Utah History Summit brings historians together to expand the state's story

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's history is being looked at through a wider lens. Historians, museums and community groups from across the state are gathering for the first Utah History Summit.

The summit is bringing together people who study, preserve and share Utah history, with a focus on making sure more communities are represented. The past is everywhere inside the Museum of Utah. And now, historians are coming together to talk about how those stories are preserved and how they're shared.

Eliza Carr is the public programming manager with the Utah Historical Society, and she says, "We've got a lot of great history that we're sharing. We're trying to highlight a lot of history work that is being done across the state."

One focus is making sure Utah history reflects more of the people who have called this state home. That includes Peoples of Utah Revisited Project.

"Back in 1976 for the bicentennial, the Utah Historical Society created a project called 'Peoples of Utah.' And this was a book that was published where each chapter was about a different demographic in Utah that hadn't been researched or highlighted before," Carr said.

Now, they're bringing that project back, bringing together researchers to uncover more Utah history.

"We have deaf history that really hasn't been researched before, Guatemalan in Utah (and) queer history. I think there's a lot of history that historians are really actively trying to work on, expanding that narrative that's been constructed in Utah history and trying to make it more well-rounded and more representative of the people here in Utah," Carr said.

Organizers say preserving those stories helps people understand Utah not just by what happened here but by the people who made the state what it is today.