Archives West Finding Aid

The Dialogue Foundation records (1965-1998) contain documents pertaining to the publication, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, and includes editorial and business-related correspondence, administrative files, committee minutes, news clippings, and typescripts of published, edited, and rejected materials.

Administrative materials pertaining to the foundation of Dialogue are in boxes 1-22. Boxes 1-2 contain legal documents, tax information, a prospectus, and a business license that correlate with the onset of Dialogue as a literary publication. Executive committee minutes are found in box 2 and include documents relating to the future of Dialogue and ways of ensuring the publication's success. Major marketing plans, promotional materials, and other materials involving advertising for Dialogue are located in boxes 3-4. Box 5 contains editorship transition files that include meeting minutes of the search committee in charge of hiring subsequent managing editors. This box also includes correspondence, files of documents regarding searches, production schedules, and policy statements. Subject files are located in boxes 6-7 and include a variety of documents regarding subjects discussed in various issues of Dialogue, such as the Mormon History Association, the Sunstone Symposium, Dialogue writing awards, and minority topics. Box 8 contains oral history projects, completed from 1987 to 1992, that are transcribed interviews with members of minority groups within the LDS Church. Subscription records are in boxes 9-22 and include information about subscribers from 1966 to 1992, such as subscription correspondence, lists, and orders.

Editorial correspondence and associated documents, found in boxes 23-52, are arranged in chronological and alphabetical order and contain information on the managing editors of Dialogue. This correspondence is between managing editors and co-editors of Dialogue, authors and managing editors, and includes personal letters and cards. Eugene England, who was the first managing editor of Dialogue, served in the bishopric of an LDS student ward while completing a Ph. D. in English Literature at Stanford University. His correspondence is found in boxes 23-25. Correspondence relating to Leonard Arrington and Richard Bushman, who served as managing editors in the 1960's can be found in boxes 31-32. Robert Rees, whose files are found in boxes 26-30, served as managing editor from the late 1960's to the mid 1970's. Mary Bradford, whose files are found in boxes 35-44, also served as managing editor from the early 1970's to the early 1980's. Other editorial files, including Ralph Hansen's files, are found in box 34 and boxes 45-52.

Business records and correspondence, located in boxes 53-59, contain business related materials and include subscription and collection notices. General and miscellaneous correspondence are found in boxes 60-65. This correspondence has a widespread subject matter and contains letters from the readers of Dialogue, submissions of articles by authors, and letters to the managing editors by readers and others. Financial records from 1968 to 1984 are in box 66. Reviews and prizes are located in boxes 67-68 and contain literary reviews and other related documents Executive correspondence, found in box 69, contains correspondence with LDS Church leaders and includes some business documents. Contribution information, grant proposals, correspondence with contributors, and other documents pertaining to Dialogue financial donors are located in boxes 70-71. Box 72 contains a variety of background information on authors. Clip art, some of which was published in Dialogue, is found in box 73.

Typescripts of articles submitted to Dialogue are found in boxes 74-148, and consist of both draft and final versions. They represent the contents of the first 27 volumes of the publication, and are arranged accordingly. Typescripts for special issues of Dialogue can be found in box 149 and includes materials on the twentieth year anniversary issue and the women's issue that featured writings by Helen Candland Stark. Boxes 150-167 contain manuscripts submitted by numerous authors but later rejected. They are arranged chronologically from 1965 to 1987, then alphabetically by last name, and include poetry, fiction, and biographies. Unpublished manuscripts from 1968 to 1992, found in boxes 168-175, consist of submitted articles that were intended for publication but for a variety of reasons were not published. Miscellaneous edited manuscripts of published and unpublished material can be found in boxes 176-195. Boxes 176-185 and 193-195 are arranged chronologically, while boxes 186-192 are arranged alphabetically. Boxes 196-197 contain miscellaneous, undated documents, and four address lists from the late 1960's are located in box 198.

Addenda to the Dialogue Foundation records contains correspondence, news clippings, office files, financial documents, and manuscripts. The bulk of the material consists of manuscripts submitted to Dialogue following the installation of the editorial team of Martha S. Bradley and Allen D. Roberts.