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“Sources of Mormon History in Illinois, 1839-48” at Southern Illinois University, is a collection of documents (most of which are on microfilm), which was assembled by Stanley B. Kimball, who also published an annotated catalog to the collection. The collection got its start in 1961 when the Office of Research and Projects at S.I.U., which grants money for faculty research, found itself near the end of a fiscal year with a considerable amount of unspent money. This was a crisis indeed, but Professor Kimball was equal to the challenge it presented. He applied for the available funds, and when he received them, he used them to finance a research project which took two summers to complete. The result is a collection of more than eighty-four thousand documents. Most of these documents relate to the period of Mormon residence in Nauvoo (1837-1846). A lesser number are related to the period immediately following the departure of the Mormons to the West. 

The intrinsic value of the collection is, I trust, fairly evident. Where there are no documents, no history can be written. Where there are extant documents which are scattered in dozens of instituions—few of which have a complete knowledge of their holdings—the situation is scarcely improved. Only historians who have the taste, time and money for travel and endless correspondence can undertake research under such conditions. Professor Robert B. Flanders, who essentially finished his work before the S.I.U. collection was completed, was such a historian, but it goes without saying that the document collection at S.I.U. will greatly implement the study of Mormon history. Furthermore, a collection such as this can create a field of study which hardly existed before. Leonard Arrington has said that one of the great deficiencies of Mormon historiography is the lack of studies concerned with the period after 1877. Much the same might have been said of the Nauvoo period. Now the Nauvoo era, which was pivotal to the Mormon experience, cannot be ignored. 

Of what does the “Sources of Mormon History” collection consist? The most important elements are manuscript sources: letters, diaries, autobiographies and other unpublished materials gleaned from several individuals and from about forty institutions. The most notable known omissions, which result from policies which forbid copying primary sources for such purposes, are holdings in the archives of the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the Reorganized Church in Independence, Missouri. One result of these omissions is a somewhat larger proportion of apostate records than the col lection would otherwise have had. 

Copy restrictions, such as the two churches maintain, are neither unusual nor to be criticized. Copies of documents circulating without restrictions can present many problems. Moreover, most of the institutions from which we obtained our copies have stipulated that we must not reproduce these documents for others; those who wish copies are referred to the institution which holds the original. That is not to say that the archives of the Mormon Church in Utah are as accessible as they could and should be. How ever, since Mormon scholars themselves are the most critical of this inaccessibility, it is reasonable to hope that a substantial change will occur in due time. 

Another major component of the collection is the group of newspapers and periodicals. The collection includes rather complete runs of twenty-six of these, including fairly complete runs of the seven newspapers and periodicals published by the Mormons during the Nauvoo period. The newspapers are largely non-Mormon; the periodicals are, without exception, Mormon or specifically anti-Mormon. There are no articles from other periodicals of the times. This represents a major remaining desideratum. However, there are copies of articles pertaining to Mormons from several hundred newspapers. Here the collection has borrowed wholesale from the prodigious labors of others, especially Cecil and Helen Snider, Dale Morgan, and the staff of the Brigham Young University Library. Among the excerpted articles which have been indexed by Morgan there are some printed as early as 1826 and as late as 1856. The S.I.U. collection also includes copies of extensive indexes from Brigham Young University and the Illinois State Historical Library. One large section gives the date, page, and subject of articles from six St. Louis newspapers. This is a considerable reference source in its own right. 

Among the published materials in the S.I.U. collection there are a large number of documents printed by state and local governments. While these were acquired incidentally, in the search for manuscripts, they do represent an important bonus for scholars. Many of these government documents are exceedingly difficult to find, even when one is aware of their existence. 

In one section of Professor Kimball’s catalog, which accompanies the collection, he lists and comments on relevant dissertations and theses. Professor Kimball also includes a useful name index and a short, but intriguing section entitled, “Materials on Order, Unavailable, or Omitted.” 

For a variety of reasons, all good and sufficient in my opinion, it was decided to bring out the first edition of Professor Kimball’s annotated catalog in 1964, even though all concerned realized that there were many more editorial imperfections than we would have wished. The impetus for the second edition came from our Central Publications Office, which had sold nearly all of the first printing and which, in any event, needed a large new printing. While some errors were removed, the second edition was chiefly an occasion to add more material.

In one respect the annotated catalog does its compiler less than justice. This is the area which I can only describe as negative documentation. Kim ball searched in ten states, corresponded widely, and circularized more than eleven hundred potential respositories. He would have done well to have stated his negative findings more explicitly. 

Mormon Bibliography

Mormon Bibliography, 1830-1930, which is currently at press, will supersede many bibliographies which might otherwise be cited. Begun as a Federal Writers Project in the 1930’s by Dale L. Morgan, this immense work will contain over ten thousand items. It will include books, pamphlets, periodicals, and government documents of interest to scholars. It will not, however, include periodical and newspaper articles, manuscripts, and maps. Many Utah imprints have also been omitted. 

