Utah Historical Societies

This directory lists 3 historical societies, museums, and archives in Utah, led by the Utah State Historical Society, now the Utah Historical Society within the Department of Cultural and Community Engagement. Utah also happens to host the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, so a research trip here can combine state records with the largest genealogical collection in the world. The guide below concentrates on the records that are specific to Utah and on where each one physically sits.

Utah Territory was organized in 1850 and statehood came on January 4, 1896. For its first two decades the territory ran its own land system under the territorial assembly, and no federal land office existed in Salt Lake City until 1869, so early settlers held land by local survey and bishop's allotment rather than by federal patent, a quirk that complicates every pre-1870 title search. Statewide birth and death registration started in 1905, with county death registers from 1898 and marriage licenses from the late 1880s filling in before that.

Featured Historical Societies

Major repositories for Utah research

The Utah Division of Archives and Records Service (Utah State Archives), 346 S. Rio Grande Street, Salt Lake City, holds government records from 1850 onward: territorial and state legislative and executive files, district and probate court records, naturalizations, county birth and death registers, death certificates, and land applications. The Research Center is open by appointment only, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., phone 801-531-3848, and much of the collection is scanned in its digital archives with name indexes. Begin at archives.utah.gov.

• Utah Historical Society, 210 N. 1950 W., Third Floor, Salt Lake City: more than one million photographs (about 300,000 digitized), manuscripts, maps, and the Utah Historical Quarterly back to 1928. Collections are searchable at history.utah.gov.
• FamilySearch Library, 35 North West Temple Street, Salt Lake City: free access to the FamilySearch collection of books, microfilm, and images plus on-site consultants; see familysearch.org/en/library.
• J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections, University of Utah, 295 S. 1500 E., Salt Lake City: Utah and Intermountain West manuscripts, photographs, rare books, and maps, with the George S. Eccles Reading Room open by appointment weekdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: lib.utah.edu.
• L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo: nineteenth- and twentieth-century Mormon and Western manuscripts and photograph archives: lib.byu.edu/special-collections.

Birth, death, marriage, and divorce records in Utah

Utah began statewide registration of births and deaths in 1905 and reached general compliance by 1917. Certified copies are issued by the Office of Vital Records and Statistics, Utah Department of Health and Human Services, in the Martha Hughes Cannon Building at 288 North 1460 West, Salt Lake City, by online order, mail, or through local health departments; the office warns that third-party vendors are not authorized to order on your behalf. See vitalrecords.utah.gov.

• Historical death certificates: the State Archives holds Utah death certificates and has indexed 1905 to 1970 by name, with images online for records more than 50 years old; a separate index covers 1971 to 1975. It also indexes county death registers for 1898 to 1905 (all counties except Salt Lake). The index is at archives.utah.gov.
• Marriages: civil registration was not required until 1887, and County Clerks hold marriage licenses and certificates from 1888 onward. Earlier marriages may appear in justice of the peace or probate court files at the county or the State Archives, and in LDS church records.
• Divorces: granted by the district court of the county (and by probate courts in the territorial period); the court clerk holds the file. Since 1978 the state vital records office can also provide a divorce certificate.

Land, deed, and property records

Utah is a public-land state with an unusual start. Federal surveys began in 1855, but the first General Land Office in Salt Lake City did not open until 1869, so for twenty years land was held under territorial law: county surveyors platted lots, and settlers received certificates that gave no federally recognized title. Congress later passed legislation to reconcile the territorial claims with the federal system, and a townsite or homestead entry made after 1869 is usually the first federally recognized link in a Utah chain of title. Patents from 1869 onward are free at the BLM's General Land Office Records site.

All private transfers are recorded by the County Recorder, with grantor and grantee indexes for each volume. The State Archives holds the state's own land sale records, including agreements and applications to purchase state lands since 1896, and publishes guides to land and original-title research. Because many Utah towns were laid out on a uniform grid, the lot and block numbers in an early deed can be matched directly to the original townsite plat.

Newspapers and city directories

Utah Digital Newspapers (newspapers.lib.utah.edu), built by the University of Utah's J. Willard Marriott Library, is one of the largest free state newspaper archives in the country: more than nine million pages from about 400 Utah newspapers published between 1850 and 2025, with no subscription required. It includes 25 papers in eight languages and 14 college papers, and because it extends well past the usual 1923 cutoff, it is often the only free source for mid-twentieth-century Utah obituaries. Utah titles digitized under the National Digital Newspaper Program are also on the Library of Congress's Chronicling America.

