The Sterling M. McMurring Papers

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Dr. Sterling Moss McMurrin needs no introduction to Dialogue readers. He is one of the Church’s most outstanding scholars, and is a nationally recognized administrator, educator, and philosopher. He has been a member of the University of Utah faculty since 1948, except for a period in 1961-1962 during which he served as United States Commissioner of Education. At the University of Utah he has held appointments as Professor of Philosophy, Dean of the College of Letters and Sciences, Academic Vice President, and Provost. Currently Dr. McMurrin is the E. E. Ericksen Distinguished Professor, Professor of History, and Dean of the Graduate School. 

Early in 1971 Dr. McMurrin deposited his personal papers in the Western Americana Department of the University of Utah Libraries. The papers, extending over fifty linear feet of shelving, are a truly significant addition to the manuscript holdings of the Library. Dr. McMurrin has placed no limiting restrictions on the papers, except that they be used for scholarly research. Currently the manuscripts staff is preparing a register to the papers, which will be published and made available to scholars in the near future.

The papers include a wide variety of materials from correspondence to magnetic tape recordings. The correspondence, dating from 1941 to 1970, includes letters from many prominent religious leaders, educators, philosophers, government officials, and businessmen. There is a complete file of Dr. McMurrin’s writings, publications, and transcribed speeches. Some of these works exist in multiple draft form, showing the progressive refinement of his thought. Twenty-four large ring-binders contain scrapbook memorabilia. Also included are two HEW commission files: The Mountain States Regional Man power Committee, and the Federal Commission on Instructional Technology.

Of particular interest to Dialogue readers are the L.D.S. Church related materials. Dr. McMurrin corresponded with three Church presidents: George Albert Smith, David O. McKay, and Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr. Letters from General Authorities include Hugh B. Brown, Marion D. Hanks, Levi Edgar Young, Albert E. Bo wen, and Harold B. Lee. Represented among the correspondents are Hugh Nibley, Truman G. Madsen, Heber C. Snell, Richard P. Condie, Lowell M. Bennion, G. Homer Durham, Leonard J. Arrington, and George T. Boyd. 

Among the publications file are the drafts to The Philosophical Foundations of Mormon Theology, and The Theological Foundations of the Mormon Religion. Articles on Mormonism include “Brigham H. Roberts,” “The Distinctive Character of Mormon Theology,” “Mormonism and Existentialism,” and “Latter-day Saints in Education in Southern California.” Within the subject file are folders with such tantalizing headings as the “McMurrin Widtsoe Cold War,” “Snell-Smith Warm War,” “Benson-McMurrin Fracus,” and “Excommunication Hassle.” An interesting file is a collection of letters received following Dr. McMurrin’s 1968 speech before the Salt Lake City Chapter of the NAACR Comments in the letters range from ” . . . Ten thousand cheers for you, sir! I cannot tell you how grateful I am for what you have said and done . . .” to “. . . it is sickening to hear you advocate in the name of morality, that members of the Church should join in the genocide of the White minority race. . . .” Dr. McMurrin also collected an extensive newspaper clipping file of reactions to the speech across the nation. 

Finally there are items dealing with the “Mormon Seminar” of the 1950’s, which was an intellectual study group devoted to Mormon history, culture, and thought. There are also a few manuscripts submitted to Dr. McMurrin for a proposed, but never published, Mormon Anthology. 

The above gives but a small indication of the magnitude of the papers of Dr. Sterling Moss McMurrin.