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MIDVALE — A small crowd forms around Doug Misner as he points to a photo negative illuminated inside a massive room filled with documents, photographs and various other artifacts from Utah's past.
It's a photo of the exterior of the now demolished Auerbach's department store that once stood in downtown Salt Lake City, taken by Shipler Commercial Photographers in November 1912, says Misner, the library and collections coordinator for the Utah Division of State History. It's one of the more than 10,000 original glass photo plates that can be found in the division's Shipler Collection.
"It's one of the (more) really important collections that we have in the state. It's really significant," he explains, as the group of history buffs peer down at the photo. "It really documents 20th-century Utah."
This glass plate — and thousands of others that the state owns — finally have a new home inside the large room everyone is standing in. The division used to store Utah's vast history collection inside the Rio Grande Depot; however, state historians sought a new collections facility because the building wasn't equipped for handling very sensitive documents and other historic artifacts valued at over $100 million.
The agency began working on moving the collection after the building was damaged by a 5.7-magnitude earthquake in March 2020.
Jennifer Ortiz, the division's director, told KSL.com that the lengthy moving process to move the collection, which began in 2021, finally wrapped up in late November after dealing with long delays. The artifacts were distributed across five state buildings, where they will likely remain until 2025 when the division can move them to their new permanent home currently under constructionat the Utah Capitol. The building will contain a new museum.
The last of the artifacts has arrived at a state facility located at 7292 S. State in Midvale, which is where the general public will have the most access to the collection over the next few years while the museum is built. State historians celebrated the update by offering rare tours of the artifacts now housed in Midvale on Jan. 27.
"We're so thrilled to finally be set up in this location," Ortiz said. "As much as we love the Rio Grande Depot, it's nice to have a space that gives us a little bit more room to spread out our collections and store them in better conditions, frankly."
The Utah Division of State History relaunched its research center for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic and earthquake in 2020, now that the collection is settled in its new temporary homes. The service, now called the Utah Historical Society Engagement Room, is where people can view all of the division's historic directories, books, maps and any other objects desired.
All that's required is a request, which can be made by calling 801-245-7227 or emailing historyresearch@utah.gov. The division will schedule a time for the person requesting to visit the Midvale facility.
"People can come if they have any Utah history-related research interests," Ortiz said.
During Friday's tours, historians whisked people around the various Utah history items they have in the building, ranging from vintage maps and city books to an old slot machine that the federal government confiscated from a gentlemen's club in Price in the 1950s.
At one point, Misner even whipped out a signed photo and letter that President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent Utah Gov. George Dern in the 1930s.
The tour was sort of a teaser of what Utahns can expect when the state completes the North Capitol project. Ortiz said that they've completed the schematic design process of the museum, with plans for how the items will be displayed within the 17,000-square-foot museum.
"It sounds like a lot, but to tell a history of the state, it's actually a pretty small amount of space," she said. "So, unfortunately, we have to get really selective with what we end up choosing to put on the walls of the gallery."
While the museum likely won't open until 2026, the state may start to move its collections into the building by as early as mid-2025. The Engagement Room will also become a permanent fixture at the museum, while the Rio Grande Depot will remain an office for the division once it reopens in the future.
Until then, the facility in Midvale is open for history requests.