A companion volume to Mormon Bibliography, 1830-1930 will eventually bring the record to 1960. The 1960 cut-off is the beginning date for the semi-monthly, Mormon Americana, edited by Chad Flake of the Brigham Young University Library, a joint project of the six principal Utah libraries concerned with Mormon and Utah History. Mormon Americana includes books, periodical articles and, sometimes, book reviews. While not pretending to be scholarly or exhaustive, it actully provides a fuller record than most re searchers will require. For most purposes the “Mormon Bibliography” section published yearly since 1960 by Brigham Young University Studies will be sufficient. Based on Mormon Americana, this bibliography is currently com piled by Chad Flake. Also based in part on Mormon Americana is the section, “Among the Mormons; a Survey of Current Literature,” edited quarerly for Dialogue by Ralph Hansen. In addition to valuable discussions of new works and commentary upon the state of scholarly writing on Mormon ism, each Summer issue of Dialogue attempts to list all theses and dissertations pertaining to Mormonism. These supplement Leonard J. Arrington’s “Chronological List of Ph.D. Dissertations on Mormon History and Culture” appended to his “Scholarly Studies of Mormonism in the Twentieth Century,” Dialogue, I (Spring 1966), 15-32. 

Researchers will still want to consult the three fine bibliographies of the “lesser” Mormon churches compiled by Dale L. Morgan. Morgan lists items which are no longer extant, and includes extensive scholarly annotations. The first two of these, “A Bibliography of the Church of Jesus Christ, Organized at Green Oak, Pennsylvania, July, 1862,” and “A Bibliography of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints [Strangite],” appeared in the Western Humanities Review, IV (Winter 1949-50), 44-70; and V (Winter 1950-51), 42-114. As for the third, “A Bibliography of the Churches of the Dispersion,” only the “Introduction” appears in the Western Humanities Review, VIII (Summer 1953), 255-266. However, this bibliography and the other two have each been printed separately. In reference to these bibliog raphies Dale L. Morgan recently wrote to me:

As a matter of fact I still have not completed the series. Imperatively there must be one on the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) and its offshoots; and I have contemplated one dealing with various schisms of the Utah church, including the Morrisites, the Funda- mentalists, etc. The Reorganized Church is such a tall order as really to require a bibliography all to itself, but I did wonder whether it might be feasible to deal at least with its earlier years. But I have been heavily engaged with other matters, the past 15 years, and nothing has yet been done. Now a new Mormon bibliographical series is being launched at the University of Utah, and it has been proposed that I complete this series as a volume in that larger series. Perhaps I will do so hereafter. 

The Brigham Young University Library is attempting to publish indexes to all Mormon periodicals. Those available to date on the Nauvoo period are Index to the Millenial Star, Vol. 1-15 [1840-1853] (1960) and Index to Times and Seasons, Volumes 1-6 [1839-1849] (1965). A useful review of indexing and bibliographic activity is contained in S. Lyman Tyler’s “The Availability of Information Concerning the Mormons,” Dialogue, III (Autumn 1966), 172-175. 

D. L. Ashliman’s “Mormonism and the Germans: An Annotated Bibligraphy, 1848-1966,” Brigham Young University Studies, VIII (Autumn 1967), 73-94, is valuable not only for its post-1930 titles but for its inclusion of periodical and newspaper articles. It does not, however, pretend to be exhaustive. 

The student will want also to peruse Western Humanities Review (1947- ), Brigham Young University Studies (1959- ), and, particularly, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (1966- ) and the Newsletter of the Mormon History Association (1965- ). 

In 1959 Marvin S. Hill declared, “The historiography of Mormonism has been plagued by too much emotion, too much description and too little interpretation” (Church History, XXVII [Dec. 1959], 418-426). In the decade since Hill’s statement, Mormon historical writing has received a good deal of attention. Leonard J. Arrington has been the leading figure in the re assessment of the literature. Of especial value for the Nauvoo period are his “Scholarly Studies of Mormonism in the Twentieth Century,” Dialogue, I (Spring 1966), 15-32, and “The Search for Truth and Meaning in Mormon History,” Dialogue, III (Summer 1968), 56-66. Other important discussions include Davis Bitton, “B. H. Roberts as Historian,” Dialogue, III (Winter 1968), 25-44; Robert B. Flanders, “Writing on the Mormon Past,” Dialogue, I (Autumn 1966), 47-61; Klaus J. Hansen, “The Metamorphosis of the Kingdom of God: Toward a Reinterpretation of Mormon History,” Dialogue, I (Autumn 1966), 63-83; and Philip A. M. Taylor, “Recent Writing on Utah and the Mormons,” in Arizona and the West, IV (Autumn 1962), 249-260. The latter appeared originally in the British Association for American Studies Bulletin (Nov. 1959).