About the Utah Historical Society
The Utah State Historical Society was founded on July 22, 1897. Governor Heber M. Wells urged the new organization to write a "true history of the state," and that charge has shaped it ever since. Over the following century the society became an agency of state government; it operated as the Utah Division of State History and now goes by the name Utah Historical Society, a division of the Utah Department of Cultural & Community Engagement. Its stated mission is "to foster curiosity about the past, inform the present, and strengthen our shared future."
The society's longest-running product is the Utah Historical Quarterly, which has published research on the state for more than ninety years and has passed 300 issues. It also maintains the "Utah History Happenings" blog, with recent pieces on the Spanish-speaking peoples of Utah, women railroad workers of the Second World War and the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment; runs a membership program and the Seagull Circle; sponsors a historic license plate; and hosts public events through the year. From 1980 its headquarters was the Rio Grande Railroad Depot in downtown Salt Lake City.
Collections and Research Services
This is the state's principal history research library. The society reports holding more than a million photographs, of which roughly 300,000 have been digitized and can be searched online, along with manuscripts, rare documents, books and pamphlets, maps, yearbooks, telephone directories, periodicals, film, microfilm and sets of architectural drawings. Its digital collections include Utah newspapers, online exhibits and research databases for maps and publications, and a separate portal called Peoples Online. For a Utah house, the photograph collection and the architectural drawings are the first stop; for a family, the newspapers and directories. Our guides to finding old photos of a house and neighborhood and old city directories explain how to use those collection types.
Access is in transition. The society states that its collections are being relocated to 7292 South State Street in Midvale and that "services and collection access remain limited while the collection move is in progress." In the meantime, in-person research is by appointment in the Engagement Room at the Museum of Utah, 450 North State Street in Salt Lake City, on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 am to 1 pm. Remote researchers can submit a question through the "Ask our librarians" form, and staff answer information and photo requests received by email and phone; high-resolution digital images and prints can be ordered by email. The library's phone is (801) 538-3115.
Planning Your Visit
Because of the collection move, do not simply show up: book an appointment for the Engagement Room through history.utah.gov, where the current address, hours and any changes to access are posted. The society's administrative offices are at 210 N 1950 W, Third Floor, Salt Lake City, UT 84134, which is not a public reading room. If you are interested in the broader story of the American West while in the region, the directory also lists the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming.
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