The recently completed Wilford Woodruff Papers project, which brought together thousands of historical documents through the efforts of nearly 1,500 contributors, is finding a permanent home with the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation is gifting the project to the Church for long-term preservation and public access through the Church Historian’s Press website.
The Church History Department and the foundation will commemorate the gift during “A Rich & Holy Legacy,” a conference on Friday, Nov. 13, at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City. Presentations, panel discussions and exhibits will explore President Wilford Woodruff’s influence and his role in documenting the Restoration.
Jennifer Ann Mackley, the Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation’s co-founder and executive director, said transfer fulfills the purpose that guided the project.
“That was the goal from the beginning — to make these documents universally accessible,” she said. “It’s going to outlive all of us, and it needs to have a permanent home where it will reach the world.”
Matthew J. Grow, managing director of the Church History Department, said the collection complements the journals and other historical resources already available through the Church Historian’s Press.
“They have done a great job. They have had an eye to how these historical documents can bless a wide variety of people,” he said. “It’s significant that the Church is going to host it to make sure that it’s accessible long-term.”
Preserving the papers
Mackley began researching Woodruff’s life and writings in 1995. She co-founded the foundation in 2019, and the documentary project officially launched March 1, 2020.
The completed collection includes 14,511 documents comprising 56,912 pages, gathered from 91 institutions or private collections, Mackley said.
Contributors located records, obtained access, transcribed handwriting, translated some material and added historical context. Researchers also identified 25,341 people mentioned in the papers, connecting records to biographical information and family relationships.
Mackley said 1,488 people helped complete the project, with student participants representing 27 universities.
Pandemic disruptions pushed the work online almost immediately. What initially required rethinking the project ultimately expanded its reach.
“We just stayed online, but it opened up the whole world,” Mackley said.
Steven C. Harper, the project’s executive editor and a BYU professor of Church history and doctrine, trained and supervised contributors who transcribed documents and verified their accuracy.
He credited Mackley’s decades of “painstaking” research with making the project possible and praised the donors, volunteers and behind-the-scenes contributors who supported it.
“It’s a great example of how some devoted people can pull together to bring it to pass,” Harper said.
‘An amazing record keeper’
Grow described Woodruff — the fourth Church president — as a “critical eyewitness” to Church history.
His journals span six decades and are a key resource in Latter-day Saint history. His extensive correspondence and other records further document a lifetime of participation in the Restoration, including a period as Church historian.
“He was an amazing record keeper,” Grow said.
The Church owns most of the original Woodruff papers and helped the foundation access them. Department staff also shared experience gained through the Joseph Smith Papers.
As the project neared completion, discussions turned to its long-term future, and the foundation offered to donate it to the Church. The materials are already online at wilfordwoodruffpapers.org; work is underway to integrate them into the Church Historian’s Press website. Print volumes are not anticipated.
“We feel like it’s a terrific complement to the other resources we already have there, and that we will have the infrastructure to be able to keep it online with those other resources for a long, long time,” Grow said.
Connections and discoveries
The foundation’s website helps readers explore the records through features such as Ancestor Connector, which uses FamilySearch connections to identify relatives mentioned in the papers.
“It’s not just the story of Wilford Woodruff, it’s the story of 25,341 people,” Mackley said.
Some connections extend beyond ancestry.
Harper recalled verifying transcriptions over Zoom with Nigerian Latter-day Saints participating through BYU-Pathway. One person read the original document while another checked the transcription. Together, they learned about early Church history and shared insights.
“It was fun to see them discovering his records and having their own insights,” he said. “That helped me learn and understand better how we all connect to this sacred past, this Restoration that has gone global now.”
Grow praised the foundation’s efforts to reach a broad audience and strengthen faith through history.
“They’ve been very innovative in terms of thinking broadly about how the history can help people today,” he said.
