Mark Your Calendars, 60th Annual Utah State History Conference
Call for History Award Nominations
Call for Book Award Nominations
A Traveling World War I Gallery - Honoring Our History Tour, February 25, 2012
Program Gives Training, Resources for Small Museum Exhibits
Utah Humanities Council Announces 2012 Grant Deadlines
Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area and partners seek historical stories and documents
Unique Three-Week Navajo Summer Experience Offered Through USU Eastern San Juan
The San Juan Mission Symposium: The Rest of the Hole in the Rock Settlement Story, February 17, 2012
BYU Family History Library Resource Highlights
The Fall 2011 Utah Historical Quarterly is Now Available
Utah's Latest Listings on the National Register of Historic Places
San Juan County Residents Talk about Public Lands
Historic Preservation Grants Help Communities Preserve Their History
National Trust Grants for Preservation Projects
Grants for Small Institutions Available
The 60th Annual Utah State History Conference will be held September 20-22, 2012. A 2012 conference schedule will be posted shortly....
The 2012 Utah State History/Utah State Historical Society Annual Conference will be held September 20-22, 2012, in Salt Lake City at historic Fort Douglas. This year’s theme is “Encounters,” and we encourage the submission of proposals that address the varied encounters with history in Utah including archaeology, historic preservation, archives, museums, biography, military, political, social, and cultural history.
Proposals for individual papers or sessions should be submitted by June 4, 2012. Proposals should include a one-page description of the topic and its significance, any audio visual needs, mailing address and telephone number, and a one or two paragraph biography of each participant. Program co-chairmen are Robert Voyles, Fort Douglas Military History Museum, and Kent Powell, Utah State Historical Society.
Mail or e-mail proposals to: Kent Powell, Utah State Historical Society, 300 Rio Grande, Salt Lake City, 84101-1182, kpowell@utah.gov. For further information please call (801) 533-3520.
Utah State History's annual awards recognize individuals and groups who have made a significant contribution to history, prehistory or historic preservation in the state of Utah. Whether these efforts on behalf of the past are quiet or prominent, they benefit the state's citizens in tangible and intangible ways. Utah State History therefore invites nominations of persons or organizations who have given extraordinary service or completed outstanding projects.
Nominations are due by April 30, 2012. Mail or email nomination forms to: Utah State History, Attn: Lisa Buckmiller, 300 S. Rio Grande Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84101, or lbuckmiller@utah.gov
Awards will be presented at the 60th Annual Utah State History Conference, to be held September 20 – 22, 2012.
You may make nominations in these categories:
Outstanding Contribution Award: For outstanding, long-term contribution to archaeology, preservation or history in Utah. The award may be given to groups or individuals.
Outstanding Achievement Award: For outstanding project or activity in the field of Utah archaeology, preservation or history, or in support of one of Utah’s heritage organizations. May include research, preservation, education, fundraising, community programs, volunteerism, journalism or other activities.
Click here for more information and a nomination form (rtf file) (pdf file)
For questions, please contact Lisa Buckmiller at 801-533-3517
or email lbuckmiller@utah.gov.
Utah State History is now accepting nominations from book publishers for the Francis Armstrong Madsen Best Utah History Book Award and the Smith-Pettit Foundation Best Utah Documentary History Book Award, for books published in 2011. Awards will be presented at the 60th Annual Utah State History Conference, to be held September 20-22, 2012.
Francis Armstrong Madsen Best Utah History Book Award:
Awarded for the best book on Utah history or prehistory published during the preceding year. $1000.00 award to the author, funded in by the Madsen family in honor of Francis Armstrong Madsen. Award winner is selected by an awards committee made up of members of the Utah Historical Quarterly Advisory Board and the Board of State History.
Smith-Pettit Foundation Best Documentary History Book Award:
Awarded for the best documentary book on Utah history published during the preceding year. $1,000.00 award to the author, funded by the Smith-Pettit Foundation. Award winner is selected by an awards committee made up of members of the Utah Historical Quarterly Advisory Board and the Board of State History.
To nominate a book, please send a letter of nomination and six copies of the book by February 1, 2012 to: Utah State Historical Society, Attn: Lisa Buckmiller, 300 S. Rio Grande St., Salt Lake City, UT 84101.
