This guide is to help you research various topics in Special Collections & Archives. Use the tabs at the top of the research guide to navigate to resources on the particular topic you're interested in.
Monday - Friday
10am-12pm, 1pm-5pm
Saturday - Sunday
Closed
By appointment subject to staff availability.
To make an appointment, please contact the Special Collections Paraprofessional, at specialcollections@utahtech.edu or (435) 634-2087. You may also click here to schedule the Special Collections’ Reading Room with Navigate.
225 S. University Ave.
Holland Centennial Commons & Library 330
(On the 3rd floor directly to the right of the main stairs & elevator, in the northeast corner.)
History of Special Collections and the Archives
The Archives began in and around the 1963 split of Dixie High School from Dixie College. Though the early years are not well documented, the revitalization of the Archives and its mission was instituted in 2012 with the completion of the Holland Centennial Commons and Library building, which gave Special Collections and Archives its own space, climate controlled storage, offices, and a reading room.
Mission
Special Collections & Archives engages the campus, local community, and society at-large through a commitment to representative collecting, open access, responsible stewardship, and preservation of local cultural and historic resources for future generations. As part of this effort, Special Collections & Archives supports and enhances student learning with active-learning opportunities to develop critical thinking and understanding of primary and secondary sources.
Special Collections & Archives aspires to be the premier repository for historical and cultural resources in our region, serving the campus, local community, and society at-large. Special Collections & Archives provides content expertise; and extends the reach of our collections by engaging the community through multifaceted and comprehensive collections, including openly accessible digital collections, fostering a variety of historical perspectives, and engaging in community conversations.
Collecting Scope
Special Collections & Archives is home to the historical records of Utah Tech University in addition to collections of employees, faculty papers, students, and campus groups. We also hold collections of historical value from varied cultures including Native American peoples, Latino and Hispanic communities, Latter-day Saints, various fundamentalist Mormon groups, other religions, and growth related to people within Southwestern Utah, The Four Corners region, the Big Muddy region of Nevada, The Arizona Strip, The Colorado Plateau and the southern portion of Colorado’s Western Slope, and the northwestern region of northern New Mexico.
The Archives is interested in and collects family papers, manuscripts, business records, personal papers and photographs, audio/video materials, and born digital items from the communities in and around the State of Utah counties of Washington, Kane, and San Juan.
New Initiatives
Our collections include rare and unique books, newspapers, papers, photographic records, audio-visual documentation, microform, oral histories, and electronic records. Special Collections & Archives will collect through donations and purchases according to the Special Collections & Archives Guidelines.
The archives in 2025 began new special collections initiatives inclusive of publications about Utah and by Utah authors, the geology of southern Utah and the Colorado Plateau, Utah postcards, Utah’s Big 5 National Parks, The American Southwest, Water, Renewable Energy, Mars planetary research, Scientific Technical Reports, and any items related to the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Land Acknowledgement
The University acknowledges Indigenous Peoples as the original stewards of the land on which the University is built. We recognize the ancestral homelands of the Paiutes (Nung’wu), the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah (Cedar Band, Kanosh Band, Koosharem Band, Indian Peaks Band, and Shivwits Band), and the Kaibab Paiute Tribe. Aligning with the University’s core value of “Inclusion,” it is an institutional responsibility to recognize and acknowledge the people, culture, and history of the many diverse Indigenous Peoples connected to this land on which we gather.