Doing Research? We're Here to Help
Greg Walz looks at a Richfield High School yearbook.
“I help people do historical research,” says Greg Walz, one of State History’s research librarians.
Does he ever. He assists experienced researchers, but for people without much experience, he’s more like a teacher. Or a mentor.
When you walk in to the Research Center
with a question or project, the research staff can help you get what you need efficiently and effectively. They also help people who email or phone in questions.
Who comes to the Research Center?
Here is a sampling:
- A person looking for a picture of an ancestor’s business on Pierpont Avenue (he found it).
- A contractor for the U.S. Army wanting to know if army personnel were ever housed at the Utah State Fairgrounds (they were).
- People doing historical documentaries (ranging from students to the History Channel).
-
National media looking for photos of the 1950s raid on polygamists in Short Creek (yes, we have those).
The cool old card catalog in the Research Center where you can search for all kinds of photos. A vanishing breed!
- Book publishers (like McGraw-Hill and many more).
- A writer looking for first-person narratives of textile manufacturing (she found some).
- Novelists doing historical research (using photos, newspapers, books, maps and manuscripts).
- Historic building owners wanting to find out who lived in their house and what businesses they were in (the Polk City Directories are a goldmine for this).
- A couple of men who wondered whether some vegetation they saw in Box Elder County was actually a mirage (they found a picture of similar vegetation in a microfilmed newspaper).
- Family historians looking for 20th-century photos (which they often find in our totally unique collection of Utah school yearbooks).
The staff is skilled
at knowing what direction to send someone, whether a person needs State History’s historical records or State Archives’ government records. Or even if they need to go somewhere else.
“We go out of our way to refer a person to other repositories instead of just saying, ‘Sorry, we don’t have that,’” says Greg.
The moral of this story: If you’re not sure how to jump into research, don’t worry. If you’re embarrassed that you don’t know how to research, don’t be.
Visit, call, or write the Research Center. You will find a friendly and oh-so-helpful mentor eager to assist you.