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Each quarter the Wilford Woodruff Papers Project adds additional documents to the online collection. In 2021, we have teams working on journals, letters, autobiographies, histories, and biographies.
On December 1, 2021 we added 7 new letters to the Wilford Woodruff Papers collection. Each one is a window into the faith and efforts of the early saints. In a letter just before Christmas 1849, Wilford Woodruff, then president of the Eastern States Mission, wrote to fellow Church members petitioning for the creation of a state called "Deseret" that would include Salt Lake City. Although far from Washington, DC, he wrote, "I will not ownly continue to pray for your success, But I feel to sustan you with evry feeling & sentimnt of my heart evy way in my power in accomplishing the object of your mission at Washington."
We released 460 pages of Wilford Woodruff's journal entries covering 1854-1859. During that intense period the United States sent a federal army to subdue the Latter-day Saints. President Woodruff's journal entries document that ordeal from the perspective of saints who had ample reason to fear for their uncertain future. The journal entries tell how the Lord led them safely through the ordeal as they followed his prophet, Brigham Young.
With the help of incredible volunteers, the Autobiographies & Histories team completed all of the available digitized documents ahead of schedule. On December 1st, we shared the three drafts that Wilford Woodruff prepared in anticipation of publishing his autobiography. These drafts are important because only 3 of the 4-part autobiography was eventually published in Tullidge’s Quarterly Magazine. We also released the two Dreams and Visions records that Wilford Woodruff recorded detailing Joseph Smith and his own spiritual experiences from the 1830s to the 1880s.
We continue to add additional biographies to share the lives of people with whom Wilford Woodruff interacted and their impact on Church history.
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