Historical Note
One of the first actions by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression of the 1930s was to extend federal work relief to the unemployed. One such relief program was the Works Progress Administration, which FDR established in 1933. By 1941 the WPA had provided employment for 8 million people. One segment of the population which the WPA helped were artists, musicians, and writers, and the WPA instituted programs especially designed to utilize the talents of these people. An example of one such program was the Mormon Diaries project.
With assistance from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Historical Records Survey, as well as the WPA , Juanita Brooks supervised a project to collect and transcribe the diaries, journals, and biographical sketches for over 400 Latter-day Saint pioneers. The project ran 1934 until 1942. The material gathered also contained the histories of several towns and counties.
In 1942, when the WPA disbanded, the original transcriptions were turned over to the Library of Congress. The first copy and parts of the second and third carbon copies were deposited with the Utah State Historical Society. Other copies were deposited with Brigham Young University, the University of Utah, and Utah State University. In 1950 the Library of Congress microfilmed the entire collection on 13 reels, and since that time, microfilmed copies have been added to most major collections of Western Americana or LDS genealogy in the United States.
Scope & Content Note
This collection contains three types of material: first person accounts (diaries, journals, and autobiographies); second person accounts (biographies, life sketches, and local histories); and transcripts of interviews with pioneer Utahns. For those pioneers who had kept written histories, WPA workers copied their diaries (over 400) by hand and then typed them out. For those pioneers who had kept no diary or other record of their lives, WPA workers interviewed them using a standard set of questions. The answers to these questions were generally recorded on one to two pages. Such an entry in the index is marked as "Interview." A copy of the questionnaire used can be found in each of the boxes of this collection, as well as in the front of the register for this collection. Researchers are encouraged to examine the questionnaire in order to understand the context of the answers given. The diaries in Mss Collection #18 do not represent a complete set of the Library of Congress Mormon Diaries. However, a complete set of the diaries is housed in Special Collections in the Utah Reels Collection #220, part 1 - 13.
It appears that the typed transcriptions were made with an original and four carbon copies. In reference to the carbons, there have been instances where some diaries have apparently been retyped because the carbons are not identical. The contents of these diaries provides valuable information on Mormon pioneer life.
Register Update Prepared by: Rob Gombach, August 2000, and Susan Gross, May 2003.
Inventory
Box I. A-C
Abbot, George
Adams, James J.
Aldrich, Hanna Madsen
Allen, Hyrum
Allen, John Millard
Allred, Rhoda Luann B. Smith
Andrews, Elizabeth
Andrews, William
Andrus, Milo
Averett, George Washington Gill
Badger, Nathan Bradley
Baker, Lydia Hamp
Banford, Samuel
Bankhead, Rachell Baugh Haslam
Barrows, Elizabeth Emma Brewer
Barton, John Hyrum
Barton, Lydia Anne Robb
Batty, Mary Ann Duffin
Beacham, Rosina
Bean, Geroge Washington
Beatty, John T.
Belnap, Adaline Knight
Belnap, Flora
Belnap, Hyrum
Bigler, Henry William
Bingham, Hannah McFarland
Binii, William
Bird, Ellen George
Blake, Ida
Bleak, Elizabeth
Bonza, Louis
Bringhurst, Mary
Browning, Charilla Abbott
Browning, Jonathan
Browning, T. Samuel
Bryner, Enoch
Bryner, John U.
Budge, William
Bunker, Edward
Bunker, Elethra Calista
Burdick, F.C.
Burton, Nancy Brooks
Campbell, J.H.
Cannon, John Q.
Carter, Sophronie
Chaffin, Lewis Rice
Chambers, Alma D.
Chatterley, John
Christensen, Jacob
Christensen, Paul Chris
Clark, Hannah
Clark, Herbert
Clarke, Annie Elizabeth Frost
Cliff, Harriet M.
Corbin, Justus N.
Crapo, Alice Holbrook
Croft, Mary Isabelle Russel
Box II. D-G
Dalton, Alice Ann Langston
Dalton, Brigham
Dalton, Edward
Dalpaiz, Celeste
Davies, John J.
