The Utah State Historical Records Advisory Board has announced 17 grant awards for regional libraries and museums.

The grants were made possible through funding from the Legislature for the regional repository training and development program to preserve Utah's historical documents.

The funding allows for a grant and training program to be administered over the next three years. These grants will be used to preserve Utah's historical records and make them more accessible to the public. The specific grants and their purposes include:

• Operational grants: Utah Valley State College, $2,000, microfilm equipment for library; Emery County archives, $2,000, microfilm and computer equipment for research area; Uintah County Library, $2,000, archival supplies to process historical Uintah County school records; Western Railroad and Mining Museum, $2,000, microfilm equipment for research area; Utah State University, $1,973, equipment and supplies to transfer oral histories into digital format; Southern Utah University, $2,000, archival supplies for historical collections; Weber State University, $2,000, process historic architectural collections.

• Project grants: LaVerkin, $1,000, organize and process the LaVerkin Bench Canal Co. records; International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, $7,500, prepare and digitize 100,000 pioneer histories; Utah State University, $4,960, Latino voices oral history project transcription; Western Mining and Railroad Museum, $7,500, perform a records inventory to properly identify, catalog, and make accessible paper records of the museum; Newton Town Library, $700, catalog and preserve 200 pictures of school classes from 1885-1968, historic home photographs and local histories; San Juan County, $3,000, create a digital archive of local historic photographs. John Hutchings Museum of Natural History, $7,304, digitize Broadbent photograph collection; Southern Utah University, $2,000, digitize 600 images from a variety of collections; Ballet West, $3,000, organize, house, and catalog historical records of Ballet West including programs, video, film, photographs, schedules, itineraries, and posters; Logan, $3,000, scan and index Logan's historical records.