New Church History Library to Be Constructed

More than 3.5 million Church records, manuscripts, publications, photographs, and audiovisual items of historical value will soon find a new home in Salt Lake City thanks to the announcement of plans for a new Church History Library.

The library, which will be built across the street to the east of the Conference Center, will be a five-story, 250,000-square-foot (23,000-m²) building that will visually complement the Conference Center. Because the new library will be much larger than the existing one, the Church will have more archival space to which it can add more materials.

The new library, which will replace the library currently located inside the Church Office Building, will include reading rooms and a special collections area that will be open to the public.

“The new Church History Library will be a welcome resource for those who wish to learn more about Latter-day Saint history,” said Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy, who serves as Church historian and recorder.

Construction on the building is scheduled to begin later this year. The Church expects the building to be completed by late 2007. The library will be built on a site that is currently a 272-space parking lot. Bill Williams, the Church’s director of architecture and engineering, said the Church will create interim parking during construction.

Brother Williams also said the library will have a similar feel to the Main Street Plaza and that it will have “the same kind of character” as Temple Square.

The new Church History Library will be a five-story, 250,000-square-foot (23,000-m²) building constructed to the east of the Conference Center.