Highway 89 Digital Collections

HIGHWAY 89 DIGITAL COLLECTIONS

BY JIM KICHAS

Roads are an integral part of the American experience. They connect people in a literal sense, but they also help weave narratives and human culture across time and space. Highway 89 is one such road. In its long march from the U.S.– Canadian border in Montana to its historic terminus at the U.S.–Mexican border at Nogales, Highway 89 transports its travelers through a distinctive slice of America. It is essential to Utah state tourism, chambers of commerce, and state and regional historians, as well as to those who live along its route. However, due to geographic and sometimes cultural distances, the complete story of U.S. 89 has yet to be told.

U.S. 89 has hardly received the nostalgic attention given to other fabled American thoroughfares, such as Route 66 or the Lincoln Highway, and yet it too can help unfold the complex history of the American West. Traveling from high mountains to low desert, it passes through five states: Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. Highway 89 has long served as a vital artery of western tourism as it passes through (or runs adjacent to) seven national parks: Saguaro, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier. It is little wonder that University of Wisconsin geographer Thomas R. Vale has described U.S. 89 as “a cross section of the West.”

The Highway 89 Digital Collections initiative seeks to illuminate the history that has occurred along this road. Conceived and created through a collaborative effort among special collections and archives in Utah and northern Arizona, the project currently includes representatives from Utah State University, Weber State University, the University of Utah, LDS Church History Library, Utah State Archives and Records Service, Salt Lake County Archives, Brigham Young University, Southern Utah University, and Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona.

The institutional members of the Highway 89 project have developed an online aggregator and exhibit space that brings together stories and images of life along U.S. 89. Still in its early stages, the project seeks to gather existing images, texts, and oral histories from various special collections and archives that are related to Highway 89, while simultaneously serving as a means to seek out new, relevant collections for potential preservation and digitization. Through online geospatial identification applications, the eventual goal is to maintain a dynamic, collaborative space where members of the public can augment the information supplied by regional institutions with their knowledge.

Today, virtual travelers exploring the Highway 89 Digital Collections website (www.highway89.org) will find more than 1,200 images and documents, many of which have been grouped into exhibits that convey different aspects of the historic Highway 89 narrative. Online road trippers can expect to find:

An exhibit on roadside architecture focused on documenting the many buildings—such as diners, motels, and gas stations—that were a product of the road by which they were built. Others, such as residences, grocery stores, and movie theaters, served the community more than the passerby and also receive the attention they deserve.

An exhibit providing a sampling of historic signs and billboards that were a common sight along the roadside. Signs control traffic, give directions, draw attention to businesses, and advertise products or places. Such displays often help define a highway’s identity as much as the landscape, cars, or pavement. Over the years, Highway 89 has boasted thousands of signs, from painted plywood advertising national parks to flashy neon directing motorists to all manner of services along the route. This exhibit includes examples of such signs, many of which were taken down long ago but are nevertheless an important part of the highway’s history.

An exhibit showcasing photographs that document the Thistle Flood Disaster of 1983 and 1984. Thistle, originally the name of a town, became a term used to describe a massive mudslide that created a natural dam across the Spanish Fork River and destroyed the town of Thistle, located on U.S. 89. Several government agencies and construction workers joined Utah Department of Transportation workers in response to the Thistle slide, working tirelessly to reroute railroad lines, as well as U.S. 89 itself. This exhibit documents the disaster and subsequent reconstruction, as well as photographs of Thistle before the disaster.

As these exhibits demonstrate, the Highway 89 Digital Collections serves as an important platform for all types of users, from the avid historian to the citizen with a general interest in looking at historic materials that help tell the story of what came before. Join us and watch the digital highway grow mile by mile. We look forward to seeing you on the Highway 89 Digital Collections route!

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