From: [mailto:redpillswallowed@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2014 12:50 PM
To: Library Special Collections

Subject: First Presidency Letters/Statements

Dear BYU Special Collections,

I'm not sure if you are the ones that can help me, so, if not, could you direct me to the right location? I am compiling a family history and the LDS Church is a big part of that history, of course. Due to my parents’ love of the First Presidency, over the years, I would love to find scanned copies of all of their statements somewhere. I'm specifically looking for First Presidency Letters sent to the Church membership via General Conference and also Wards/Stakes from 1935-1975. This was a key time in their leadership of the church and would be an amazing addition to our family history. Do you have scanned copies of all the First Presidency letters and statements during this time period?
Thank you, so much, for your time,
-[RPS]


On Tuesday, May 6, 2014 3:00 PM, Library Special Collections <libscm@byu.edu> wrote:

[RPS],

I am located at the Special Collections reference desk. I have done a basic search and it appears that we have some random and scattered letters from the first presidency in our collection that fit your years, there is also a digitized portion of the encyclopedia of mormonism on our website that contains some later letters starting in the years 1965 or so. In the end, I would imagine that you would benefit from looking through the church news, which is contained in our collection and also in the periodicals of the library. This might contain some of the information you are looking for. Are you able to come in to the special collections (1st floor of the library) to look through some of these items?

-[BYU Person]

Reference Desk
L. Tom Perry Special Collections
1130 Harold B. Lee Library
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
(801) 422-3175


From: [mailto:redpillswallowed@yahoo.com]

Hi [BYU person],

Thank you for your reply. I don't live in Utah, so coming in person won't work. I was hoping there would be some online resource. It seems like there would be some pdf archive of every official First Presidency statement somewhere. Do you think this would be at the Church Office Building Records department?

Thanks for your help,
-[RPS]

On Thu, May 8, 2014 at 12:11 PM, Library Special Collections <libscm@byu.edu> wrote:

From: Perry Special Collections Reference [mailto:ltpsc.reference@gmail.com]

[RPS],

I wish I could help you more. If you look at this link https://www.mormonshare.com/forum/where-to-get-copies-of-first-presidency-letters, it states that such a place does exist, but it appears to be restricted to stake presidents. most online sites appear to not hold records past the year 2000. Other than that, you will find scattered ones online and in our collection, but nothing like what you are looking for. Unfortunately, I do not know what is in the church records building or what you will have access to, but I encourage you to keep researching.

Best,
[BYU person]

"What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." (D&C 1:38)

"UNDER THE DIRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST, the Church is led by 15 apostles, who are also regarded as prophets, seers, and revelators. The man who has been an apostle the longest is the President of the Church, and by inspiration he selects two other apostles as counselors. These three function as the First Presidency, which is the highest governing body of the Church."
(https://www.lds.org/church/leaders/first-presidency)

"Do you sustain members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators?"
(LDS Temple Recommend Question)

Why would TSCC not cannonize ALL of the OFFICIAL First Presidency Statements from 1830 to the present and make them available to every member? It is because of the CRAZY and CONTRADICTORY statements made over the years, CLEARLY demonstrating that a perfect God is not running it, as they claim. So, since they refuse to officially stand by ALL of the First Presidency statements, TSCC officially rejects the above DOCTRINAL concepts.

And my TBM family and friends still find a way to believe, even after I show them stuff like this....

I'd even read them if we had access to all those letters. It would be a hoot to "correlate" the dates on the letters to current events of the same time.