New in Church History Library Collections
The Church History Library acquires and digitizes interesting and important collections every day. Explore what’s new in the first in a series of posts highlighting exciting manuscripts and photographs.
The Church History Library operates under a threefold mission to collect, preserve, and share historical records of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a researcher, you play a vital role in realizing the third stage of this mission by accessing the materials in the archive. These materials are available to be viewed in person at the library or through the Church History Catalog, which contains thousands of digital images you can access from your personal computer. We couldn’t fulfill our mission to share without your interest in our collections. (For more information about the library and the records housed here, you can read “The Church History Library” and “Three Types of Records You’ll Find at the Church History Library”).
Every month the library acquires new and exciting collections and digitizes many existing collections. In the first three months of 2018, the Church History Library cataloged more than 1,500 new records. Library archivists digitize approximately 2 million items every year, and 11.5 million items have been added to the library catalog since digitization efforts began in earnest in 2011. We want to share these collections with you in a blog series titled “New in Church History Library Collections.” In these reoccurring posts, we’ll share information about new or recently digitized collections, explain where to find them, and provide suggestions for similar collections in the catalog.
Joseph F. Smith portrait, circa 1874, and Hyrum Smith’s petition for habeas corpus from imprisonment in Liberty Jail
Here are some recently digitized collections available online today.
This collection contains photographs that follow the prophet from a young missionary on his way to the Sandwich Islands through his many callings in the Church, including his service as an Apostle and as the sixth President of the Church.
If you liked this collection, check out the Joseph F. Smith Papers 1854–1918 (MS 1325).
This journal describes Ida Rees’s experience serving in the German Mission from 1937 to 1939. Her account includes observations on several significant events, such as public appearances by Adolf Hitler, the German annexation of Austria, the evacuation of missionaries from Germany in 1938, and her husband’s efforts to free missionaries imprisoned in Czechoslovakia. It is an intimate perspective on world-changing events as this woman experienced them.
If you liked this journal, check out the George R. Blake journal (MS 17781).
This collection features a telegram exchange between Brigham H. Roberts and Church leaders in Salt Lake City regarding the mob killings of missionaries and others in Tennessee. While the subject matter is sensitive, the documents themselves provide an interesting glimpse into how much time and effort were involved in communicating long distance. Telegrams have been called the predecessor of text messages.
If you liked this collection, check out the Early Mormon Missionaries database.
Hyrum Smith’s petition for habeas corpus from imprisonment in Liberty Jail is addressed to Missouri Supreme Court justice George Thompkins. It was endorsed by Smith, Alanson Ripley, Heber C. Kimball, William Huntington, and Joseph B. Noble before Clay County justice of the peace Abraham Shafer. The petition describes the injustices the imprisoned men faced yet shows hope that a legal solution could be found for Mormons in Missouri. You can also see an incomplete draft of the petition in Hyrum’s handwriting here.
If you liked this document, check out the Joseph Smith letter to Edward Johnstone, Fort Madison, Iowa, June 23, 1844 (MS 17391).
Here are some recently acquired collections available in the library.
This collection was discovered during seismic upgrade construction on the St. George Tabernacle in 2016. The container and the records inside were placed in the tabernacle tower by Charles Lowell Walker, who worked as a stonemason. He included original poetry, including “Song on Dedication of St. George Temple Site,” as well as a photograph and his testament. The collection also includes photographs taken by the construction crew on December 20, 2016. This collection shows frontier craftsmen’s dedication to their work and the longevity and modern importance of early Church architecture.
If you liked this collection, check out the St. George Photograph Collection, 1874–circa 1900 (PH 2858).
William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, son of Robert E. Lee, wrote to his mother after the 6th Infantry’s arrival at Fort Kearny, Nebraska. He described conditions in general and reported on the conflicting information he had heard about the Mormons and army forces in Utah. The letter illustrates that the early history of Utah and Mormonism was part of a larger national, political rhetoric.
If you liked this letter, check out the Jesse L. Buchanan letters, 1910–1911 (MS 29812) (available in the library only).