For questions, please contact Lisa Buckmiller at 801-533-3517 or lbuckmiller@utah.gov, or Kent Powell at 801-533-3520 or kpowell@utah.gov.
The Fort Douglas Military Museum in honored to host the National WWI Museum's traveling WWI Gallery exhibit as it travels across the country.
February 25, 2012. 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Free to the public. For more info, please visit www.fortdouglas.org or call 801-581-1251.
The Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area (MPNHA) is encouraging museums throughout the south-central Utah area to take part in the Utah Humanities Council’s (UHC) Museum Interpretation Initiative.
The initiative program is a series of three full-day workshops giving hands-on training about museum interpretation and exhibit development. The workshops prepare participants to develop exhibits at their own museums. Participants will receive additional one-one-one assistance from workshop leaders, as well as free equipment and materials from the UHC.
Museums must apply to participate, and the application deadline is quickly approaching — January 13, 2012.
The project is an effort to help small museums display their collections in a way that better tells the stories of their communities. Indeed, the full name of the effort is “Museum Interpretation Initiative: Telling Our Stories.” It is in telling those stories that the goals of the UHC, MPNHA, and local museums converge.
More information and the application form are available online at http://www.utahhumanities.org/MIIHome.htm or contact Megan Van Frank at UHC at (801) 359-9670, ext. 110, email vanfrank@utahhumanities.org.
For information about applying for grants from the MPNHA, contact Monte Bona at (801) 699-5065.
Each year, the Utah Humanities Council offers Competitive Grants and Fellowships for humanities-related initiatives in Utah. This gives local organizations (and individuals, in the case of fellowships) the opportunity to receive funding for projects and research conducted through a humanities lens.
Next Grant Deadlines for Competitive Grants and Research Fellowships and Student Fellowships are February 1, 2012.
Competitive Grants: awarded at amounts up to $5,000, support projects designed to increase public understanding and appreciation of the humanities. Projects must be centered in the humanities and involve humanities scholars.
Research Fellowships for Scholars: two annual fellowships, awarded at amounts up to $3,500, are offered to humanities scholars; supports one research project on a topic of national or international significance and one supports a research project in Utah studies.
Research Fellowships for Students: Five fellowships, awarded at amounts up to $3,500, are available and will be divided between undergraduate and graduate students. Fellowships support student research in the humanities.
For more information, call Maria Torres at 810-359-9670 x 105, email her at torres@utahhumanities.org, or visit http://www.utahhumanities.org/Grants.htm
The Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area (MPNHA), in
conjunction with two of its anchor partners, is asking people to share their stories and documents
of pioneer heritage from the central and southern Utah area.
Since the MPNHA’s inception five years ago, it has worked with communities and other
partners to provide venues where the area’s rich heritage can be kept and shared.
Two such venues are nearing readiness: The Mormon Pioneer Heritage Institute, and the
Central Utah Pioneer Heritage Center and Gardens.
As part of their final preparations, they are seeking stories and historical documents to be
shared and preserved.
For more information, see press release (pdf file)
You can read about the rituals and traditions of a Navajo sweat lodge, but there is nothing quite like sitting inside one. That personal knowledge is what you gain through the Navajo Summer Experience program under the instruction of Utah State University history professor and award-winning author Robert S. McPherson.
It’s a 12-credit-hour program offered only this May 7-25 at USU Eastern’s San Juan campus. It is a one-of-a-kind course for participants to gain hands-on experience by interacting with Navajo people. It combines classes and field work, including an introduction to the Navajo language by an instructor with texts specific to the Four-Corner locale.
For more information and registration, see press release (pdf file)
Utah State History has published two new photograph collections!
The Larson Studio Negative Collection contains studio portraits of men, women, children, and families of Utah County. There are also some landscape images, as well as events such as weddings. All images were taken by Thomas Larson and his son O. Blaine Larson and range from 1947-1966.
The Taylor Woolley Photograph Collection includes photographs taken by Utah architect, Taylor Woolley. The majority of the images are at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin I home, c. 1911-1912.
