at the Utah State Archives on October 9th.

Finally, the Utah State Archives was honored to host a series of brown bag lectures, on a variety of important topics, every Wednesday in October. Our first lecture was given by folklorist Carol Edison, on October 7th, and dealt with the history of gravestone carvers in Sanpete County. Our second lecture was offered on October 14th by archivist Jim Kichas, who discussed the legal history, and ensuing development, of the Colorado River in Utah during the 20th century. The third Utah Archives Month lecture event, held on October 21st, featured historian Sarah Fox who offered a compelling presentation on her book Downwind: A People’s History of the Nuclear West. And, finally, our fourth lecture event, on October 28th, was offered by historian Brian Cannon, who gave a fascinating presentation based on his recently published work, The Awkward State of Utah: Coming of Age in the Nation, 1896-1945. The Utah State Archives would like to take this opportunity to extend a “thanks” to all of our presenters who helped make this year’s Archives Month celebration a particularly memorable one!

The Utah State Archives would also like to thank the Utah Humanities Council for helping make presenters available through their 18th annual Utah Book Festival program, as well as providing grant funding that assisted with the promotion of this year’s Utah Archives Month events.

Until next October!

2015 Utah Archives Month Poster

2015 Utah Archives Month Poster