The Center for Documentary Arts is an outgrowth and expansion of the work of the Oral
History Institute (OHI), which was established in 1983 and became the CDA in 2000.
The Oral History Institute’s initial project was a statewide documentary effort to
depict Twentieth Century histories of the state’s largest and oldest ethnic communities.
This endeavor was intended to correct misapprehensions fostered by historians who
had minimized the contributions and experiences of the state’s ethnic and minority
people. Between 1983 and 1994, OHI conducted nearly 750 oral history interviews and
took approximately 14,000 documentary photographs in Utah’s Northern Ute, African
American, Chinese, Jewish, Japanese, Greek, Italian and Latino communities. Former
FSA photographer Arthur Rothstein joined this project in 1985. It was to be his last
photo-documentary effort.

From this material, OHI created a public archive in the Marriott Library of the
University of Utah; an evening length modern-dance production, “Separate Journeys,”
in partnership with the Repertory Dance Theater; a traveling photography exhibit
entitled “Working Together: A Utah Portfolio;” and two publications –The Other Utahns:
A Photographic Portfolio and Missing Stories: An Oral History of Ethnic and Minority
Groups in Utah.
During 1994-1996, OHI produced a traveling photography exhibit called “Sacred
Images: A Vision of Native American Rock Art,” and an accompanying publication of
the same title that featured Utah’s outdoor gallery of prehistoric art (petroglyphs and
pictographs). In addition to dramatic color photographs of the sites, the project contained
interviews with current members of six Native American communities on the varied uses
and meanings of these ancient sites.

In 1997, to celebrate the Sesquicentennial Anniversary of the founding of Salt Lake City,
Mayor Deedee Corradini commissioned OHI to create a photography exhibit dramatizing
the city’s diverse pioneering heritage. The exhibit was displayed in Salt Lake City and
County Building from July 23 to December 31, 1997.

Between 1998 and 1999, OHI documented the arrival of Soviet Jewish refugees of Utah.
OHI portrayed the presence of Soviet Jews in the community and sought to uncover the
causes of their migration from the USSR and the Former Soviet Union. The project
produced “Streaked With Light and Shadow: Portraits of Former Soviet Jews in Utah,” a
traveling exhibit and accompanying book.

Between 2000-2002, CDA produced Faces and Voices of Refugee Youth, a collection of
intimate portraits and interviews with refugee children and teens attending Salt Lake City
schools. Organized into three sections – Flight, Haven, and heartache and Hope—the
exhibit and accompanying catalog reflected the idea that refugee youth experience three
interrelated phases in their journeys from their countries of origin to the United States.

Teachers and Counselors Grades K-6
Faces and Voices of Refugee Youth: A Curriculum Guide for

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Secondary School Teachers and Counselors

The project received the 2002 Utah Education Association’s Charles E. Bennett Award
for Human and Civil Rights and the 2003 NEA Appelgate-Dorros Award for Peace and
International Understanding.
• Faces and Voices of Refugee Youth: A Curriculum Guide for

In 2003, CDA brought in the traveling exhibit “After September 11: Images From
Ground Zero” by photographer Joel Meyerowitz. Meyerowitz was the only photographer
given unimpeded access to the nine-month cleanup of the World Trade Center site.
From a collection of more than 8,000 images, he created a traveling exhibit that toured
nationally and internationally. Salt Lake City was the second American venue for this
powerful display.

In 2005, CDA hosted “Exodus,” an exhibit of 300 black-and-white photographs by
Sebastiao Salgado. This exhibit dramatized the complex journeys of economic and
political refugees in the final decade of the twentieth century. “Exodus” drew more than
14,000 people from throughout Utah during its 10-week stay. Accompanying events
included a lecture series, a Human Rights Fair, readings and art classes for children.
The CDA co-hosted the exhibit with The Leonardo, the Salt Lake Film Center and the
University of Utah College of the Humanities.
In 2006-2007, CDA sponsored an exhibit that introduced the theme, “Peace,”
photographs by David Baddley. The display offered a meditation on the “International
Peace Gardens” on Salt Lake City’s west side. The exhibit was shown at the Salt Lake
Art Center (SLAC) from December 21, 2006 to January 27, 2007. A limited edition
exhibit catalog also was prepared and is available for purchase through CDA of SLAC.
Presently, the CDA is working on a major documentary project called “From Many
Shores.” The project will use the lens of immigrant, migrant and now, refugee histories
to illuminated the multifaceted history of Salt Lake City’s west side. Salt Lake’s west
side serves as the city’s immigrant and migrant gateway, working class neighborhood and
the home of much of its rapidly growing multi-ethnic population. The project uses the
tools of documentary work to tell this west side story and to catalyze a community-wide
dialogue on race, ethnicity and immigration into Salt Lake City.