Happy holidays to all of our patrons!
Please note: The Salt Lake County Archives will be CLOSED December 24 to December 31 for the holidays.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
Please note our holiday hours: The Salt Lake County Archives will be CLOSED Thursday, November 27 and Friday, November 28 for the holiday.
New Exhibit Highlighting County Hospital History
In conjunction with the new online exhibit highlighting the history of the Salt Lake County Health Department, the Archives has installed a new physical exhibit! This exhibit is located at the Salt Lake County Government Center, in the lobby of the north building.
This exhibit showcases historical photographs of the old county infirmary and hospital, and an aerial photograph showing the hospital complex as it appeared in the 1950s (now occupied by the Salt Lake County Government Center). Also displayed are artifacts collected by the Salt Lake County Health Department staff.
To tantalize you to stop by the exhibit case for a closer look or for those who are unable to visit, check out the following images!
artifacts representing medications from the 1900s. Image courtesy of the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah.
This exhibit will be up through February 2026.
All artifacts are from the Health Department Historical Records Collection, Salt Lake County Archives.
October 10 is Electronic Records Day!
This Friday, October 10, is Electronic Records Day, an annual event sponsored the Council of State Archivists (COSA). This event highlights the importance of properly managing and preserving electronic records. As more of our work takes place in digital environments, understanding how to handle electronic records is essential to maintaining transparency, efficiency, and long-term access to information.
Why Electronic Records Matter
Electronic records include emails, spreadsheets, digital forms, scanned documents, databases, and more. These records are central to how we conduct business and serve the public. However, digital information does not manage itself. Without clear strategies for storage, retention, and disposal, electronic records can become disorganized, inaccessible, or lost.
Common Challenges with Electronic Records
- Determining how long to keep certain files
- Organizing shared drives, folders, and email accounts
- Deciding what should be archived versus deleted
- Ensuring long-term access to important information
If you work for a Salt Lake County agency, the Records Management and Archives Team Can Help!
If your agency is unsure how to manage its electronic records, we are here to assist. Our team can provide guidance and support with:
- Applying records retention schedules
- Cleaning up shared drives and digital folders
- Planning for system changes or migrations
- Identifying records with historical or long-term value
For assistance, reach out to Maren Slaugh, mslaugh@saltlakecounty.gov
Lessons From My Internship: Save What’s In That Weird Closet, County Employees!
Through the generous support of the Salt Lake County Mayor’s Office, I was a 2025 summer intern for the Salt Lake County Health Department, in partnership with the Salt Lake County Archives. During my internship, I was responsible for the archival processing of about ten boxes of historic material. Along the way, I learned a valuable lesson about how precious things from county history are often found in the unlikeliest places.
Inside these boxes, I found historic photos from the 1950s, slide presentations from the 1980s, medical books from the 1930s, scrapbooks made by public health nurses and even the medical tools they used to treat their patients. This collection is a treasure trove that gives us insight into how the health department worked and changed during the late-twentieth century.
Many different historical societies and museums have their own archival collections where they can pick and choose what they want to collect. During my internship, I learned about how government archives work very differently! At the government level, Utah records law mandates that certain types of records are kept publicly available – indefinitely. Some records, however, are kept only on a retention schedule or are permanently private because of sensitive personal information within them.
The Salt Lake County Archives is mandated to manage these records and public access to them. Beyond government-generated material, other things like photographs, employee ephemera, and historic objects are also kept by the Salt Lake County Archives. This was some of the material I archived for the health department.
These historic materials make it so that future historians can learn in-depth information about our government agencies, who worked there, and their impact. But how does the archives come across these kinds of things anyway?
In the case of the Health Department, one employee with a passion for preservation saved many of these photos and objects. Any time a closet was cleaned out, or a file cabinet was emptied, he was there collecting rich records that captured employee day-to-day life, scrapbooks, in-the-field photos, and ephemera produced to educate the public.
This collection was sitting in his office, but thanks to the storage space and resources at the county archives all these photos, objects, and records are now available to researchers wanting to learn more about health department history.
It just goes to show – before you empty out that office or clean out that closet, contact the folks at the archives!
Entry submitted by Megan Weiss, Health Department/Archives summer intern.
New Online Exhibit!
We are back after a bit of a hiatus from our blog with a new online exhibit!
The Salt Lake County Health Department communications office partnered with the Salt Lake County Archives to investigate the history of public health in the county, from 1852 to1970. Public health has been a priority for Salt Lake County from its beginnings in 1852 to the present.
Through a funded 2025 summer internship, approximately ten cubic feet of records were processed, with the history of public health represented in documents, photographs, slides, and artifacts. Megan Weiss, currently a PhD student in history at the University of Utah, meticulously arranged, described, and preserved the collection, along with creating a detailed online exhibit highlighting this history.
