For the past century, the Bonneville Salt Flats west of the Great Salt Lake have been a popular destination for thrill seekers, mechanics, and engineers determined to test the maximum speed of their motor vehicle or even break a land speed record. Formed by the...
The art and crafts produced by the Southwest Indians is possibly the best known and most distinctive of all North American native peoples. The unique geometric designs and patterns of Hopi, Navajo, Zuni, and Pueblo rugs, pottery, jewelry, carving, and painting reaches back to ancient...
A regional archive is a wonderful place to discover new art and explore how local artists interpret and contribute to broader cultural movements. Audio-visual archives like the one at the University of Utah are a treasure trove of works from filmmakers like Jan Andrews, whose...
Among the areas we collect in the Special Collections Print and Journal Department are the books of local publishers. One of the most prestigious of those presses is Gibbs Smith located in Kaysville, Utah. Founded by Gibbs M. Smith and originally known as Peregrine Smith in...
In the 1950s, the Ford Foundation and the Fund for the Advancement of Education recognized television as “the most powerful medium of communication yet devised by man.” In that decade, the number of home television sets skyrocketed from 50,000 to 50 million, and educators, government...
It may come as a surprise to many to learn that Salt Lake City is home to many counter-cultures, including a long-standing and energetic music community. This community includes local bands, promoters, fans and the record stores and concert venues that support them. Oftentimes the...
On May 17, 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public education is unconstitutional and that separate educational facilities were "inherently unequal". Overturning the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson in which “separate but equal” facilities were allowed and often encouraged, Brown v....
One of the most unexpected collections in the Audio-Visual Archive is the Blair Dean Utah Natural Bodybuilding Video Collection (A0077), http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv99673/. Featured above are Paula Kid and Ron Lee Kid competing in the 1983 Utah Bodybuilding Championships. Over the course of a long career promoting drug...
The Willem Johan Kolff papers (http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv39526) contain materials that record the many artificial organ projects, from early dialysis to the first artificial heart implant, as well as the personal life of one of the world's most respected pioneering doctors. Dr. Willem Johan Kolff has been an...
The first transcontinental railroad was built by the Western Pacific, Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroad Companies and officially opened on May 10, 1869 with the driving of the last spike in a ceremony at Promontory Point, Utah....