Spencer W. Kimball Journals
Featured Collections
The Church History Library is privileged to house President Spencer W. Kimball’s journals, which he kept for most of his life. Because of his positions in Church leadership, President Kimball was uniquely placed to witness and, in many cases, influence key events in the history of the Church. As a result, his journals are some of the most significant Church history records of the 20th century.
The journals are viewable in the Church History Catalog under call number MS 21541. Due to copyright constraints, primarily related to the many newspaper clippings contained in the collection, you need to sign in with your free Church account to see the journals.
This article is designed to help you navigate the journals’ numerous volumes. Before you begin searching through the journals, it can be helpful to know some basic chronology about the entries:
- President Kimball’s writing efforts intensified when he was called as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1943. From that time until he became President of the Church, he made daily entries.
- President Kimball continued keeping a journal after his call as President of the Church in 1973. As the demands of serving as Church President mounted, however, his output slowed, and he ultimately stopped keeping his own journal in early 1977.
- During this time and onward, his personal secretary, D. Arthur Haycock, kept an office journal, which is not part of this collection.
- President Kimball’s son Edward L. Kimball took notes from that office journal for the years 1977 to 1981, which he added to his father’s journal. Edward’s additions to his father’s journal include his own commentary as well—sometimes in square brackets.
- Thus, beginning in 1977, entries in the Spencer W. Kimball journals consist of Edward’s notes rather than President Kimball’s personal work.
When you enter the collection, a finding aid showing the collection’s contents will appear on the left side of the screen:
Journals and Autobiographical Writings
This section of the collection contains President Kimball’s early journals from his youth and missionary service (1905 and 1910–1915), as well as autobiographical materials he prepared in 1914 and 1980. He was called to serve in the Swiss-German Mission in the spring of 1914, but with the advent of war in Europe later that year, his call was changed to the Central States Mission. On this page—in the entry for May 3—he says that they met some “very hostile people whom I succeeded in taming” through the power of music:
The missionary record in a neighboring folder is a small, printed booklet used for missionaries to track time spent on various missionary activities:
Near the end of this volume, he wrote a total of all the hours spent between November 14, 1914, and December 25, 1915. At least one more volume would have been expected (he was released in January 1917), but it is not in the collection.
Sometimes the journals are duplicated in typescript form. The duplicates created on a typewriter were likely made by President Kimball, while anything that looks like it came from a computer printer was likely created by his son Edward. President Kimball’s family members say that Spencer had a small typewriter that he often carried with him in his travels; he typed using the hunt-and-peck method.
His distinctive handwriting appears throughout the journal; additionally, annotations and red underlining in his hand appear on many pages in the original typescripts. This entry, written on the day of the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II, shows a page with red underlining that also transitions from typewritten text to longhand script:
In the upper-left corner, a clipping that is glued to the page has been moved so that the text it covers can be seen. But some of the text still remains unseen because the clipping is glued over it.
President Kimball’s son Edward had possession of the journals for many years and used them to create multiple books, including Lengthen Your Stride: The Presidency of Spencer W. Kimball and Spencer W. Kimball, Twelfth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the latter of which was written with Edward’s nephew Andrew). Evidence of Edward’s use of the journal can be found throughout the journal, including his own annotations and notes, which often appear in brackets.
Daily Journals, 1919–1943
This segment of the collection contains journals written primarily during President Kimball’s time living in Thatcher, Arizona, from age 24 until receiving his call to the apostleship at age 48. During this period, he owned a small company dealing in insurance, real estate, and other financial services. These journals also cover his service as a bishop and president of the Mt. Graham Stake. The journal entries during this time appear more intermittently than after 1943, when he became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Journals, Numbered Volumes, 1919–1981
This portion of the collection contains the records President Kimball kept over several decades, including while he served as an Apostle and President of the Church. At the beginning of each of these volumes is a folder showing stickers that appeared on the original black binders. Due to residue on the binders and in order to reduce storage space, the binders were discarded. The stickers were retained, but they are kept inside mylar sleeves to prevent the glue from migrating into the rest of the collection.
At first glance, these volumes look more like scrapbooks than journals. If you are looking for day-to-day journal entries, keep scrolling—the journal entries are there too. But do not overlook the scrapbook-style documents; they include all sorts of good information, including letters, travel records, photographs, maps, and personal notations.
Some of the journal volumes begin with an index:
The entry on this page, dated November 17, 1964, covers the dedication of the Oakland California Temple. President Kimball describes the arrival of President David O. McKay, who at this point in time was weakened due to his age:
Pasted between this page and the continuation of his daily entries are the temple dedication tickets issued to Spencer and Camilla Kimball:
[European Tour] Correspondence, 1937
In 1937, the local Rotary International district paid for the Kimballs to travel to Europe as part of that organization’s international convention. These letters were written home to family while the Kimballs were on the tour.
A letter in Camilla’s handwriting from Nice, France (MS 21541/b0019/f0003, Image #40)
There are also several hand-drawn sketches in the collection, such as this one, which was created in 1937 when President and Sister Kimball traveled to Europe while he was the Rotary International district president of his Arizona region. The map marks the progress of their ship as it made its way across the Atlantic:
Postcards, 1938
In 1933, the Kimballs’ youngest son, Edward, contracted polio. For several years, Camilla took him back and forth between Arizona and Los Angeles, where he received treatment and therapy. These postcards were sent from Los Angeles to the Kimball family in Arizona during the summer of 1938.
Newspaper and Magazine Clippings
“Duplicates” is written on the front of the first folder, which contains newspaper and magazine clippings dating from 1943. Many of these clippings relate to President Kimball’s call as an Apostle, but some also relate to topics regarding Church events and doctrine. Because there are so many articles, with many topics on each page, it is sometimes difficult to determine why a particular page was kept.
The folder also contains a program from October 16, 1943, titled “The L.D.S. Stakes of Arizona Jointly Honor Elder Spencer W. Kimball of the Council of the Twelve and His Wife, Camilla Kimball.” At the end of the file, there is a typescript titled “Spencer W. Kimball, the Arizona Apostle.” It is a carbon copy and is written on the back of Mt. Graham stake presidency letterhead.
Rotary International File, Circa 1936–1980
President Kimball was active in Rotary International for much of his adult life, serving in 1936 as district governor. This collection of material is evidence of his continued interest in and support for the organization.
A draft of a speech given by President Kimball while he served as district governor of Rotary International. (MS 21541/b0019/f0008, Image #288)
Centennial Trek Scrapbook, 1947
The information in this scrapbook relates to events surrounding the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Latter-day Saints’ arrival in the Salt Lake Valley. President and Sister Kimball participated in a reenactment of the journey, sponsored by the Sons of the Utah Pioneers, from Winter Quarters to the Valley. Instead of using replica wagons, cars were decorated to resemble wagons. Though many of the clippings are from Church- or Utah-centric publications, he also collected clippings from small-town papers along the trail that wrote about the event, such as The Daily Iowegian and The Quincy Herald-Whig.