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What Happened The Mountain Meadows Massacre occurred in September 1857 in a highland valley roughly 35 miles southwest of Cedar City. The Baker-Fancher emigrant party, traveling through Utah on their way from Arkansas to California, was attacked by members of the local Iron County Militia and purportedly some local Paiute Indians. The emigrants fought back and a five day siege ensued. On the

This blog post was written by Randell Hoffman, a 2022 summer intern at the Utah State Archives and Records Service. They are working on their Master of Archives and Records Administration degree at the San José State University School of Information. They focus particularly on community archives and community involvement in archival processes, as well as Utah’s LGBTQIA+ history.  Who

This blog post was written by Nery Alcivar-Estrella, a 2022 summer intern at the Utah State Archives and Records Service. She is working on her Master of Library and Information Science degree at the San José State University School of Information and is particularly interested in the intersection of librarianship and archival work. In this blog post, I examine records

There is a particular sense of connection to our history when we see a practice from the past that has lived on into the present, continuing to fulfill a function, but carrying with it a sense of continuity and a memory of where we have come from. When Archive staff members Heidi Steed and Alan Barnett recently visited Provo City

While searching through Governor Spry’s correspondence records, Heidi found this colorful cartoon depicting a funny-dressed man with a cigarette in his mouth. “To the Cigarette Pimp” is handwritten below the man, who, presumably, is Governor Spry. On the back of the cartoon is an impassioned letter to the Governor begging him to take a harder stance against selling tobacco to anyone under the

We typically think of black and white or warm sepia-toned prints when we think of historical photographs. But color photography has been around long enough for color images to be considered historical as well. The Utah State Archives recently received a collection of over 30,000 35mm color slides from the Utah State Historic Preservation Office, a state agency that assists

Every year in April, students across the state, from grades 4-12, embark on a research project for Utah History Day, part of the larger National History Day contest. Students choose a historical topic related to the annual theme, and then conduct primary and secondary research in libraries, archives, and museums. The final projects are presented in one of five ways: an exhibit,

This blog post was written by McKenzie Wood, a 2022 AS-L Outreach Intern at the Utah State Archives and Records Service. She is in her master’s program for Library and Information Science at St. John’s University in Queens, New York and is particularly interested in criminal justice. On September 9, 1891, Adolf F. Kohler was shot and killed by local

I first encountered Caroline Pace while sorting through a box of records labeled ‘old stuff.’ Spanish Fork City had transferred the box to the State Archives with many other historical records. However, unlike the other meticulously identified records, this particular box was unruly. The box was full of hundreds of tightly rolled and folded pieces of paper that were difficult

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