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In a BYU Education Week class presented Aug. 19 and titled "Practical Suggestions for Preparing a Spiritual Book of Remembrance," Roger C. Flick addressed attendees regarding both the importance of preparing a spiritual book of remembrance and a simplified methodology for doing so.
According to Brother Flick, a book of remembrance compiled under inspiration from the Holy Ghost may be considered a form of scripture for family members and their posterity.
"A book of remembrance can be scripture that can stand next to your [canonized] scriptures," he said. "That being the case, you have to consider what to place in there. You can obviously place some things in there from people that you know are giving scripture, like the General Authorities or the President of the Church or something along those lines.
"But you are entitled to scripture yourself that is scripture for your family. This would include such things as testimonies and spiritual experiences."
He grounded that assertion in a piece from the April 1966 Improvement Era titled "The Book of Remembrance." Some excerpts Brother Flick cited from the article include:
"The family books of remembrance in Latter-day Saint homes today should rate in importance second only to the standard works. These family records are supplements to the scriptures, aiding in teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to the posterity of faithful members of the Church."
"Every faithful family should be diligently compiling a book of remembrance. In it should be found the story of the family, especially the story of its spiritual life, written by inspiration. It should also contain a genealogy of the family so that the children may have an opportunity to acquire knowledge of their fathers. The book of remembrance should thus contain a spiritual history and a genealogy of the family."
"The book of remembrance will create interest and love in the hearts of the children for their fathers by teaching them not only their family background, but also of the spiritual power that unites them to these loved ones. Thus, in the language of the fathers, the children will be taught to love and appreciate the things of the Lord."
"Members of the Church should be encouraged to make their books of remembrance a record of spiritual and ecclesiastical experiences as was done anciently. The book should never become a catchall for miscellaneous records. Pictures, portrait pedigrees, and the like may be added, but nothing should detract from the sacredness of this record."
Brother Flick counseled that books of remembrance ought not to incorporate secular records such as scrapbooks, photo albums, school records, baby books and local histories. Instead, he said the focus should be on spiritually centric documents like Church ordinance records, inspired writings, testimonies, genealogies and biographies of as many direct-line ancestors as possible.
Individuals and families can choose themes to build their books of remembrance around. A title page and preface are necessary, and efforts should be made to maintain uniform formatting throughout. The table of contents can either be written at the outset or conclusion of compilation efforts.
"Your books of remembrance will always be in a formative stage and, yes, it will change as you change," Brother Flick said.
He concluded the class by emphasizing how writing in general and, specifically, compiling a book of remembrance are integral acts for posthumously positing on posterity a positive and lasting influence.
"If you want to be remembered, write," he said. "That is a key thing; remember that. If you want to be remembered in your family, just write."
Brother Flick is retired from teaching genealogy classes at BYU, but he still works at the school's Harold B. Lee Library in Computer-Assisted Research Services. The PowerPoint slides for his Education Week presentations are available on his BYU homepage: net.lib.byu.edu/~rcf3 .
