Church History and Record Keeping
From its beginnings, the Church emphasized keeping records and writing history based on a deep belief, stressed in the Book of Mormon, that sacred records guide the faithful and preserve God’s presence in history for future generations. The Church’s commitment to keeping records was evident from its founding in 1830, when a revelation commanded members to document the prophetic ministry of Joseph Smith. Joseph himself had been deeply involved in developing and preserving sacred records, particularly in the translation and publication of the Book of Mormon and the writing of several revelations he had received from the Lord.
As the Church expanded, so did its need for records. In 1831, John Whitmer was appointed as Church Historian and tasked with writing for Joseph Smith and maintaining a running account. In 1832, Joseph launched a significant record keeping campaign that included his history and journal, a collection of revelations, a minute book, and a letter book. Two years later, he instructed Whitmer, then living in Missouri, to keep lists of Latter-day Saints living there. In 1835, he appointed Oliver Cowdery to be “recorder for the Church,” which resulted in a more systematic process for issuing and administering ministerial licenses. All this was more than a bureaucratic necessity; Joseph expressed regret that the Church had not kept better records at the start, stating that such a record would have been of “incalculable worth to the saints.”
In 1838, Joseph Smith renewed his efforts to write a history of his early life based largely on his recollection. He dictated this history to George Robinson, who was then serving as General Church Recorder and a clerk to the First Presidency. That effort stalled when Missourians drove Latter-day Saints from the state and James Mulholland, Joseph’s subsequent clerk, passed away in 1839. Once in Nauvoo, Illinois, civic and religious activities drove demand for additional clerks and treasurers. After the Nauvoo Temple was announced, Willard Richards was appointed temple recorder and scribe to Joseph Smith, assisted by William Clayton. Richards resumed Joseph’s 1838 history but utilized previously written accounts much more. He was formally called as Church Historian in 1842 and as Church Recorder a year later, during which time he hired assistants to help complete the history. Their operation soon became known as the Historian’s Office.
Church Historian and Recorder Willard Richards, who organized the Historian’s Office in the 1840s.
When Joseph Smith taught that clerks’ records of sacred ordinances were also recorded in heaven, record keeping efforts quickly became linked with temple worship. Latter-day Saints soon saw certain records not simply as connecting the past, present, and future, but also as a “welding link” between heaven and earth (Doctrine and Covenants 128). The Historian’s Office ballooned into one of the central clearinghouses of the Church and a site of many significant meetings. Well into the 20th century, the Historian’s Office oversaw the creation, gathering, and storage of Church records that included temple ceremonies, individual ordinances, membership data, local minutes, official proceedings, and miscellaneous documents.
Church Historians and Recorders including George A. Smith and Wilford Woodruff, and staff members including Larinda Weihe and B. H. Roberts, collected, preserved, and published historical sources and narratives that became staples among Church members. Assistant Church Historian Andrew Jenson traveled the world to search for records created by missionaries and local members. Together, their efforts established a robust archive that has steadily expanded in size and functionality. As record keeping demands grew, the Historian’s Office moved into the Church Administration Building in 1918, adopting new methods from other archives along the way. By 1972, the main archive was relocated to the Church Office Building, where it employed advanced technologies of microfilming, photocopying, and digitization to further enhance record preservation.
Narrative histories written by B. H. Roberts, Susa Young Gates, Joseph Fielding Smith, and Gordon B. Hinckley shaped the Church’s understanding of its history for decades. As the 20th century progressed, an increasing number of professional historians made Latter-day Saint history the focus of academic study, and archivists and historians collaborated to discover and expand access to sources from which to understand Church history. New approaches to studying history brought more sources to bear on the Church’s past, revisited some episodes with fresh sources and careful methods, and expanded studies to include the history of women, minority groups, and the increasingly global Latter-day Saint community.
The Church History Library houses the main archive of the Church in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The pace of archival innovation accelerated in the early 21st century. The Church History Library, built in 2009, housed millions of original documents, photographs, audio-visual recordings, and other material artifacts. The Church History Department, the successor of the Historian’s Office, continued to expand efforts to preserve and publish Church history. Its projects have included a historic sites program, the Joseph Smith Papers Project, the multivolume narrative history titled Saints, and a global acquisitions project to collect historical sources from around the world. In 2012, the Church opened its first records preservation centers, which functioned as decentralized archives that locally collected historical artifacts. By 2022, more than 25 records preservation centers were established in secure facilities across the globe.
Related Topics: Family History and Genealogy, Church Headquarters, Susa Young Gates, B. H. Roberts, Joseph Fielding Smith