The penultimate event of the “Crossroads: Change in Rural America” exhibit is a free opportunity for residents to preserve photos, letters, recipes or other historical materials from their family and past in Utah.
Representatives of the Utah Historical Society will scan the items for free.
The UHS will return the original and the digital copy, and take a copy for its archives. The materials will be compiled in a series called “Peoples of Utah Revisited.”
“I really hope people find out about this and come and do it, because without people sharing their history and their personal photographs and stuff, we lose that history,” county historian Joe Frazier said.
The Summit County History Department will also get a copy.
“You can pay a lot of money to actual companies to do this, or, on obviously a small scale, you can come in and let the state help you with that and help us out in growing our history collection,” Frazier said.
He suggested bringing five to seven items, maximum. But if no one else is around, it's possible the state will scan more.
The items must be scannable—individual pieces of paper or books no larger than 11 inches by 17 inches.
“Scan and Share” is Tuesday, Oct. 24, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Ledges Event Center in Coalville.
The Smithsonian Institution’s traveling “Crossroads” exhibit will be there until Oct. 28.
There’s a final event Nov. 2 billed “Let's Talk: What does Rural mean in North Summit?” where attendees can reflect on the exhibit as a whole.
