Church History

    Library

    Online Resources

    Church History Produced Websites

    Pioneer Database

    Database of pioneer names and rosters of those traveling to the Utah Territory between 1847 and 1868. Information includes name, age at the time of journey, company and its captain, company roster, list of sources, and narratives and journal entries.

    Joseph Smith, Prophet of God

    Contains information about Joseph Smith, his life and teachings, testimonies and reminiscences of him by those who knew him, images, information on historic sites, etc.

    Joseph Smith Papers

    Website for the Joseph Smith Papers Project, which will include diaries, outgoing and incoming correspondence, revelations, contemporary reports of discourses, editorials, and notices. Most of the information on the website deals with information about the project rather than actual digital copies of documents, though there are some.

    Presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

    This site contains basic facts about each president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including biographical sketches, testimonies, quotes, and images.

    Prophets of the Restoration

    This site contains a video gallery for each president of the Church, highlighting his life, administration, and personal convictions.

    Revelations in Context

    Contains stories behind the sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, including new insights from the Joseph Smith Papers.

    Gospel Library

    Database contains articles from the current Church magazines, Church manuals, hymnal and Children's Songbook. Conference addresses, CES Firesides, General Relief Society Meetings, and other broadcast addresses are also available to download.

    Gospel Media

    This database contains images and videos, many that depict events and locations from Church history. Much of the content may be used for personal, non-commercial purposes unless otherwise noted. Organizations and legal entities may request permission from the Church’s Intellectual Property Office at permissions.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

    Newsroom - History of the Church

    A brief overview of the History of the Church and its people.

    Church History Maps

    The following maps can help you to better understand the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the scriptures revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith and his successors.

    Photographs of Church History Sites

    These photographs of important Church history sites portray the lands where early Latter-day Saints walked, where modern prophets have lived and taught, and where many scriptural events took place.

    Brigham Young University Websites

    Mormon Studies

    Harold B. Lee Library's resource guide for online material on Mormon theology, history, culture, and people. Use this guide to facilitate your search for articles, books, biographies, diaries, manuscripts, dissertations, family histories, photographs, films, music, art, and more concerning the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

    History of the Church

    This page consists of a digital version of the seven volume publication of History of the Church.

    Studies in Mormon History

    This database includes citations to articles, books, theses, and Ph.D. dissertations dealing with the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, written from the time of its inception in 1830 to the present.

    Digital Collections at BYU

    Links to Multimedia & Images, Theses & Dissertations, Scholarly Periodicals, Text Collections, and Newspapers.

    BYU Broadcasting

    Links to video of speeches and presentations given at BYU, as well as radio and television broadcasts.

    LDS Scripture Citation Index

    Contains links from scriptures used in General Conference talks, the Journal of Discourses, and Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith to those talks. The index covers conferences from 1942 to the present. Results can be sorted by scripture, speaker, or date of citation.

    Religious Education Image Archive

    Collection of photographs, drawings, and paintings of LDS historic sites, areas of the Holy Land, and significant people in Church history. They are organized by book of scripture and Institute course.

    Nauvoo Community Project

    This site includes a database that identifies residents of the Nauvoo, Illinois, area from 1839 to 1846, follows them over time, and documents their later lives. This database includes more than 52,000 records and provides links to many primary source documents.    

    Mormons and Their Neighbors

    An index to over 100,000 biographical sketches appearing in 185 published volumes. These sketches include persons living between 1820 and 1981 in northern Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, southern California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and southwestern Canada.

    Mormon Migration

    Contains rosters of overseas travel of Latter-day Saints emigrating to Utah from Europe. Also found are transcripts of letters, journals, and other accounts of the travelers.

    BYU Speeches

    Collection of speeches given at BYU, many in audio, video, and text formats.

    Historical Societies and Archives

    Utah State History

    Gateway to the various divisions of Utah State History: Utah State Historical Society, Research Center and Collections, Historic Buildings, Archaeology, and State Historic Preservation Office.

    Community of Christ Library and Archives

    The archives has over 1,000 linear feet of holdings including letters, diaries, pictures and journals. The library has several historical collections including the Herald House book imprints, the antiquarian book group, and a vault. The items can only be viewed onsite in Independence, Missouri.

    College and University Libraries

    See Mormon Americana edited by David J. Whittaker for a detailed examination of each repository's Mormon holdings.

    Brigham Young University Harold B. Lee Library
    BYU-Idaho David O. McKay Library
    BYU-Hawaii Joseph F. Smith Library
    University of Utah Marriot Library
    Utah State University Merrill-Cazier Library
    Weber State University Stewart Library
    Southern Utah University Gerald R. Sherratt Library
    Dixie State College Val A. Browning Library
    Snow College Library
    The Bancroft Library
    The Huntington Library
    Harvard University Houghton Library
    Princeton University Library
    Yale University Sterling Memorial Library
    New York Public Library

    Digital Books and Newspapers

    Utah Digital Newspapers

    Searchable digital images from state and local newspapers from throughout Utah. Additions to the database made regularly.

    Mountain West Digital Library

    An aggregation of digital collections from universities, colleges, public libraries, museums, and historical societies in Utah, Nevada, and Idaho.

    American Memory from the LIbrary of Congress

    Internet Archive of Government Held Collections.

    Google Books

    Collection of digitized books. Full text of out-of-copyright books available. Contains numerous Mormon related books.

    Internet Archive

    Digital collections of video, audio, and text from a variety of institutions and covering numerous topics. the material fromthe Church History Library can be accessed through the following link: http://archive.org/details/churchhistorylibrary