From the Church’s inception, Latter-day Saint leaders have advocated—and Church members have kept—some form of personal record. Thanks to the efforts of individuals such as Willard Richards and Andrew Jenson, the early Saints were requested to turn in Church-related records. Jenson also encouraged Church members to write their autobiographies and submit them to the Church’s Historical Office. Even today Church authorities strongly suggest that members write their personal and family histories and that they regularly record important events in a journal. Brigham Young University sponsors oral history programs such as the work done by the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies. And many publishers specializing in LDS history have begun to issue important diaries, including those of Wilford Woodruff, John D. Lee, Hosea Stout, and Charles Lowell Walker. BYU Studies itself has recently published the John Taylor Nauvoo Journal (vol. 23:3).
