The Mormon Archives

Working in the Latter-day Saint archives in Salt Lake City is both a pleasant and a frustrating experience. Any trip to one of America's most beautiful cities is a treat, and the Church History Department employees are helpful and pleasant.

However, the rules make conducting research there a time-consuming processes in comparison with other archives. They allow no photocopying of primary source material. That multiplies the time spent, and consequently the cost of doing research--both commodities that many dissertation candidates critically lack.

Also, many documents are restricted, perhaps many more than in most archives.

Nevertheless, an appeals process exists and just recently I received permission to see a long-restricted oral history interview with a key German Mormon who lived through the Nazi experience. Persistence pays off. Today I cracked the covers of a document I applied for, and was denied, some six years ago. Miracles do happen in Mormondom, even for graduate students.