Sept. 20, 2010 — Utah’s original 1895 constitution has been preserved, digitized, and made accessible for all to view on the Internet by preservationists and digital technology staff at the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah.

The document, which permanently resides with the Utah State Archives and Records Service, underwent an in-depth archival assessment that determined the document was in stable condition, aside from its binding, which needed some restorative treatment.

Ken Williams, archivist with State Archives, explains that since the State Archives does not have a preservation or conservation archivist on staff, they relied on the expertise of professionals at the Marriott Library. “Their work is amazing and a valuable resource that we will continue to utilize,” he says.

With the physical preservation complete, the library’s digital technologies staff proceeded in digitizing the constitution, now accessible through the Marriott Library’s Web sites along with the state’s historical statutes digitized several years prior.

Joyce Ogburn, dean of the Marriott Library and university librarian, comments, “The role of libraries has changed considerably over the past several years. No longer are we simply repositories for books; we are now digitizing, creating scholarship, and collaborating with other organizations to preserve some of our most treasured items.”

To view the Constitution of the State of Utah, visit the Marriott Library’s digital collections page at http://tinyurl.com/Utah-State-Constitution . Additional historical collections are also available from the Mountain West Digital Library at www.mwdl.org.