BYU posts 115 LDS missionary journals online
But the early church leader's writings, along with the musings of 114 other LDS missionaries who served from the 1830s to the 1960s, are now posted online.
The journals — 376 in all — are part of a larger collection housed in Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library. BYU's set is second only in size to that of the Family Church History Archives in Salt Lake City.
"The vast majority of church members and the world will never be here at BYU to see the diaries," said Susan L. Fales, curator for BYU's digital historical collections. "It's exciting to be able to pull in people worldwide through the Internet."
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Posting the diaries online is a step toward closing what Fales calls a "gap in understanding" of the evolution of missionary work. She hopes the journals will facilitate a more widespread study of how missionary work has matured over the years and how it changes those who proselyte.
Reading the journals can also be a fun game of "who knows who," said Roger Layton, the library's communication manager. Web site patrons can search for ancestors and mission presidents in the diaries' text.
"You can even pick out your little town and search for it," he said. "Springville is in there numerous times."
Fales found her mother's name in the diary of prominent LDS photographer George Edward Anderson. In the journal, Anderson described Fales' great-grandfather and the place where he worked and lived.
"Now that's a thrill to find something like that," Fales said. "That's really exciting." Only the most interesting, most well-written diaries were chosen for inclusion in the online collection, Fales said.
"We needed some sort of introspection from the writer, some ability to analyze," she said "We needed more than 'We went such and such place today."'
Recent comments
This is really nice to know. There are so many forgotten pioneers...
Liz | Dec. 29, 2007 at 5:58 p.m.
Great story, but it would have been nice if the reporter included...
once again | Dec. 28, 2007 at 9:18 a.m.
Dear Fishhawk.....Go play Canasta or something so you won't have...
tom | Dec. 28, 2007 at 7:36 a.m.
