Leonard J. Arrington

Leonard J. Arrington was an American historian and archivist whose work reshaped scholarship on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Utah Territory, and the American West. As an academic and as the first professional historian appointed as Church Historian for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the 1970s, he promoted professional standards, archival reform, and the integration of Mormon history into broader studies of United States history, Western United States, and religious history. Arrington’s initiatives fostered collaborations among universities, state archives, and private presses, influencing historians at institutions such as Brigham Young University, University of Utah, and Utah State University.

Early life and education

Arrington was born in Twin Falls, Idaho and raised on a farm near Inkom, Idaho during the era of Great Depression-era agricultural change, experiences that informed his later interest in agricultural history and rural communities. He served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United States before earning a bachelor’s degree at Brigham Young University, where he studied under faculty connected to the New Mormon History movement. He completed graduate work at University of California, Berkeley and University of Utah, receiving a Ph.D. in history; his doctoral training connected him to scholars at Columbia University and to methodological trends from the Annales School and economic history scholarship. During these years Arrington engaged with archival collections at institutions such as the National Archives and Records Administration and the Library of Congress.

Career and professional roles

Arrington began his professional career as an academic at Utah State University and later taught at Brigham Young University and University of Maryland. He served as a specialist in agricultural and economic history in departments that collaborated with the National Agricultural Library and with state historical societies. In 1972 he was appointed Church Historian and Recorder for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a position that placed him in the institutional lineage that includes earlier custodians such as Wilford Woodruff and archivists associated with the Relief Society. As Church Historian Arrington established the modern Church Archives policies, worked with the Historical Department (LDS Church), and oversaw publication projects conducted by the Church Historian’s Office. After his tenure he returned to academia at Utah State University and became a visiting scholar at institutions such as Harvard University and University of Chicago for research collaborations.

Contributions to Mormon historiography

Arrington catalyzed what historians later called the New Mormon History by advocating professional standards, archival access, and contextual interpretation that situated LDS history within broader themes of American West, economic development, and migration. He encouraged interdisciplinary work connecting Mormon studies to research agendas at American Historical Association, Western History Association, and the Organization of American Historians. Arrington supported publication of documentary editions and monographs by scholars like Ross Peterson, Juanita Brooks, and Leonard J. Arrington (note: do not link), while fostering relationships with presses including University of Illinois Press, University of Utah Press, and Oxford University Press. His editorial leadership on collaborative volumes and the reorganization of the LDS Church Historical Department facilitated the work of historians such as Richard L. Bushman, Fawn M. Brodie, Dale Morgan, and Gordon B. Hinckley (in institutional roles), enabling archival scholarship on topics from the Utah War to nineteenth-century migration patterns.

Major publications and scholarship

Arrington’s major works include The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, and several edited documentary collections that provided primary-source access for scholars studying Salt Lake City, Deseret, and Territorial Utah. Great Basin Kingdom employed methods from economic history and drew on records from the Church Archives and the Utah State Historical Society to analyze cooperative schemes, irrigation projects, and the economic integration of Mormon settlements into national markets including ties to Transcontinental Railroad development. The Mormon Experience synthesized research for a general readership and intersected with scholarship by Orson Pratt-era chroniclers and later analysts such as David M. Kennedy and Frederick Jackson Turner-influenced interpretations. Arrington also edited documentary series and guides to archival collections that became standard tools for researchers working with the papers of figures like Brigham Young, John Taylor, and Wilford Woodruff.

Personal life and legacy

Arrington married and raised a family in Utah and remained active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while maintaining professional independence as a scholar and administrator. His reforms in archival practice and his promotion of scholarly standards influenced later generations of historians at Brigham Young University, Ensign Peak Foundation, Church History Library (Salt Lake City), and independent scholars associated with projects at the J. Willard Marriott Library. Critics and supporters debated the implications of his institutional role, but his emphasis on open access and rigorous documentation advanced the integration of LDS history into mainstream American historiography taught at programs including Princeton University and Stanford University. Awards, honorary degrees, and dedicated archival endowments recognize his influence; conferences at institutions such as Utah State University and University of Utah continue to examine his contributions. His papers and editorial correspondence are held in repositories that serve scholars researching the intersections of religion, migration, and economic development in the nineteenth-century United States.

Category:Historians of the Latter Day Saint movement Category:American historians of religion