Utah State Historical Society
Biographical Information
Cache Valley Historical Society Historical Research Material
Contains biographies, autobiographies, journals, etc. of Cache Valley settlers.
Joel Ricks Collection
Contains 167 biographies, autobiographies, journals, etc. of Cache Valley settlers.
Mother of the Year and Nominees (ca. 1949-1971)
Contains biographical information on women nominated as Mother of the Year.
Published Autobiographies and Biographies
The Library has approximately 3,000 autobiographies and biographies in its book and pamphlet collection. Access to the collection is through the online catalog.
WPA Biographical Sketches
This collection contains approximately 900 biographical sketches and answers to "Pioneer Personal History Questionnaires" collected by the Utah Works Progress Administration Historical Records Survey during the 1930s and 1940s.
Cemetery Records
Park City, Utah (1887-1973)
Contains sexton records for the Glenwood Cemetery, 1887-1973.
Payson, Utah Sexton Records (1893-1973)
Burials Database
This searchable Cemeteries and Burials Database is a product of the Utah Cemetery Inventory Project. It includes names and other genealogical information about people who are buried in Utah cemeteries.
Census Schedules
U. S. Census Schedules (1850-1920 [1890 excluded])
U. S. census schedules are available at the Utah State Historical Society. They list each member of the household, dates of birth and marriage, occupations, etc. The Census schedules are arranged by county and city.
Directories
City Directories
The Library has a large collection of R. L. Polk City Directories, located on microfilm and in hardcopy. These annual listings provide the names, addresses and occupations of everyone in the city.
Telephone Directories
The Library has a large collection of telephone directories, covering the entire state. The bulk of the collection covers 1960-present.
Utah State Gazetteers (1872-1928)
These annual volumes include virtually every community in the state, but unlike city directories they list only those who are involved with business enterprises and they do not give home addresses.
Ethnic Resources
Central Utah War Relocation Center, Topaz, Utah (1986-87)
Transcripts of twenty-five interviews conducted by KUED-TV during production of their documentary on Topaz.
Peoples of Utah Collection
Contains records of three projects: 1) retraverse on horseback of the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition in 1976; 2) "Peoples of Utah" television series based on the book Peoples of Utah; and 3) Japanese-American oral history project.
Peoples of Utah Photograph Collection
This collection contains the original photographs used in the book Peoples of Utah (Utah State Historical Society, 1976).
U.S. Indian Affairs Bureau. Utah Superintendency (1849-1880)
Contains correspondence, 1849-1880.
White Mesa Utes Collection (ca. 1868-1980)
Contains historical information, bibliographies, newspaper articles, oral histories, etc.
Family Histories
The Library has approximately 300 family histories of families with a Utah heritage. Access to the collection is through the online catalog.
Federal Records
Federal Judges, Attorneys, Marshals Appointments for the Territory and State of Utah (1853-1901).
Local Histories
The Library has a collection of approximately 400 Utah city and county local histories. The collection is housed in the Libraries' Reading Room for the use of our patrons. Additional local history information can be found through the online catalog and the periodicals index.
Manuscript Collections
The Library has approximately 4,000 "A" manuscript collections(folder size) and 500 "B" manuscript collections (box size). These include letters, diaries, autobiographies, and records of many Utah organizations. Entries for these materials can be found in the online catalog and registers exist for many of the "B" collections.
Maps
The Library has 30,000 maps which cover such diverse areas as mining, railroads, city street layouts, road maps, and ownership maps of Utah. The Library also has a large collection of BLM and USGS maps. The 1878 Froiseth's New Sectional & Mineral Map of Utah showing locations of town sites, which in some cases are no longer in existence. The Library has plat maps (which show ownership) for: downtown Salt Lake City, 1850; Plat D and Empire Mill Tract, Salt Lake City, 1857; Plat A, Five Acre Plat A, a portion of the Big Field Survey, Salt Lake City, 1849; Imperial Addition, Salt Lake City, 1938; and Imperial Addition, S 2 block 9 five acre plat C, Salt Lake City, ca. 1938. Plat maps are also available for Silver Reef (1879) and St. George (1847).