In the fall of 1879, a group of colonizers assembled at the plateau east of the Colorado River to build at road to the San Juan River. Because of the dramatic and unchanged geography, much as been written about the road carved to the new settlement on the banks of San Juan. What is often missed of these undaunted pioneers is their challenges they faced to stay. This symposium will present their stories. Presenters include:
Lamont J. Crabtree,
David S. Carpenter,
and Douglas L. Major. Sign in and meet the authors at 6:30pm, with papers starting at 7:00.
Location: BYU Harman Building\Conference Center, Room 2254,
770 E University Parkway, Provo Utah.
Register for the event at http://reddcenter.byu.edu. The event is free, but registration is required as seating is limited.
Our Fall 2011 Utah Historical Quarterly includes the following articles: Another Look at Silver Reef, by Gary Topping;
Speed Merchants: The History of Professional Cycling in Salt Lake City, 1898-1914, by Ted Moore;
Seeds of Change: Farm Organizations in Depression and Post-War Utah, by Robert Parson, John W. Walters and Emily Gurr-Thompson; and
1943 Victory Theater Fire Ignites Salt Lake City Firestory, by Steve Lutz.
See pdf flyer for more information
The National Register of Historic Places is the official federal list of properties that are significant in American history, architecture, archaeology, or engineering.
The Charles Redd Center at Brigham Young University announces the publication of San Juan County Public Lands. The 24-page book is based on oral history interviews with San Juan County residents. The interviews centered around the residents’ personal use of the public lands and what they hope for the future. The interviewees were asked to talk about their personal experience rather than the political debates that surround the subject.
The Redd Center conducted 36 interviews with ranchers, school teachers, homesteaders, photographers, miners, housewives, state and federal employees, former county officials, university professors, tourism leaders, and professionals. In addition, the Utah State Historical Society made oral histories available that were conducted for the Edge of the Cedars State Park.
The booklet was edited by Charlotte Palfreyman Smith, a BYU graduate student in rhetoric. Ms. Smith noted that while everyone interviewed has been on public lands at sometime, the comments grouped into five common themes: adventure, prehistory, history, scenery, and work.
The booklet is available on-line at the Redd Center webpage, reddcenter.byu.edu or directly from the Charles Redd Center, 366 SWKT, BYU, Provo, UT 84602;
Utah State History has awarded $160,000 in matching grants to 19 Certified Local Governments (CLGs) throughout Utah for the 2011-2012 grant year. Read more in our press release (pdf file)
National Trust Preservation Funds are designed to encourage preservation at the
local level by providing seed money for preservation projects focused on preservation
planning or education efforts. Support is offered for obtaining professional expertise
in areas such as architecture, archeology, engineering, preservation planning and
fundraising. Grant funds may also be used to support preservation education activities.
The Utah Preservation Initiatives Fund, through a grant from the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation and gifts from private donor, provides small matching grants for planning, education and consulting services to assist historic preservation projects across the state. Grant amounts may range from $500 to $10,000 and require a one-to-one cash match.
The Hart Family Fund for Small Towns is intended to assist small town preservation and revitalization initiatives around the country. The fund is available for project in towns withpopulations of 5,000 or less. Eligible projects include rehabilitation feasibility studies, structural investigations, education programs and workshops. Grants range from $5,000 to $10,000.
Nonprofit organizations with current 501(c)3 status, as well as local governments,
may apply.
Eligible projects include rehabilitation feasibility studies, structural investigations,
education
programs and workshops.
Application deadlines are February 1, June 1 and October 1 each year.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the
National Trust to discuss projects in advance of applying.
For more information and applications, contact the
National Trust's Mountains/Plains Office in Denver at
303-623-1504.
The National Endowment for the Humanities is offering Preservation Assistance Grants of up to $6,000 to help small and mid-sized institutions improve their ability to preserve and care for their humanities collections, including special collections of books and journals, archives and manuscripts, prints and photographs, moving images, sound recordings, architectural and cartographic records, decorative and fine arts, textiles, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, furniture, and historical objects.
The grants do not require a match. Institutions such as libraries, museums, historical societies, archival repositories, arts and cultural organizations, and town and county records offices are encouraged to apply. See http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/pag.html for more information.