Research Guidance

The Church History Library website has several pages that provide detailed research guidance, such as “Understanding CHL Collections” and “Catalog Orientation.” While the former addresses the Church History Library specifically, its information is applicable to the MCPCHC as well. The orientation page is for the Church History Catalog, which is an online database of the material held by Church History facilities. You can search the catalogue for specific countries, individuals, and other relevant terms, to find items of interest that are not included in the short lists in the following sections of this research guide.

Both facilities collect materials from a wide spectrum of sources and represent numerous points of view. Users should not assume that the Church, the library, or the centre endorse every item in the collections.

Additionally, historical documents and materials may contain language and content that are considered inappropriate by 21st-century standards. While materials that contain racist sentiments may be found in Church History collections, in no way does the Church promote or support these ideas or opinions found within them. Making such materials accessible to researchers enables further academic conversation on such topics, which allows for greater historical understanding.

Some collections may be closed to research or require special access permissions before the collection may be viewed. To learn more about the reasons some collections are closed to research, please see our access policy.

Additional help or questions about conducting research pertaining to Church history in the Pacific is available by reaching out to our Church history consultants through our Ask Us service.