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Nine Mile Canyon: Resource Exploitation vs Cultural Preservation
Nine Mile Canyon contains an estimated 10,000 rock art sites created over a thousand years ago, and that’s just the beginning of the canyon's historic and cultural value. But natural gas exploration and extraction nearby pose challenges to…
Radio: Bridging the Distance Across Rural Utah
Today, we have 24 hour news channels and TikTok to share breaking news and current trends. But for Utahns isolated by distance in the early 20th century, the radio did a tremendous job of connecting residents in rural communities to each other and to…
Arts Drive Rural Utah
Just like alfalfa fields and amazing vistas, art is easy to find in rural Utah. It is also a major economic driver.
Utah's state motto is “industry,” a word that may not necessarily bring to mind images of Shakespearean actors or landscape…
In This Little Town of Ours, We Have a Literary Club
In 1928, a women’s club in Moab adopted an official song that crowed: “In this little town of ours, we have a literary club, and we derive from it everything good, it helps the town and public in numerous ways.” Learn more about these women and…
“The Most Noble Subject:” Utah’s Landscape Inspires Artists
Nineteenth-century painters used Utah’s impressive landscape to promote an awe-inspiring vision of the American West through their art.
For many people, thinking of the American West might conjure images of grandiose mountains, golden-orange…
Beauty in a Haystack
Artists have long idealized labor and land in the American West. But what motivates an artist to paint a haystack? The answer may surprise you.
Utah boasts a long history of talented artists. In fact, some of our state’s first settlers studied…
Dinah the Dino
She’s big, pink, and has long beautiful eyelashes. Learn more about this unique rural Utah icon.
Looming large on the side of Highway 40 in eastern Utah, a sign reading "Vernal: Utah's Dinosaur Land" greets visitors as they enter town. It’s a…
Sundance: How Hollywood Changed Rural Utah
The natural beauty and recreational opportunities offered by the Wasatch Range have long brought people seeking an enhanced quality of life. But how did the arrival of Hollywood change the culture and economy of this corner of Utah?Tucked in the…
Midway’s Swiss Party for their Rural Community
On the east side of the Wasatch Mountains, you can find a little slice of Switzerland right here in Utah. Learn more about Midway’s Swiss Days celebration.Midway City, located in the Heber Valley on the east side of the Wasatch Mountains, boasts…
Driven to Read: Bookmobiles Bring Libraries to Rural Utah
Most city dwellers live close enough to a public library to visit regularly. But for many readers in rural Utah, the library must visit them! Learn more about Utah’s history of libraries on wheels.Utah libraries grew rapidly in the early 1900s,…
Putting a Face on Poverty: Dorothea Lange in Utah
Famous photographer Dorothea Lange captured the heartbreaking struggles and resiliency of rural Utah during the Great Depression. Find out more about Lange and her extraordinary photographs.During the Great Depression of the early 1930s, Utah…
Eugene Jelesnik: The Man Behind the Music
How did a Jewish, Ukranian violin player become one of Utah’s most beloved local celebrities? Learn about the life of one extraordinary man.
Eugene Jelesnik, skillfully riffing his violin wearing one of his thirty-seven sparkly dinner jackets, was…
Utah’s Folk Music Revival
The 1960s were a time of upheaval, ushering in changes in politics, music, and society. Utah was not immune to the growing political consciousness of the youth movement, and nowhere was that more obvious than in Utah's folk music revival.
In January…
Gilgal Garden: One Man’s Beliefs in Stone
A towering arch made of boulders. Biblical quotes carved into stone pavers. A bird’s house with dozens of entrances. This is not a surreal dream land, but Gilgal Garden, a sculpture park in downtown Salt Lake City. Learn the history of this special…
Bobbing Like Corks in Great Salt Lake’s Salty Waters
Many Utahns would shudder to think about swimming in Great Salt Lake’s smelly waters. But, in the early 1900s -- when the water was higher -- thousands of swimmers flocked to its shores to enjoy the Saltair Resort.
Great Salt Lake’s high salt…
The Savage Poem Around Me: Alfred Lambourne and Great Salt Lake
Maybe you’ve seen his paintings in Utah’s museums, or read his famous book called Our Inland Sea. Learn about 19th century artist Alfred Lambourne, who was Great Salt Lake’s biggest fan.
Perhaps no one loved Utah’s Great Salt Lake as much as…
Red Reed Water: Clear Creek as Native Waterway
The valley floor and cliffs of Clear Creek Canyon were sculpted over millions of years and evidence hints that humans moved along its waters as early as 8,000 years ago. You may have driven through this canyon yourself, but do you know the importance…
Frank Chester Robertson: Dreamweaver
Meet Frank Chester Robertson, the famous Utah author who made his living writing popular Westerns that belied his own life of desperation on the Mormon frontier.Frank Robertson wasn’t exactly the kind of writer groomed in literary circles. Born…
Maude Adams: A Working Woman in Breeches
This week, learn how the most famous American theater actress of the early 20th Century used gender-bending roles to push the early boundaries of a queer aesthetic.Salt Lake City native Maude Adams was the highest paid and most beloved American…
YESCO Lights up the Streets
Main streets throughout postwar Utah depended on conspicuous signage to entice passersby to stop and shop. Learn how one Utah company used eye-catching neon to meet that demand.Walk down any main street in Utah and you might notice relics of a recent…