HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah – Hill AFB’s history has been preserved and now it’s offered free to anyone with computer access.
Hill’s base newspaper, the Hilltop Times, and its predecessor, the Hill Fielder is available online in a searchable database offered by the University of Utah’s J. Willard Marriott Library.
More than 70,000 pages of the newspapers, beginning with the base’s first issue on Jan. 1, 1943, to 2006, have been digitized by the library’s Digital Library Services Department and are available to the public.
“Once I became the installation historian in 2011, I wanted to get the Hill Fielder and Hilltop Times digitized to increase public access, enhance document preservation, and increase office research efficiency,” said Aaron Clark, Hill Aerospace Museum director. “I explored creative and possible cost-effective digitization options, ultimately pursuing and establishing the partnership between the 75th Air Base Wing and the U of U.”
What’s extraordinary about the Hill newspapers is how carefully it has been preserved on base, said Tina Kirkham, digital library project manager.
“Every page of every issue is available in the base’s archive, which also houses some 50,000 original photographs covering the building of the base and the history of aviation in Utah,” Kirkham said.
Clark said the digital newspaper editions make a very effective research tool that everyone can use.
“By making them public, it permits a global audience to benefit from this incredible resource that highlights the contributions this base and the state of Utah have made over the decades.”
Jonathan Bingham, 75th ABW historian, is currently in the process of getting the more recent editions of the Hilltop Times digitized and added to the Marriott Library repository.
Until all editions are digitized and made accessible online, Bingham said his office can make available nearly paper copy ever printed.
Access to the U of U digital edition archive can be found at https://attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff/air-force-archive/.