Church releases President Spencer W. Kimball’s journal collection

[smac97]

Back in November I itemized the Church's various and extensive efforts to improve and update the "narrative" it tells about itself:

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I am curious as to your thoughts about Richard L. Bushman's assessment of the Church's "narrative," as in the one being advanced by the institutional Church:

As you may know, in September John Dehlin had Latter-day Saint scholar on his podcast, which led to a discussion about whether there has been some sort of informal boycott of Dehlin's podcast by Latter-day Saint scholars.  At the time I speculated that if such a boycott is going on, it may be "responsive to Dehlin's behavior relative to Dr. Richard Bushman."  I proceeded to lay out the chronology of Bushman's stance on the "narrative" of the Church, beginning with his well-known comment back in 2016 forward to 2021.   
...

I think the Church has been working hard to provide members with meaningful and substantive resources which provide a considerably improved "narrative" of our history.  The resources Bushman has specifically credited as reconstructing the narrative (Saints, Volume 1 ("The Standard of Truth, 1815–1846"), Volume 2 ("No Unhallowed Hand, 1846–1893") and Volume 3 ("Boldly, Nobly, and Independent, 1893–1955"), the Joseph Smith Papers Project, the Gospel Topics essays - 14 in all) are freely available to the world online.  Additionally, the "Church History" section of the Church's website includes many other resources that I think Bushman would construe as even further reconstructing the narrative:

• Saints Podcast (112 episodes over three seasons, and counting)
• Historical Sources (extensive information about the Doctrine & Covenants)
• Revelations in Context ("The Stories behind the Sections of the Doctrine and Covenants")
• Joseph Smith's Revelations ("A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers")
• Joseph Smith Papers Podcasts (14 episodes)
• First Vision (examining the various accounts of the First Vision)
• Prophets of the Restoration (extensive biographies of all presidents of the Church)
• Church History Topics (brief but annotated treatments of dozens of Church History items)
• Answers to Church History Questions (answering questions about difficult areas of Church history, such as Mountain Meadows, treatment of Native Americans, translation of the Book of Abraham, the Kirtland Safety Society, polygamy, etc.)
• Stories from Saints (discussion of various "local" stories about members of the Church and how they have influenced both the Church and history generally)
• Global Histories (extensive historical summaries of the Church throughout the world)
• At the Pulpit ("185 Years of Discourses by Latter-day Saint Women")
• The First Fifty Years of Relief Society
• Daughters in My Kingdom ("The History and Work of Relief Society")

Moreover, the Church also maintains https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/, which includes all of the foregoing historical resources plus many more:

• The Church Historian’s Press ("Search diaries, journals, discourses and documents")
• Pioneers in Every Land (various resources about members throughout the world)
• Joseph Smith (extensive resources about Joseph's life and ministry)
• The Trek West (various maps, stories, etc.)
• Museum Treasures ("Learn about the art and artifacts available at the Church History Museum.")
• Perspectives on Church History ("Explore insights on the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.")
• Experience Church History (selections from exhibits and materials housed in the Church History Museum)
• Research Church History Collections (links to the Church History Library, Church History Catalog, Church History Biographical Database, Treasures of the {Church History Museum} Collection, Pioneer Resources)
• Church History Museum ("Discover the spiritual, artistic, and cultural legacies of the Latter-day Saints.")
• Church Historic Sites

Way back in the 1990s, I returned from my mission and found that my dad had purchased "LDS Infobases," a collection of Church history/doctrine publications and materials originally published in 1993 (with perhaps other iterations published earlier than that).  I was amazed at having access to something like 1,800 books on these discs, all searchable!  Back then individual members really did have to go "looking for scholarship," but for the last many decades there has been a huge improvement in readily-available resources, including various free resources published by the Church which - as Bushman put it - "reconstruct" and improve past recitations of our history.

This ongoing effort has, in my view, substantially undermined a countervailing narrative that the Church is "secretive," that it lies about or hides its history from members, etc.  

Here is another indication of where the Church is going: President Spencer W. Kimball journals are now available online. Here’s how to access them

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President Spencer W. Kimball was one of the great advocates and examples of keeping a personal journal.

For the first time, the late Church president’s own journals are now open and available for public viewing, according to a Church History Library blog post.

President Kimball’s journals will be a valuable addition to Church history records, said Elder Kyle S. McKay, a General Authority Seventy who serves as the Church historian and recorder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“President Kimball’s journals are some of the best in Latter-day Saint history,” Elder McKay said. “Just as Wilford Woodruff’s amazing journal chronicles nineteenth-century Latter-day Saint history, Spencer W. Kimball’s journal gives tremendous insight into the history of the Church in the twentieth century.”
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After President Kimball’s death, his journals remained with his family until 2008 when the collection was donated to the Church History Library with the request that they be prepared for public release after appropriate review, the blog said.

 

President Kimball’s journals span multiple decades and contain a wealth of inspiring stories from his life and Church service, including the following:

• 1905 journal, when President Kimball was 10 years old.
• 1914-1915, Central States mission journal.
• There is a gap in the journals between 1919 and 1930, after which he resumed writing regularly until 1981. There are 34 volumes assembled in scrapbook style.
• President Kimball continued journaling after his call as Church president in 1973. His personal secretary helped write brief entries.
• There are additional materials, such as correspondence and many newspaper clippings. Journal entries made as an adult often went beyond a textual description of daily events; they more closely resemble a scrapbook.

Most of the 34 journals are typed and many pages include underlining, usually in red pencil with brief annotations and margin notes written in his hand.

The Church expressed gratitude to the Kimball family for the donation of the journals and to the Church History Library staff for preparing them to be released.

How to access President Kimball’s journals

Digitized images of the journals are accessible in the Church History Catalog without any transcription or interpretation under call number MS 21541.

While the collection is open and accessible to the public, visitors must log in with a free Church account to view the digitized images due to copyrighted material contained in the collection, primarily newspaper clippings.

Very cool.

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Other Church history collections

The President Kimball journals are the latest in a series of projects to provide historical materials and collections at the Church History Library. See a list of projects at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

Church History Library announces release of dozens of newly digitized records

Other publications produced in recent years include:

• The Discourses of Eliza R. Snow.
• The Diaries of Emmeline B. Wells.
• The Journal of George F. Richards.
• The Journal of George Q. Cannon.
• ‘At the Pulpit: 185 Years of Discourses by Latter-day Saint Women’.
• The First 50 Years of Relief Society.
• The Joseph Smith Papers.

Also very cool.

Thanks,

-Smac

[bluebell]

I think this thread already exists in the News Forum.