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
Sanborn maps were drawn for over 75 Utah communities and cover the approximate dates 1880-1960. Some maps were updated every decade through the 1920s, and selected cities in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Updates vary for each community. The maps show each building on the principal residential and commercial blocks, and they are color coded to indicate the various construction material. Actual ownership is not listed for most structures.
Military Resources
Fort Douglas Collection (1869-1901)
Contains correspondence, orders, endorsements.
Grand Army of the Republic. Women's Relief Corps (1885-1931)
Contains membership rolls and minutes.
Municipal and County Records
Carbon County, Utah Records (1899-1950)
Tax assessment records.
Elsinore, Utah Records (1892-1936)
Includes: council minutes, ordinances, financial records, Justice of the Peace dockets.
Eureka, Utah Records (1893-1899)
Includes: registers of arrest, treasure's records, Justice of the Peace dockets, council minutes, clerk's records, etc.
Franklin, Idaho Records
Includes clerks records, minute books, records of deeds and some biographical sketches of Franklin County, Idaho commissioners. Located in Cache Valley Historical Society Historical Research Materials.
Franklin County, Idaho Commissioners Minutes (1870-1939)
Located in Cache Valley Historical Society Historical Research Materials.
Hyrum, Utah City Council Minutes and Ordinances (1870-1939).
Located in Cache Valley Historical Society Historical Research Materials.
Logan, Utah Records (1866-1954)
Located in Cache Valley Historical Society Historical Research Materials.
Nibley, Utah Records
Located in Cache Valley Historical Society Historical Research Materials.
Park City, Utah Records (1892-1946)
Includes: Board of Health (records of birth), clerks records, council minutes, Justice of the Peace dockets, municipal water works records, records of arrest, treasurer's financial records.
Payson, Utah Council Minutes (1853-1945)
Preston, Idaho Records (1900-1948)
Located in Cache Valley Historical Society Historical Research Materials.
Richmond, Utah Records (1868-1948)
Located in Cache Valley Historical Society Historical Research Materials.
River Heights, Utah Records (1834-1936)
Located in Cache Valley Historical Society Historical Research Materials.
Smithfield, Utah City Council Minutes (1868-1955)
Located in Cache Valley Historical Society Historical Research Materials.
Wellsville, Utah Records (1866-1946)
Located in Cache Valley Historical Society Historical Research Materials.
Newspapers
The Library has a large (but not complete) collection of small town Utah newspapers (inclusive dates vary with each newspaper) as well as the Deseret News (1850-1987) and the Salt Lake Tribune (1871-1987). The complete list of newspapers at the Utah State Historical Society is available to researchers.
Newspaper Clipping Files
The newspaper clipping files are divided into two sections: subject and biographical. The biographical files include obituaries and article relating to specific individuals. These files are arranged alphabetically by last name.
Obituaries
The Library has a copy of the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News Obituary Index which indexes obituaries in the two newspapers from 1850-1970.
Oral Histories
The Library has approximately 1,000 oral histories. The collection contains interviews with many individuals on different subjects. Access to the interviews is through the online catalog.
Grouse Creek, Utah Oral History Collection
Collection of twenty-three oral histories documenting life in Grouse Creek.
Marilyn Warenski Collection (1975-1980)
Contains thirty-seven oral history interviews concerning the status of women in Mormon culture; interviews contain some biographical information.
Photographs
The Photograph Library has approximately 500,000 images which cover all aspects of life in Utah including homes, businesses, cities, railroads, mining, agriculture, etc. The collection also contains several large portraiture collections.
O. Blaine Larson Collection (1947-1968)
Larson was a Provo, Utah portraiture photographer. This collection contains over 33,000 portrait negatives and is accessible through alphabetized studio logs.
Charles R. Savage Collection (1919-1922, 1926-1929)
Savage worked as a photographer in Salt Lake City. His collection contains approximately 15,000 portrait negatives which are accessible through alphabetized studio logs.
Salt Lake Tribune Collection (1938-1963)
The Tribune Collection contains approximately 125,000 negatives documenting all aspects of life in Utah. It is a good source of photographs of individuals. Access is through a card file, which indexes the images both by subject and by individual names.
Yearbooks
The Library has a large collection of high school and university annuals. The university annuals range from the late 1800s to 1970s. The date range of the high school annuals is early 1900s to the present, but the bulk of the collection covers the 1960s to the present. A list of yearbooks in the collection is available.
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