Utah Newspapers

Newspapers report family information in notices of births, marriages, obituaries, and local news. Newspapers began early in Salt Lake City, Utah. Two major Utah newspapers are the Deseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune.

The Deseret News was the first newspaper published in Utah. The first edition was printed in June 1850 in Salt Lake City. Their address is:

Deseret News 30 East 100 South Salt Lake City, UT 84110 Telephone: 801-237-2155 Internet: www.deseretnews.com/dn

The newspapers from 1988 to the present are on-line. For earlier editions, individuals are encouraged to use the films at the Family History Library or the records at a public library.

The Family History Library has a complete collection of the Deseret News to 1961. The Church History Library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also has a complete collection up to the present time. The Deseret News was published under different names. They are:

''Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah). 1850–1898''. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1957. (FHL films 26586–614.) Published weekly.

''Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah). 1866–1905''. Salt Lake City, Utah: Office of the Church Historian, 1960–1961. (FHL films 241150-81.) Published semi-weekly.

Deseret Evening News (Salt Lake City, Utah), 1867–1961. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1955–1961. (On 437 FHL films beginning with 26899.) Copies of the Church News are included. Published daily.

The Salt Lake Tribune began printing in 1871. The Salt Lake Tribune Data Center has copies from 1871 to the present on microfilm. They also have an index by name and subject from 1941 to 1991. You can request a search of their files for a fee. The issues from September 1991 to the present are online. Their address is:

Salt Lake Tribune 143 South Main Street, Mezzanine Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 Telephone 801-237-2001 Internet: www.sltrib.com/

The Church History Library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has copies of the newspaper from 1871 to the present time. These are indexed by name and subject. The Family History Library only has films from the first two years of the Salt Lake Tribune. They are in the following:

Salt Lake Daily Tribune and Utah Mining Gazette. Volumes 1–3. Salt Lake City, Utah: Office of the Church Historian, 1961. (FHL films 241182–85.) This covers the time period from 1871 to 1873.

For histories on publishing newspapers and listings of Utah newspapers see:

Alter, J. Cecil. Early Utah Journalism. Salt Lake City, Utah: Utah State Historical Society, 1938. (FHL book 979.2 B3a.) This book lists the newspapers by town and then chronologically. It includes some history of the newspapers and dates published to about 1938. It is indexed by names, newspapers, and subjects. It focuses on the conflict between the differing political parties.

Utah's Newspapers, Traces of Her Past. Salt Lake City, Utah: Marriott Library, University of Utah, 1984. (FHL book 979.2 B33h.) This source is taken from papers presented at the Utah Newspaper Project Conference at the University of Utah in 1983. It contains a list of the Utah newspapers.

The Marriott Library at the University of Utah at http://www.lib.utah.edu/, the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University at http://www.lib.byu.edu/, and the Utah State Historical Society Library at http://history.utah.gov/utah_history_research_center/digitalcollections.html have collections of Utah newspapers. The Utah State Historical Society Library has a newspaper clip file collected from the 1950s to 1995 with articles about Utah people. The Harold B. Lee Library has an index to early Utah newspapers.

The Family History Library has other newspapers from many Utah cities and counties. To locate the newspaper collections, check in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

UTAH, [COUNTY], [TOWN] - NEWSPAPERS

UTAH, [COUNTY] - NEWSPAPERS