Davis, John H.
Davis, V.F.
Davis, William R.
Dean, Heber C.
Diehl, I.E.
Dolbell, Eliza Adelaide
Dowdle, John C.
Downward, George
Dunsboo, Thomas
Earl, Joseph I.
Earl, Sylvester
East, George
Edwards, Elizabeth Tarbet
Egbert, Ann E.
Ellet, George C.
Evans, David W.
Everett, Addison
Everett, Schuyler and wife, Rachel Sanders
Farmer, James
Farnsworth, Elizabeth Guy
Farr, Nancy Chase
Farrell, George Lionel
Fish, Martin R.
Forsythe, Ben
Fowler, William
Freeman, Elijah Norman
Frei, Edward R.
Fullerton, Alexander
Gardner, Archibald
Garner, Albert
Garner, Jane Sprunt Warner
Garner, Rufus A.
Gay, Terzah Farr
Geertsen, Mary Ann
George, Roy
Gibbs, Josiah F.
Gledhill, Sarah S. Moulding
Gordon, Warner Eugene
Grace, Isaac Henry
Grames, Albert J.
Greenwell, Fannie
Greenwell, Jack
Griffin, Nethella, Life in Boulder
Gubler, Casper
Gubler, Harmon
Gubler, Henry
Gubler, Joseph
Box III. H-I
Hafen, Ann M.S.R.
Haight, Isaac C.
Haight, Isaac Chauncy
Hancock, Cyrus Alonzo
Hanks, Ebeneezer
Hansen, Elias
Hanson, Julia
Harmon, Appleton M.
Haslam, Holt
Heaton, Johnathan
Hellewell, Martha Horspoll
Henderson, William Jasper
Henry, Mary Francis Brown
Hepworth, Edith Lewis
Hepworth, Thornton
Higbee, Lorine Isabel Lamb
Higbee, Richard and Loraine
Hill, James H.
Hinton, John Hatch
Hinton, William
Houston, James
Hoxer, John
Hull, Mary Benson
Hullinger, Dr. Harvey Coe
Hunt, Isaac
Huntsman, Orson Welcome, vol. 2
Hunstman, Orson Welcome, part 3
Huntsman, Orson Welcome, 1908-1915
Irwin, Linda L.
Isom, Alice Parker
Isom, George
Box IV. J-Lang
Jarvis, Ann Prior
Jarvis, Brigham
Jarvis, Eleanor C.W.
Jarvis, George Fredrick
Jennings, James H.
Jepson, James Jr.
Johansen, Annie
Johnson, Joel H.
Johnson, Julia Hills
Johnson, Seth
Jones, Emily Miller
Jones, Isaac Morley
Jones, J.C.
Jones, Mary Elizabeth
Jones, Thomas J.
Judd, Zodak Knapp
Kearl, James
Kearl, Mrelin Eastham
Kelsey, Easton
Kjaer, Helena Anderson Peterson
Knight, Carline Beck
Knight, Samuel
Lamb, Edwin
Lamb, Elizabeth Williams Hardy
Lambert, Charles, vols. 1-6
Lambert, Charles, vols. 7-9
Lambert, Charles, vols. 10-12
Lambert, Charles, vol. 13
Lang, William
Box V. Langston-P
Langston, Jacob H.
Langston, John
Leany, Hyrum
Leany, William
Lefevre, John H.
Leishman, James Allen
Lewis, James
Lewis, Phillip Bessom
Limone, Joseph
Lister, John Henry Ward
Liston, Commodore Perry
Lofthouse, Charlotte E.
Loveridge, John Thomas
Luke, Taklla Amanda Anderson
Lyman, Platte D.
Mackelprang, Agust Sorenson
Mangum, David Newton
Maxwell, Addie
McAllister, John T.D.
McAllister, William James Franziez
McBride, Abigail
McFarlane, Isaac Chauncey
McIntire, Margaret Jane
McIntire, William P.
McIntosh, Abraham Edward
McMullin, Brigham Y.
