Richard S. Van Wagoner papers, 1797-2008

Richard Van Wagoner was born in Lehi, Utah on July 23, 1946. In 1967 he married Mary Carter and they were the parents of five daughters. After receiving a master of science degree from Brigham Young University in 1970, Van Wagoner commenced his professional life as a clinical audiologist, eventually becoming an owner of the Mountain West Hearing Center located in Salt Lake City. Actively involved in audiological research, Richard authored more than a dozen articles which appeared in several audiology publications.

Van Wagoner's initial interest in local and LDS history surfaced when his mother, Gayle Smith Julian Van Wagoner, an avid genealogist and a descendant of Utah pioneer families, led him on a tour of Lehi's important historical sites and regaled him with memorable anecdotes. A love for historical study was enhanced when Richard took a Lehi high school American history course and was heightened when he served as a LDS missionary to the church's Central States Mission where major events in early LDS history occurred.

Contemporaneous with his career in audiology, Richard established himself as a highly productive scholar in the fields of LDS and Utah history. From 1981 until 2009, Van Wagoner composed five books, edited a five volume compilation of Brigham Young's discourses, wrote eleven articles in scholarly journals, and participated in a number of Sunstone Symposia. In 1982 his book, entitled "A Book of Mormons," which was a study of seventy-eight men and women who played important roles in the history of the LDS community, appeared. Four years later Richard published the first comprehensive, LDS written narrative of the practice of polygamy. Van Wagoner's 1994 biography of Sidney Rigdon received Best Book awards granted by the Mormon History Association and the John Whitmer Historical Society. "Dialogue" honored him in 1995 with the Lowell Bennion Editor's award for his article on "The Making of a Mormon Myth." Shortly before his death, Richard completed a multi-year study of the early years of Joseph Smith's life. This work represented the first volume of a Joseph Smith trilogy which Signature Books intends to publish. In addition to his scholarly activities, Richard was appointed to the editorial boards of Signature Books and the "Utah Historical Quarterly."

As a life-long resident of Lehi, Utah, Richard was actively involved in local historical ventures, including the writing of newspaper features called "Lehi Yesteryears" for which the Utah Historical Society issued him its Media Award. He also authored two works detailing various aspects of his home town 's history. Serving as Lehi's municipal archivist, Van Wagoner was one of the founding members of the Lehi Historical Preservation Commission and was instrumental in raising funds for the restoration of the Veterans Memorial Building and the Lehi Railroad Station.

Richard S. Van Wagoner died on October 10, 2010.

(Biography composed by Roger V. Paxton in 2012.)