L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library

Recording and preserving history had been an important part of the mission of BYU even before an official archive was established. Documentation of BYU began in 1875 and has grown since then. Early efforts to collect included a Brigham Young Academy expedition to South America in 1900–1901. The purpose of the expedition was to look for evidences to support The Book of Mormon; collectors gathered field notes, photos, botany samples, and correspondences. In the 1930s, BYU professor Wilford Poulson began to collect copies of various Mormon diaries, S. Lyman Tyler was appointed library director in 1954 and from the beginning of his term he was particularly interested in establishing a university archival program. Tyler was a member of the Society of American Archivists (SAA), and looked to the organization for guidance on how to establish a university archive. ==Establishing a university archive (1955–1965)==

Archive directive On 26 March 1956, BYU president Ernest L. Wilkinson sent out a university directive that stated, "The director of libraries is also designated historian and archivist for the Unified Church School System." Effectively, this directive authorized the library director as an archivist as well, putting Tyler in an administrative position to create an archival system at BYU. Tyler and Hansen evaluated university records to determine which ones would have long-term value. These documents were stored in acid-free folders or placed in Fiberdex cases. The two especially worked to preserve records from BYU presidents, During that time period, Hansen took a sabbatical to complete his Ph.D. and Donald T. Schmidt was assigned as acting University Archivist. Hansen returned to BYU in 1961 and began to collect items pertaining to "mining history, economic history, and things that no one else was collecting at the time." He argued that "BYU should search out Western mining records, railroad records, public utility records, transportation records, and cowboy history." Hansen was enthusiastic about the expanding manuscript collection and tried to get the students and faculty more involved in utilizing it. These early efforts to expand Special Collections laid the foundation for the wide variety of collecting areas that BYU is now recognized for. By this time the collection contained the Arthur V. Watkins papers, James E. Talmage papers, Peerless Coal Co. records, Bamberger Railway Records, Herald R. Clark papers, L. John Nuttall papers, and Jesse Knight Investment Company records. Hansen left BYU in 1962 and was replaced by Roach. Roach remained enthusiastic about manuscript collecting, but left the university after about a year; Hollis Scott was then appointed the university archivist. ==Expanding Special Collections (1965 to present)==

By 1965, Special Collections contained a hand-written Bible from the 13th century and a first-edition copy of The Federalist by James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton. Many of the early materials acquired in the collections were donated directly to BYU or purchased with monetary donations. Special Collections continued to grow, and in 1969 the Newel K. Whitney Collection was acquired, followed by the M. Wilford Poulsen library in 1970. Small and large collections continue to be donated to Special Collections each year. ==Collections==

19th, 20th, and 21st century Western and Mormon manuscripts BYU has several collections that cover the history of Mormonism from its inception in 1830. The 19th Century Collections contain documents and artifacts related to mining, Indian history, religion, and westward migration. The 20th Century Collection contains documents from Reed Smoot, David M. Kennedy, and many mission diaries that reflect the growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The 21st Century Collection, likewise, seeks to collect and preserve history from this century related to social, religious, political, racial, and business history of Utah and the church. Arts and Communications Archive The Arts and Communications Archive has records and materials from Cecil B. DeMille, Howard Hawks, and Merian C. Cooper. This archive collects material related to the performing arts, in particular motion pictures, art, journalism, and television broadcasting. This archive contains television episodes from director Henry S. Kesler, and papers of actor James Stewart, Harry Carey, and Robert Cummings. BYU Film Music Archives and Motion Picture Archive The BYU Film Music Archives was officially established in 1996, although the library had begun collecting materials that are now found in the archive over 20 years before. The archive now contains the complete collection from Republic Pictures as well as compositions of Max Steiner, including scores for King Kong and Gone with the Wind which were acquired in 1981. The Mormon Authors Collection features poetry, biographies, autobiographies, and other writings from the early days of the church including Mormon women Eliza R. Snow, Emmeline B. Wells, and Mary Wooley. It also contains documents from authors in the 20th century, including Orson Scott Card and Dean Hughes. Music Special Collections This collection has manuscript scores for many instruments including harp and viola. The style of music ranges from opera, ballet, hymnals, and French chansons. The Music Special Collections contains the Primrose International Viola Archive, the International Harp Archives, the RKO Vaudeville Collection, and the George Verdak Collection of Dance Music. The music recordings found here include cylinders, 78 rpm discs, cassette tapes, DVDs, and other audio formats. Photograph Archives The Photograph Archives at L. Tom Perry Special Collections works to digitize information so that it can be made available to the public online. Its photographic archives contain over a million images from the early 1850s to the present. Images in the archives are primarily of Utah and the American West. There are a number of images that represent Mormonism and the history of BYU. One of the most notable photograph collections is the George Anderson Collection, which contains photos of American landscapes. Since 1999, BYU's Folklore Collection has been a part of Special Collections. This collection includes field notes from BYU folklore students and focuses on families and the religious lives of Latter-day Saints. It is the largest collection of Mormon folklore and contains legends, songs, jokes, riddles, and personal narratives. 19th and 20th century Western and Mormon Americana BYU's Special Collections contains a premiere collection of Mormon Americana, including almanacs, maps, hymnals, books, etc. These collections were originally compiled from the personal libraries of Heber J. Grant, J. Reuben Clark, Newel K. Whitney, James E. Talmage. The Western and Mormon Americana collections were later expanded to include parts of the personal libraries of LeRoy Hafen, Wilford Paulson, and Dale Morgan. This collection contains rare publications like the 1830 Book of Mormon, the Morning Star, Book of Commandments 1833, and 1st Mormon hymnal 1835. It was donated to Special Collections in 2000 and is one of the finest private collections of Yellowstone material and has been expanded since its acquisition. University Archives The University Archive contains over of linear records that document BYU's history. The archive has documents and photographs from each year of the school's history including items related to dance planning, and athletics and also includes copies of the school's newspaper The Daily Universe and the yearbook The Banyan. University Archives acquires syllabus and course notes from various classes and students. ==References==