Dale L. Morgan (1914-1971)

A descendant of Orson Pratt, Dale L. Morgan was blessed with the same keen intellect and inquisitive mind as his illustrious ancestor. And although Dale had an early and abiding interest in the church of his birth, he will be best remembered by his admirers for his numerous books and articles on the West and near definitive work on Jedediah Smith and William Henry Ashley.

This, however, in no way detracts from Dale’s significant achievements in Mormon historical writing and Mormon bibliography. Being first introduced into historical writing when employed in the W.P.A. Historical Records Survey, Dale soon became aware of the great vacuum in Mormon bibliography.

For the next ten years, he directed his considerable talent in the search for all printed works on Mormons and Mormonism. This search led him to all the great libraries in the United States and resulted in the collection of approximately 15,000 titles on or about the Mormons written in the first century of their history. His first publication resulting from this research was the meticulously prepared A Bibliography of the Church of Jesus Christ Organized at Green Oak, Pennsylvania, July, 1862, a bibliography of the divergent sects. Dale’s Mormon collection forms the basis of the monumental Mormon Bibliography completed by Chad Flake and to be published soon by the University of Utah Press. 

But Dale Morgan’s magnum opus on the Mormons, unfortunately, was never completed. For years there existed in more than outline a three volume history of the Church. In one of his last letters to me, Dale said that he expected soon to return to his abiding interest in the church of his birth and family heritage. 

We are all the poorer that Dale Morgan’s life was ended so soon — at only 56 years of age.