Harold B. Lee Library

20th Century Western & Mormon Manuscripts

John M. Murphy, Curator

If you have reference questions relating to this collection or questions for the curator, please e-mail us at specialcollections@byu.edu.

The writing of good history requires a span of time to elapse. But primary sources must be found and preserved intact to allow scholars to properly do their jobs. With the rise of the LDS Church internationally, the proliferation of its membership, and its acceptance into the American mainstream, historians will continue to research and write for new generations. In addition, there are significant areas of LDS Church history that still await serious treatment. It is to this end that 20th-21st Century Western and Mormon Manuscripts exists.

The collections that support the research of the 20th-21st century American West and the LDS Church range from single documents to collections with hundreds of boxes. Political collections include those of Senator/Apostle Reed Smoot, Wallace F. Bennett, Arthur V. Watkins, James E. Talmage, Henry Aldous Dixon, and David M. Kennedy. One treasure trove is the collection of missionary diaries that document the rise of the Church in the 20th century. Also included in the manuscripts are the papers of academic and community leaders, artists and writers, social activists, and environmentalists.

Other Resources