Recording and preserving the stories of people in its community is an important part of the University of Utah’s mission. Sensing that Utah’s business leaders have important lessons to share with students, faculty in the David Eccles School of Business began to capture the life stories of senior Utah business leaders. This captured the imagination of researchers at the American West Center, which provided office space and technical support for the collaboration. 

This project tells the stories of Utah business persons—past and present—through videotaped interviews. The products of the Utah business leaders history project is an in-depth data base of company and individual histories, the raw material for the writing of case situations, potential development of an undergraduate course in Utah Business History, an interactive video display to be exhibited in the lobby of the new business school building, and documentation of historical information critical to any future academic research in history, business, political science, or related fields.  By collecting the histories of the heads of selected Utah companies, researchers attained new evidence for investigating the personal factors which make the Utah economy, its businesses, and its business educators professionally successful. Hearing life stories may help students translate personal values into credos of business conduct. 

For more information, contact project director Anne Palmer at annepalmer801@gmail.com.

Please click here to access the digitized interviews at Marriott Library.