Proposed state history archive could replace Road Home in downtown SLC

Proposed state history archive could replace Road Home in downtown SLC

(Kristin Murphy, KSL, File)


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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s $125 million historic archives, including the state’s first flag and other unique treasures in state history, could find a new home in Salt Lake City’s soon-to-be-shuttered homeless shelter.

The Utah Department of Heritage & Arts had already proposed an $18 million building to house the state’s historic archives back in 2017. The state allotted $600,000 to the department for preplanning the project earlier this year during the 2018 legislative session.

That building would be across the street from the Rio Grande Depot Museum, where the archives are currently held.

The wide-ranging items the collection holds includes more than 1.5 million photos, 31,000 artifacts, 30,000 books, 30,000 maps, 23,000 pamphlets (small published works) and 9,000 manuscript collections. The items range from anything during Utah’s time as a U.S. territory to recent events in the state's history.

However, state officials came to the department “a couple weeks ago” with an option for the historic archives to replace the Road Home about a block north of the Rio Grande building said Josh Loftin, spokesman for the Department of Heritage and Arts.

Should the department take that route, it wouldn’t adjust the cost or the estimated 36,000 square feet needed in any way. The new facility would also have the appropriate technology needed to preserve Utah’s aging artifacts, Loftin added.

“Basically the (Lieutenant Governor’s Office) as the chair of the Homeless Coordinating Committee came to us and said, ‘you’ve got this proposal. Would it work on the Road Home property? And we said ‘yes,’” he said.

Moving into the Road Home wouldn’t change much of the department’s proposal at all. It will have a small gallery for the public to see some of the state’s artifacts and windows for people to see behind-the-scenes curation work. It would be completely different from the dingy, warm Rio Grande building basement the state’s archives are currently placed in.

However, the latest development now means the Department of Heritage & Arts officials have options.

“The property sizes are very similar, the property layout is pretty similar,” Loftin said. “The Road Home one, if we use that property, it’s actually a better site because there’s a shared, secured parking lot there and it creates more of a continuous campus.”

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Heritage & Arts officials are still in the preplanning before a site is selected. The stage includes logging in all of the state’s inventory and what potential growth there could be, climate control for certain artifacts or anything else the department they’d need and come up with a conceptual design.

It's unclear when an exact location will be decided or when the new building will be approved.

The state’s decision to propose the Department of Heritage & Arts’ new historic archives to be at the Road Home is a portion of Operation Rio Grande, Loftin added. The program was implemented by city, county and state officials on Aug. 14, 2017, to crack down on crime near the Road Home and reduce homelessness.

As a part of the operation, the Road Home is slated to close by June 30, 2019, while shelters would be broken into various other areas across Salt Lake County.

The Department of Heritage & Arts filed its proposal for a new building in 2017 because officials claim the current location isn't equipped to handle Utah's historical artifacts.

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Carter Williams is an award-winning reporter who covers general news, outdoors, history and sports for KSL.com.

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