Research Library

The Hal Compton Research Library

Located on the lower level of the Park City Museum, the Hal Compton Research Library offers you a unique opportunity to search and discover. Whether your interest lies in your historic Park City home, the emergence of silver mining in Park City, the building of Park City’s first ski jump, or finding a distant relative, we can help you piece together the past from the 1860s to the present day.

Research Library Materials & Resources

The Research Library’s materials include many Park City, Utah, and western history books, personal papers and oratories, maps, thousands of historic photographs. Highlights include the historic  images from local photographers Kendall Webb and Pop Jenks, and from Thomas F. Hansen’s rare and extensive collection.

Research Library Hours

The Research Library is currently available Monday through Friday by appointment only (between 10 a.m and 4 p.m.) in order to ensure social distancing protocols.

(Saturday by appointment )

Request an Appointment

Let Us Do the Research for You

The first half hour is free!

($25/hour after)

Request Research by Museum Staff

Archival Collections

Archival collections are unique historic resources rich in information. The Park City Historical Museum accessions and maintains archival materials as part of its permanent collection. These materials are available to researchers by appointment and on a supervised basis.

The letters, receipts, postcards, brochures, ledgers, and other records that make up the collections housed at the Park City Museum are not readily available elsewhere and are thus some of the most important research tools the Research Library has to offer. Learn About Archival Collections

Published Works

The Research Library houses over 800 non-circulating published works, dissertations, theses, and thematic binders on Park City, mining, skiing, Utah, and Western history, including:

  • Geology and Ore Deposits of the Park City District, by John Mason Boutwell
  • A History of Summit County, by David Hampshire, Martha S. Bradley, Allen Roberts
  • Treasure Mountain Home: Park City Revisited, by George A. Thompson and Fraser Buck
  • The Trail of the Leprechaun, by William McPhee
  • Park City: Mountain of Treasure, by Larry Warren
  • Park City’s Pop by David Hampshire
  • From the Ground Up by Colleen Whitney

Newspapers

Genealogical Research Tools

  • Record of births, 1892 – 1897
  • Subscription to Ancestry.com
  • Cemetery indexes:
    • Glenwood Cemetery, 1885-1982 (location, DOB, DOD, father, mother, profession, COD, funeral, and history)
    • Park City Cemetery, 1881-1995 (location DOB, DOD)
    • Obituaries for Park City and surrounding areas
    • Park City Sexton Record of Death, 1892-1973
  • Oral History Index
  • Family histories and research files on a limited number of Park City residents
  • Park City High School yearbooks, 1915, 1917-22, 1931, 1943, 1945-46, 1948-61, 1980-89, 1992-2002, 2004-05

Historic Preservation & Researching Your Home

Maps

  • Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from 1889, 1900, 1907, 1929, 1941 (some also online at the University of Utah’s digital collections)
  • Geologic Maps of the Park City District, 1950-1960
  • Topographical map, 1998-1999
  • Deer Valley Conditions Survey, 2002 (Lower Big Stick Run)
  • Gorlinski’s General Map of Park City Mines, 1893 (Ontario, Daly, Crescent, Anchor, Alliance, Meears, Silver King, Woodside, Mayflower, Glencoe, etc.)
  • Various Ski Area Maps

Magazines & Journals

Support the Museum

Become a Way We Were Contributing Writer

The Park City Museum is looking for volunteers to research and write Way We Were articles, featuring fascinating topics from Park City’s history. These articles are published every Wednesday in the local Park Record newspaper. Write for the museum

Covid-19 Update: The Park City Museum is currently open Wednesday through Sunday Read more
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