City directories for Salt Lake City, Ogden, and other larger towns are held by the Utah Historical Society, the Marriott Library, and the FamilySearch Library. Pair them with the ward and bishop's reports that served as de facto censuses in the 1850s; our guide to old city directories explains how to use them.

Census, church, and statewide indexes

Utah appears in federal censuses from 1850 (actually taken in 1851) through 1890 as a territory and from 1900 as a state. Territorial and substitute enumerations include:

• 1856 Utah Territorial census, taken to support the statehood petition, available through FamilySearch.
• 1851 Tooele County census and the 1852 to 1853 registry of persons residing in the various wards from bishop's reports, both in FamilySearch's catalog.
• LDS Church census records, 1914 to 1960, online through 1940 under an 80-year restriction.

The State Archives' name indexes cover death certificates, county death registers, naturalizations, and probate records, and the Utah Historical Society's Peoples Online database adds biographical and photograph references. For burials, the Utah Burials database, which state law requires the preservation office to maintain, is at cce.my.salesforce-sites.com/burials with an alphabetical list of every Utah cemetery.

Researching a house or building in Utah

The Utah State Historic Preservation Office (ushpo.utah.gov), a division of the Department of Cultural and Community Engagement, is the central repository for historic building and archaeological records. Its public Hub map shows every surveyed historic building in the state with the survey form and any National Register listing; archaeological site data in Sego and UDAM are restricted to permitted professionals. SHPO also runs the National Register program, the state and federal rehabilitation tax credits, the Utah Main Street program, and cemetery and headstone preservation guidance.

For the structure itself, the Marriott Library's free color scans of about 1,300 Sanborn fire insurance maps cover 40 Utah communities between 1884 and 1922 and are georeferenced for use in Google Earth; later editions are at the Library of Congress. Then follow the County Recorder's indexes back to the townsite entry as described in tracing a property's deed history, and use when was my house built and researching an old building for dating clues.

Working with Utah historical societies

Utah's county and city historical societies are fewer than in eastern states because the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, with chapters and small museums in many towns, and LDS ward and stake histories have long filled that role. The Utah Historical Society coordinates the statewide network and its library staff can tell you which county has an active society and which pioneer museum holds local artifacts and family files. Pioneer museums typically open limited summer hours; the Utah Burials database and the approach in finding where someone is buried will usually locate a grave before you travel.

Additional Utah History Resources

• Utah Division of Archives and Records Service - State archives in Salt Lake City: territorial records, courts, naturalizations, death certificates
• Utah Death Certificate Index, 1905-1970 - Free name index with images of older certificates
• Utah Office of Vital Records and Statistics - Certified birth and death certificates from 1905
• Utah Historical Society - Research library, photographs, manuscripts, Utah Historical Quarterly
• Utah Digital Newspapers - Free archive of Utah newspapers, 1850 to 2025
• Utah State Historic Preservation Office - Hub map of historic buildings, National Register, tax credits
• Utah Burials Database - Statewide burial search maintained by SHPO
• FamilySearch Library - Free genealogical library in Salt Lake City
• Marriott Library Special Collections - University of Utah manuscripts, photographs, maps, Sanborn maps
• BLM General Land Office Records - Federal land patents for Utah from 1869

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I find a Utah death certificate from before 1970 for free?

At the Utah State Archives, which has indexed death certificates for 1905 to 1970 by name and posts images of records more than 50 years old; a separate index covers 1971 to 1975. County death registers for 1898 to 1905 are indexed too, except for Salt Lake County.

Why can't I find a federal land patent for my Utah ancestor who settled in the 1850s?

Because no federal land office existed in Utah until 1869. Before then settlers held land under territorial law through county surveys and local certificates that carried no federal title. Look for a later townsite entry or homestead patent on the BLM site and for territorial land records at the Utah State Archives.

What is the best free source for old Utah newspapers?

Utah Digital Newspapers at the University of Utah's Marriott Library, with more than nine million pages from about 400 titles published between 1850 and 2025, free and without a subscription. Its coverage of mid-twentieth-century papers makes it especially useful for obituaries.

Who holds Utah marriage records?

The County Clerk of the county that issued the license, with licenses required from 1887 and records generally beginning in 1888. Earlier marriages may be in probate or justice of the peace files at the county or State Archives, or in LDS church records. The state vital records office provides marriage certificates only for recent decades.