Founding of the Utah History Fair

The Utah History Fair is an academic program that has been getting Utah kids excited about history for thirty years.

Across the state of Utah, over 10,000 students per year start projects for the Utah History Fair, a program that gets fourth through twelfth grade students involved in historical research. Students showcase their knowledge of history by writing an historical paper, creating an exhibit, designing a web site, acting out a performance, or putting together a documentary film. In the process, they learn that history is fun!

The Utah History Fair started thirty years ago in 1980 in the History Department at Utah State University. Influenced by the Chicago Metro History Fair and National History Day, Professor Errol Jones began to create a research-based history competition for Utah’s youth. With help from colleagues at Utah State University, including History Department Chair Ross Peterson and College Dean William Lye, Jones worked throughout 1980 to raise the money to bring the program to fruition.

Start-up funding came from many sources, including Utah State University and a $20,000 contribution from the Utah State Board of Education. In October of 1980, Delmont Oswald of the Utah Endowment for the Humanities kicked in over $25,000, which provided the final key to getting the Utah History Fair off the ground.

By November of that year, Professor Jones and Assistant Director Shannon Hoskins were meeting with educators along the Wasatch Front. Overall, they conducted 10 workshops with educators and 45 in-class presentations to 1500 students and community members. They worked with 71 teachers in 31 schools and 14 school districts. Four regional competitions were held, which led to the state contest where judges selected 12 projects to represent Utah at the National History Day Contest in Maryland. During that first year, nearly 500 students competed in the Utah History Fair.

Since its start in 1980, the Utah History Fair has continued to grow and turn thousands of Utah’s kids into historians.

Image: Utah History Fair, April 7, 1982. Four students from Taylor Elementary School received an “excellent rating” at the Utah History Fair for their project, “History of Radio”. Courtesy of Davis County Clipper.
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See Utah History Fair office files, Utah State University; Utah State Historical Society file Mss B 500.