Wilford Woodruff (1807-1898) was one of the most important record keepers in Mormon and early Utah History. His journal, which covers 1833-1898, is the best record for many of Joseph Smith's sermons. Born in Conneticut, Woodruff was in the saw-mill industry when he began a quest to find religion. He soon encountered the Mormon missionaries and was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Within the decade he followed in the footsteps of those missionaries by serving missions in the Southern States, New England, and Great Britain. He was called as an apostle in 1839 and in eight years participated in the vanguard group that entered the Salt Lake Valley on 24 July 1847. He was responsible for helping with Mormon temple work and was the first President of the St. George Temple when it opened. He also supervised a good portion of the construction of the Salt Lake Temple and dedicated it when finished in 1893. He had five wives and thirty-three children. He succeeded John Taylor as LDS Church President in the midst of the Polygamy controversy. With Federal laws fracturing the Church, Woodruff officially ended polygamy in 1890. In the last years of his tenure as President he dealt with the LDS Church's financial difficulties and church-owned businesses being hit by the Panic of 1893. He died in San Francisco in 1898.
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Microfilm provided by the LDS Church Historian's Office, Salt Lake City, Utah in 1965.
Original diaries are located at the LDS Church Historical Department, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Donated by Guy Potter in 1973.
Box 1, folder 2 was purchased in 2016.
Box 2 was purchased in 2017.
Box 3, folder 3 was donated by Mark and Melissa Holden in 2018.
Box 3, folders 1-2, 4-6 were donated by R. Tracy Rawle in 2018.
Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.
Processed by Sharon Thorup in 1983.
Addenda processed by Betsey Welland in 2018.
Box 3 processed by Gina C Giang in 2026.
The Wilford Woodruff papers (1807-1898) contain a handwritten document by Woodruff regarding the successions of the Mormon Church Presidency, concerning Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt and their placement in line of succession of the LDS Church. Also included is a revelation of Wilford Woodruff from December 1877, two reels of microfilm which are of his original journals from 1833-1898, and two typed copies of extracts from his journal covering the years of 1834-1898.
Box 3 includes a letter written by Phebe Woodruff to Wilford Woodruff regarding Joseph Smith's sermon introducing baptizing for the dead; and a letter written by Edward Partridge, Jr. letter to Wilford Woodruff concerning a 4-day conference in Lanai (Hawaii.)
Program for the funeral of the fourth Prophet of the LDS Church, Wilford Woodruff. A short biographical sketch is followed by the full program that lists the hymns sung by the Tabernacle Choir, the order of procession and the various committees that were organized for the occasion and their members.
This item is in the Reserve Collection. Access must be given by the Manuscripts Curator. Researchers may use the photocopy of the item located in box 1, folder 3, without an appointment.
Clarksville (Tenn.). # 657. Recorded, page 139, in small book.
This item is in the Reserve Collection. Access must be given by the Manuscripts Curator.
This item is in the Reserve Collection. Please see Digital copy at
Digital copy at
Clipping entitled: "A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter-day Saints in Missouri."
Signed by William Richards.
This item is in the Reserve Collection. Access must be given by the Manuscripts Curator.
Six-page letter written in Lee County (Iowa) related to Joseph Smith's sermon introducing baptizing for the dead.
This item is in the Reserve Collection. Access must be given by the Manuscripts Curator.
Two-page letter written from Lanai (Hawaii) describing "conference of foreign Elders."
This item is in the Reserve Collection. Access must be given by the Manuscripts Curator.
The two-page report is almost entirely written in shorthand.
This item is in the Reserve Collection. Access must be given by the Manuscripts Curator.
Four-page document written by John Smith, 1832-1911. Smith wrote" W." rather than "M."