Overview
Leaders of the Church Research Guide
Welcome to the research guide for the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This guide explores the history of Church leadership including organizations for women and children. This guide is designed to assist you in finding and accessing resources about the leadership history of the Church.
Definitions:
General Authorities consist of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the Presidency of the Seventy, the First and Second Quorums of the Seventy, and the Presiding Bishopric. They oversee the operation of the Church in general.
General auxiliaries consist of the general presidencies of the Primary, Relief Society, Sunday School, Young Men, and Young Women organizations. These presidencies oversee the operations of the various organizations within the Church.
Each section contains online and textual resources. Online resources are digitized content that you can access from your computer by clicking on the title. Textual resources can be viewed at the Church History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. You can access the item or collection information in the online catalog and request to see the source when you visit the library.
General Authorities and General Officers
This is an official Church web page about the general leadership of the Church. It contains links to brief biographies and photographs of each of the current Church leaders.
The Church Almanac was written every year from 1974 to 2013. It discusses several different topics. It contains information on temples, local units, the Church internationally, and leaders of the Church.
Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia
This is an online version of the four-volume Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Andrew Jenson, who was the assistant Church historian from 1897 to 1941. The online version is hosted by Brigham Young University.
Textual Resources (Available at the Library):
Mighty Men of Zion: General Authorities of the Last Dispensation
This book provides a biographical sketch of all the General Authorities of the Church from its latter-day beginnings to the book’s publication in 1974. It is organized by office, including the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Patriarch to the Church, Assistant to the Twelve, First Council of the Seventy, and Presiding Bishopric. Available in the public area of the library.
Prophets and Apostles of the Last Dispensation
This book provides information on the lives of members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve up to the year 2000. Available in the public area of the library.