About Our Digital Collections

The J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah hosts more than 100 outstanding digital collections, containing over 1 million digital photographs, newspapers, maps, books, audio recordings, and other items.

Among the many fine collections we have are:

• The Harmonia Macrocosmica, by Andreas Cellarius, printed in 1661, is an atlas of the heavens as seen by the astronomers of the time: Copernicus, Ptolemy, Brahe, and Aratus. Our collection has 30 hand-painted color plates plus an accompanying text in Latin.
• Western Soundscape Archive – hundreds of animal and other natural sounds from the western U.S.
• Karl Bodmer created these 165 aquatints during the 1832-1834 expedition by Prince Maximilian zu Wied through the American west. Since then, these watercolors have been a major historical resource for Plains Indian culture. They were instrumental in creating the romantic perceptions of these peoples, which endure to this day in art, film, and literature.
• Dard Hunter Books – his writings on papermaking, presented in elegant hand-made books.
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps - large-scale, detailed maps from 1867 -1969 depicting the commercial, industrial, and residential sections of Utah cities.
• Arabic Papyrus – the world’s third largest, a collection of 700 Arabic documents on papyrus and 1300 on paper.
• Aztec Codices – 4 Mesoamerican manuscripts describing wars, famine, pestilence, religious events, and other elements of ancient Mesoamerican culture.

We host nationally renowned collaborations such as the Utah Digital Newspapers, the Mountain West Digital Library and the Western Waters Digital Library.

We partner with several other University of Utah and State institutions, including the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, the S. J. Quinney College of Law Library, the Utah State Historical Society, and the Utah State Library. We also work closely with many public libraries across Utah, such as the Uintah County Library, the Park City Library and Historical Society, the Delta City Library, the Topaz Library, to name only a few.