Moab Happenings Archive

MUSEUM HAPPENINGS - August 2024

Boom and Bust:
Uranium shaped Moab and Moab’s uranium shaped the world
by Moab Museum Staff

Ore cars carry uranium ore at the Radium King Mine located in present day Bears Ears National Monument.

From early vanadium prospecting through the Cold War to today, the rocks of the Moab region have played an essential role in human history. In early February 2025, the Museum will tell the story of uranium mining on Moab’s economy, community and landscape – and the influence of the rock around us on the outside world. This year-long exhibition titled U92: Moab’s Uranium Legacy explores the local, national, and international story of uranium, from the atomic to global scale, and the inseparable story of Moab’s growth and development.

We’ve already collected a lot of mining-related objects and oral histories that showcase Moab’s mid-20th century boom-to-bust cycle, including many from the Museum’s Collection. But you might have uranium-era stories that should be included in the exhibition. If you’d consider adding your voice to Moab’s uranium story, and want to learn how, please email Museum Assistant/Curatorial & Collections Allie Donnell, allie@moabmuseum.org or stop by the Museum at 118 E Center St., Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Vote for your Favorite Quilt(s) at August’s Art Walk

The 23rd Annual Delicate Stitchers Quilt Guild Show on display NOW at the Museum features a variety of seasonal-themed quilts in the South Gallery through August 17, 2024. Join us for the FREE public opening on Friday, August 2nd, 5-8 pm during the Moab Arts (MARC) “Art Walk.” Other stops along the Art Walk include the Grand County Public Library, Gallery Moab, Summit Sotheby’s-Moab, Moonflower Coop, Moab Arts, and the Sundry. Chat with the quilters themselves and learn about their quilting processes.

Also, share your stories related to seasons and local plants with Annie Dalton, currently serving as the Community Artist in the Parks, at the public opening. Dalton is gathering stories related to native plants, their uses, and relationships to seasonal traditions folks have, using them as part of her creative work within the parks. If you have any stories to share, pull up a chair and join Dalton during Art Walk to record a story.

To find the Quilt Guild’s work following the Show, quilters will again present their work in 2026 at the bi-annual Quilting in the Red Rocks Show.

Utah State Historical Records Advisory Board Awards Moab Museum Grant (Part II)
to Digitize Channel 6 News Archive
by Moab Museum Staff

Jim Mattingly of Omni Productions, Inc. with Tara Beresh, Moab Museum Curatorial and Collections Manager.

The Utah State Historical Records Advisory Board, administered by the Utah Division of Archives and Records Service, has announced the Moab Museum as a recipient of its 2024-25 grant funding to preserve and provide access to Utah’s history.

The Moab Museum was awarded $7,475 to digitize the Channel 6 News Archive in Collaboration with Jim Mattingly of Omni Productions, Inc. In the fall of 2022, Jim Mattingly contacted the Moab Museum to propose a project to preserve approximately 1200 hours of film representing 2200 individual news broadcasts during a seminal period in Moab’s history from 1989 to 2000.

To date, the Museum team has digitized 1100 files from 1989 to 1994, representing half of the recorded footage. In this next grant period, the Museum will digitize all files between 1995-2000. Museum staff are uploading each news broadcast, compressed to their original 4:3 aspect ratio, to the Museum webpage and YouTube page. All files from 1989-1994 are available for viewing by contacting the Moab Museum team at info@moabmuseum.org.

About the Archive
Jim Mattingly of Omni Productions, Inc. The Channel 6 Moab News Archive contains footage of historic icons and events including a 1992 interview with the man dubbed the “Uranium King,” Charlie Steen, who discusses Moab and southeast Utah during the peak of the uranium boom. Additionally, the archive documents personal stories about the collapse of the mining and milling industry, mass exodus, and efforts to build a tourism-based economy. The archive is an invaluable record of first-hand accounts of how Moab rebounded, becoming the renowned tourist mecca it is today. How did Moab’s community endure while neighboring municipalities disintegrated into ghost towns? This remarkably well-preserved news archive sheds light on these questions. With funding assistance from the Utah State Historical Records Advisory Board, and help from Jim Mattingly, the retired executive producer and director of photography for Omni Productions, which he founded and operated for 36 years, capturing footage for Channel 6 News, the Moab Museum will within a year have a large portion of the film available for public view online. With this collection digitized, the region, country, and international visitors and fans of Canyon Country may retain a permanent view of the region during a pivotal time in history.