Archives West Finding Aid

The William H. Smart diaries (1886-1937 and 1979-1981) comprise 50 volumes of Smart's personal journals written from the age of 24 through his death. The collection also holds copies of 43 of these journals, beginning in 1898, on five reels of microfilm, as well as photocopies of selected volumes. Lastly, the collection offers associated documents in the form of student-prepared summaries of the diaries (1981), scholarly articles about his life (ca. 1979), and news clippings regarding his death (1937). Smart (1862-1937) served a proselytizing mission to Turkey and England and later served as president of the Eastern States Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1899 through 1900. The diaries discuss his activities in these capacities, and later provide information on his extensive business interests in southeastern Idaho and eastern Utah, including the Heber City area and the Uintah basin. Smart was active in promoting town settlement in these regions, and served in several LDS Church leadership positions. The diaries record his interactions with other LDS Church leaders and his activities later in life while a resident of Salt Lake City. The diary numbering system was, apparently, assigned to the volumes at a later date. Perhaps the "A" designations of the volumes in box 1 indicate the discovery or addition of an earlier set of diaries after the volumes in the other boxes were numbered.