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Local History Research

Learn more about local Brigham City history through a variety of physical and digital resources. Many of the resources listed here are provided and maintained by organizations besides the Brigham City Library, such as museums, non-profits, universities, governments, news agencies, and special collections (see disclaimer).

Choose a topic below to get started.

General
Intermountain School
Historical Buildings
Genealogy

General

A collection of general resources for local historical research maintained and curated by various organizations, including museums, universities, governments, news agencies, and special collections.

Book and microfilm roll

Physical Library Collections

High school yearbooks, microfilmed Box Elder County newspapers, local publications, oral histories, and more. Please note, portions of the Library's western and local history collections are sparsely cataloged and may not return proper results in a web catalog search. (internal link)

Brigham City History Project

Learn about Brigham City's origins, people, industries, architecture, and more through this series of 200+ articles written and organized by the Brigham City Museum of Art & History.

Mountain West Digital Library

Collections of documents, maps, photographs, newspapers, and more. Sourced primarily from university libraries and special collections across the western U.S.

Brigham City Museum of Art & History

The Museum is home to a permanent exhibition on the history of Brigham City, and five temporary historical and/or fine art exhibitions each year. The collection covers more than 150 years of the history of Box Elder County with more than 10,000 objects. A portion of the collection is digitized and available online.

Utah Digital Newspapers

Free, digitally searchable historical Utah newspapers (1850-present). More papers added yearly. For additional Box Elder newspaper issues not digitized on this site, please contact the library.

Utah Newspapers

Digital newspaper service of the Utah Press Association (UPA). The UPA Archive provides public access* to all of Utah’s local newspapers, 2005-present**. Each newspaper is a fully-searchable PDF that you can print or download. Search by keyword or filter by newspaper, city, county, or zip code.

*May require a public library card or library internet connection.

**Current issues are embargoed for 2 weeks.

Compton Studio Photographs

Photographs of people, buildings, and events taken by the Compton Studio in Brigham City from 1884 to 1994. Part of USU's Digital History Collection.

Utah Historical Society

The Utah Historical Society (formerly known as the Utah Division of State History) was founded in 1897 and houses more than a million research items. It is part of the Utah Department of Cultural & Community Engagement. The Society's official publication, Utah Historical Quarterly, is searchable online or available in print at the Brigham City Library.

Intermountain School

From 1950-1984 the federal government operated a Native American boarding school in Brigham City called the Intermountain School (later renamed the Intermountain Inter-Tribal School, and colloquially known as the Intermountain Indian School). The school was established on a large swath of land in the southwest corner of Brigham City where the former Bushnell General Hospital Army hospital operated from 1942-1946.

Intermountain School yearbooks on steps of old school building

USU Digital Exhibit

Overview of the Intermountain School, its origins, students, campus life, buildings, controversy, and more. Includes photographs and sources.

Brigham City Museum Digital Exhibit

"Outside the Homeland: the Intermountain Indian School" is a digital exhibit created by the Brigham City Museum of Art & History. The exhibit features a timeline of the school's origins, operation, and closure. Many of the physical items, photographs, and memorabilia are held by the Museum.

High School Yearbooks

The Intermountain School yearbooks (titled "Sandpainter" or "Pathways") are digitized and available through FamilySearch with a free account. To navigate directly to a specific year, use the links in our filename cross-reference PDF. Print copies of the yearbooks are available to view at the Library.

YOU CAN HELP!  Do you have a copy of the 1955 or 1963 Intermountian Sandpainter yearbook? Please consider donating it to the Brigham City Library to help complete our collection.

USU Digital History Collection

Digitized documents pertaining to the school, including building plans, photographs, teaching materials, government publications, etc.

Utah Digital Newspapers

Free, digitally searchable historical Utah newspapers (1850-present). More papers added yearly. For additional undigitized Box Elder newspaper issues, please contact the library.

Historical Buildings

Compton Studios photograph at 1S Main
"Compton Photo Studio at 1st South and Main in Brigham City, Ca. 1905" from USU Digital History Collection

Utah State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO)

A branch of State government office with information on building restoration, the National Historic Register, Certified Local Governments,  and more. For help researching your historic home or building, try starting with their "How to Research Your House" document.

Box Elder County Recorder

Located on the ground floor of the historic County Courthouse (1 South Main St.) the Recorder maintains Box Elder property information, ownership records, zoning maps, etc.

Historical Box Elder property records are digitized and may be searched online with a free account. Users can download original document scans for a small fee or by subscription.

Utah Digital Newspapers

Free, digitally searchable historical Utah newspapers (1850-present). More papers added yearly. For additional Box Elder newspaper issues not digitized on this site, please contact the library.

Historic Walking Tours

Learn about historic churches, main street eateries, the Intermountain School, and other historical sites through a series of self-guided walking tours created by the Brigham City Museum of Art & History.

Compton Studio Photographs

Photographs of people, buildings, and events taken by the Compton Studio in Brigham City from 1884 to 1994. Part of USU's Digital History Collection.

Genealogy

W. Sato family
"W. Sato (family)" from USU Digital History Collection

High School Yearbooks

Box Elder & Intermountain school yearbooks are digitized and available through FamilySearch with a free account. Print copies of many yearbooks are available to view at the library.

For help navigating directly to a specific year of the Intermountain School yearbooks, please use the links in our filename cross-reference PDF.

Brigham City Family History Center

Volunteer-run genealogy center with computers, scanners, and access to genealogical resources. Classes and tools are free and open to the public.

Utah Digital Newspapers

Free, digitally searchable historical Utah newspapers (1850-present). More papers added yearly. For additional Box Elder newspaper issues not digitized on this site, please contact the library.

Utah Newspapers

Digital newspaper service of the Utah Press Association (UPA). The UPA Archive provides public access* to all of Utah’s local newspapers, 2005-present**. Each newspaper is a fully-searchable PDF that you can print or download. Search by keyword or filter by newspaper, city, county, or zip code.

*May require a public library card or library internet connection.

**Current issues are embargoed for 2 weeks.

Compton Studio Photographs

Photographs of people, buildings, and events taken by the Compton Studio in Brigham City from 1884 to 1994. Part of USU's Digital History Collection.

Contact Us - Research Help

Have questions or need help? Reach out to one of our librarians.

Disclaimer: Many of the resources listed on this page are provided and maintained by organizations other than the Brigham City Library, such as museums, universities, governments, non-profits, news agencies, and special collections. The information contained here is provided on an "as is" basis with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, usefulness, or timeliness

These links are being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by the Brigham City Public Library of any of the products, services, or opinions of the corporation, organization, or individual. The Brigham City Library bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality, or content of external sites or for that of subsequent links. Contact each external site for answers to questions regarding its content.