A huge thank you to Nick Rupp at the Salt Lake County Health Department, for saving this history and making this project happen. Also thank you to our brilliant intern, Megan Weiss, for her dedication to history and bringing her good karma to the Archives this summer!
Don’t forget to check out the exhibit!
2023 in Review
Now that 2023 has come to a close, we look back on all of the changes and accomplishments from the past year. Records Management and Archives went through huge changes in our small staff throughout 2023.
Retirement: Hugh Johnson, Records Clerk
Hugh Johnson worked as a Records Clerk for Salt Lake County Records Management and Archives for 23 years, assisting county agencies with retention schedules, record requests, and many other tasks. Prior to working with us, Hugh worked for the Utah State Archives in their microfilm department. Having reached his 30 years service for government, he retired in May of 2023. We were devastated to hear that shortly after his retirement, Hugh passed away. We miss his generosity and steadfastness every day at the Archives.
Moving On: Daniel Cureton, Digital and Reference Archivist
Daniel Cureton, Digital and Reference Archivist, left the Salt Lake County Archives for a new position in September of 2023. Daniel worked with us for a little over four years, and was invaluable in setting up our new digitization lab along with providing excellent reference services to the public and county agencies. Many of our patrons will miss his insight and dedication to the research process. Daniel’s skills and knowledge will now benefit the Los Alamos National Laboratory as their Scientific and Technical Information Librarian.
New Employees
As detailed in an earlier entry, we also welcomed two new employees in 2023. Trey Coleman, Records Management and Archives Specialist, started in August and Kelsie Flack, Digital and Reference Archivist, joined us in September. Both have already seamlessly fit in at Salt Lake County, and readers will hear much more from them in the future.
More Records Online
We continued to digitize and upload county records to our online digital archives, including:
- Tax Appraisal Cards (1970s) and Land Title Certificates to their online, searchable applications.
- Land Claim Record Books
- Water Records Collection
- Tax Assessment Rolls (1853-1881)
- Additional Planning and Development records, including Board of Adjustment and Conditional Use Applications.
Additional records series will be digitized and uploaded to the online digital archives throughout 2024!
Holiday Closure
Have a peaceful holiday season!
Please note: The Archives reading room will be CLOSED December 25 – 29.
Welcome To Our New Staff!
Salt Lake County Records Management and Archives recently hired two new employees, filling positions vacated by outgoing staff. The Records Management and Archives Specialist works with agencies to help manage county records, provides public reference desk support, and conducts special projects supporting the archives program. Our Digital/Reference Archivist is responsible for Archives duties including reference, instruction, research, and collection management of a variety of physical records formats in the Archives.
Trey Coleman, Records Management and Archives Specialist
Trey Coleman is a 2023 graduate from Brigham Young University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history. Being part of the county has quickly displayed the various career paths available to him for his future as he develops his records management and archival skills all while doing so in a work environment that is friendly and goal oriented. Prior to his employment with Records Management and Archives, he worked as an Archival Digitization Specialist with the genealogical organization Ancestry and as a computer technician for his university.
During his studies, Trey chose the field of history because of his hobbyist nature and the freedom it offered at choosing topics from various time periods and the next day being able to learn something different. So, when outside of work, he enjoys pushing his talents and developing new hobbies from painting, reading, and writing to other things like skateboarding, website development, and woodworking.
Kelsie Flack, Digital/Reference Archivist
Kelsie Flack has a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from the University of Utah and a Master of Library and Information Science with a specialization in Archival Studies from Louisiana State University. Kelsie first started working in archives at the J. Willard Marriott Library in Special Collections when she was an undergraduate at the University of Utah. She immediately became fascinated with archives and developed a passion for the ways in which archives directly connect us to various histories. She used that interest to pursue a Master of Library and Information Science, which she completed in December of 2022. Kelsie began working as an official archivist as the Curating Indigenous Digital Collections Fellow at WiLS, which is a Wisconsin based library organization. She worked in collaboration with the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians to promote Tribal sovereignty, ethical control and access, and proper organization of digital community archives. Kelsie has an immense passion for implementing change in how Indigenous communities have historically been treated by libraries, archives, and museums. She then went on to work at Densho, which is a non-profit organization based in Seattle that focuses on archiving materials from Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II. This continued a passion for promoting ethical archival practices for marginalized communities who have been mistreated by traditional libraries, archives, and museums throughout history.
Kelsie is excited to take the next step in her career at Salt Lake County Archives as the Digital/Reference Archivist. She is looking forward to physically interacting with archival material and providing reference and access to a wide range of patrons.
In her free time, Kelsie enjoys reading, traveling, and doing yoga.
A big welcome to our new employees!
It’s Summer Time: Lunch Stand Flashback
Salt Lake County Archives 