McMullin, David
Meeks, Priddy
Middleton, Jane Withers
Mitton, William C.
Moffat, Joseph Smith
Moore, David
Morrison, Eunice Lestra
Munsee, Louis B.
Murphy, Eliza Ann
Myton, Hewell Plummer
Naegle, Heber
Naegle, John Conrad
Nebeker, John
Neilson, Jans
Nelson, Anna Catherine Porter
Nelson, Price W.
Neiderer, Amelia
Nielson, Israel
Nixon, Hannah Isabell Fawcett
Oliver, Mary Jane
Olsen, Seren
Olsen, Livy
Olson, William
Osborne, David Asael
Osborne, David Sr.
Otteson, Joseph S.
Packard, Rachel Farr
Pardoe, Lenora Farr
Parker, Marie Jackson Mormington
Parkinson, Clara Wells
Peterson, Charles, Shreeve
Peterson, Peter
Philliip, Amy Carlina Davis
Pidcock, Roxanna Farr
Pike, Arland A.
Porter, Lysander Leroy
Powell, William Clement
Prewer, Helen
Pulsipher, John
Puzey, Lydia
Box VI. Q-S
Quilter, Harry and Eliza
Rath, A.F.
Reber, Frederick
Reber, John and Samuel
Reese, Edmund
Reese, Hanna Choppell
Reich, William
Rich, Charles Goulson
Richards, Mary Ann Parker
Richardson, Alice L.
Riddle, Isaac Jimeson
Riding, Christopher Lister
Riding, Mary Ann Hale
Ritchie, Mary Emma
Robb, Jessie
Roberts, Amer Lois McCrary
Robinson, Daniel and Rachel Smith
Robinson, William H.
Robinson, Willis Eugene
Rogers, Isabel King
Rozsa, John
Russel, Lottie Ballard
Sargent, Matilda Walker
Savage, Levi, Sec. 1-5
Savage, Levi, Sec. 6-8
Saxton, William S.
Shafer, Frank Marion
Shakespear, George D.
Shakespear, Mary
Shakespear, William John
Shaw, Annie Hermine Cardon
Shaw, Myrtillo
Shipp, Dr. Ellis R.
Shurtliff, Francis Marion
Slack, Adalaide Jackson
Slack, Amelia Theobald
Slack, Caroline Lamb
Slack, Lorenzo Jefferies
Slack, Walter
Smith, Alice Baugh
Smith, Elizabeth Jennett
Smith, Eliza Mathews
Smith, Orson
Smith, Ruth
Smith, William George
Snow, Edward H.
Sorenson, Soren
Spencer, Clarissa Hamilton Young
Spencer, John
Spencer, Henry
Spendlove, William
Spillsbury, Moroni
Staheli, John
Stapley, Young Elizabeth Steele
Stevens, Mary Ann
Stevenson, Edward
Stone, Charlotte Gale
Stout, Hosea
Stout, Hosea Fisk
Stratford, Charles Henry
Stratford, Edwin A.
Stucki, Barbara Staheli Graff
Stucki, Christian
Box VII. T-Y
Taylor, Andrew A.
Taylor, Levi James
Taylor, Polly Ann Elmer
Theobald, George
Theobald, William
Toombs, Joseph Moroni
Trout, Thomas
Turner, Anna Bosch
Twelves, Orson
Vogel, George William
Walker, Elizabeth Staheli
Walker, Mark R.
Walker, Thomas
Wall, Francis George
Wallace, Hamilton
Warner, Job
Warnick, Christinia Oleson
Watson, James William
Weaver, Madora Browning
Weaver, Mary Jane
Werden, Clark
West, John Clements
West, Rose Berry
Weston, George Gofford
Weston, Nehemish
Wilbur, Elisha
Wilcox, Ebenezer O.
Williams, John D.
Wilson, Henrietta Emmett
Wiseman, Jacob
Woodbury, Ann Cannon
Wooley, Edwin G.
Woolf, Isaac
Workman, Andrew Jackson
Young, Alphus