Archives News

Preservation Week (April 23-29) is an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) that highlights the importance of preserving records and photographs documenting our family, community, state, and national history. We encourage everyone to educate themselves a little and then pitch in to help preserve our history.

As the manager of two programs at the Archives, I want to highlight the dedicated employees who work with me in our Research Center and with our Regional Coordination Program. The Archives reference team is made up of individuals  assigned the task of assisting the public in our Research Center. They greet patrons with a friendly smile and do their best to

Usually you wouldn’t expect to find humor in official records, but when it comes to a small town where everyone knows everyone else, a few inside jokes are bound to slip in. This birth certificate documents the birth of Albert Bonelli in Tooele in 1906.  The form was filled out by the local registrar, John Tate, who obviously had a

  This week has been designated as Preservation Week by the American Library Association. This designation is a chance to highlight the importance of preserving items worthy of passing on to future generations. These items are held in thousands of museums, libraries and archival institutions, as well as in many family collections. Here at the State Archives it is a

The Utah State Archives holds records of the Capitol Grounds Commission, including minutes and financial records.  These records document the virtually forgotten efforts to construct a territorial capitol in the early 1890s.  With the 100th anniversary of the State Capitol dedication being celebrated this month, it is interesting to look at this earlier attempt to erect a home for government

Guest post by Wendy Brimhall The Utah State Archives recently posted digital images of an interesting set of records from Weber County. Around the turn of the 20th century, the State Legislature began creating laws requiring dentists and optometrists to receive Board of Examiner certificates in order to legally practice. The various laws created during that early period contained several steps

A Thank-You Gift from France In 1949 a small boxcar arrived in Salt Lake City, a gift from the people of France.  Just after the end of World War II a train had traveled across America, collecting donations for war-devastated Europe.  Several years later, as a token of appreciation for the American assistance, a collection of boxcars known as the

Recently, as the Archives staff was working with Ogden City to review historic records from Ogden held in the Archives, we ran across some mysterious records. The records were in the format of 24 large glass negatives, 11” x 14”. They had been identified simply as documents from the Ogden City Police Department. In order to determine more exactly what

A researcher recently requested to look at an obscure record series described simply as “Census records, 1880” (Series 5269).  After retrieving the records, Archives staff became curious and set about trying to figure out what the records really were.  The records include five booklets that were clearly standard forms (form 7-392) printed for the 1880 Federal Census and have notes