Heber J. Grant Journals Now Available Digitally in the Church History Catalog

The Life and Legacy of President Heber J. Grant

President Heber J. Grant, the seventh president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dedicated his life to Church service and to bearing witness of the truthfulness of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. His journals, located at the Church History Library in the Heber J. Grant Collection, 1852–1945 (MS 1233), document this lifetime of discipleship and are now available digitally through the Church History Catalog.

Heber Jeddy Grant was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on November 22, 1856, to Rachel Ridgeway Ivins and Jedediah M. Grant, who was Second Counselor in the First Presidency to President Brigham Young and the first mayor of Salt Lake City. Just nine days after Heber’s birth, his father died of pneumonia. His father’s death made a lasting impact on Grant’s life and leadership journey. Grant’s widowed mother, Rachel, served as ward Relief Society president and frequently bore testimony to Heber of the truthfulness of the Restoration. Her commitment to the gospel and Jedediah’s own legacy instilled in Heber a sense of duty and righteousness from a young age. Church leaders who knew Jedediah well shared his commitment to truth and righteousness with Heber throughout his life. Grant often reflected on his mother and father (including transcribing a copy of remarks made at his father’s funeral into his journal).

He was ordained a seventy (a priesthood office given to many missionaries at the time) around the age of fifteen and became an influential leader in the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association (YMMIA). He served as a counselor in the first YMMIA association created in the Salt Lake 13th Ward and as secretary for the general YMMIA.

On October 16, 1882, a month before he turned 26, he was ordained an Apostle (along with George Teasdale) by President George Q. Cannon following a written revelation from President John Taylor calling them both to the Apostleship. He was a committed missionary and gifted speaker. While fulfilling his responsibilities as an Apostle, Grant founded the Improvement Era magazine in 1897, alongside Presidents Woodruff and Joseph F. Smith of the First Presidency, Elder Brigham H. Roberts of the First Council of the Seventy, and other executives of the Mutual Improvement Association. As an Apostle, he also expanded the Church’s missionary work internationally by opening the Japan Mission in 1901 and serving as European Mission President from 1903 to 1906.

He became the President of the Church on November 23, 1918, succeeding President Joseph F. Smith after his death on November 19, 1918. Due to the 1918 influenza epidemic, the April general conference was postponed to June where Grant was sustained as President of the Church. Times were tough during much of Grant’s presidency. The worldwide Great Depression was especially hard on the Church and its members. These hardships led Grant to establish the Church welfare program in 1936 to assist those in need. Grant’s business acumen and expertise, which he gained while working in a variety of businesses throughout his life, also helped to modernize Church financial and business practices amid multiple economic downturns.

In February 1940, President Grant suffered a stroke that severely limited his ability to serve during the last few years of his life. Grant passed away from cardiac failure on May 14, 1945, at the age of 88.

A Lifetime of Recorded History

President Grant’s journals provide invaluable insights into his journey as a devoted leader during pivotal periods of the Church’s history. His personal record-keeping included refining, editing, and even duplicating his journal entries for wider distribution to friends, family, and Church leaders. His collection of digitized journals includes:

• 38 volumes of bound, handwritten journals from 1880 to 1925.
• Eight volumes of letterpress copybooks from 1886 to 1898.
• Unbound journal entries from 1886 to 1945.

Grant’s bound handwritten journals reflect an effort to refine his thoughts into a more comprehensive record of his life. Many volumes contain markings that suggest copying into another record. Grant used his letterpress copybooks to duplicate and share his perspective on critical events from his life, including significant decisions by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. His unbound journal entries were handwritten and typewritten and reflect a polished, nearly daily record of his life. They contain content duplicated in his bound journals and his letterpress copybooks. President Grant felt the weight of his personal record keeping and he privately wondered whether his record would be of much value after his death. Even through his years as Church President, Grant continued to dictate or record his personal and ecclesiastical affairs, producing a remarkable record of the Church and its development from the 1880s through World War II.

A Brief Look Inside President Grant’s Journals

The Heber J. Grant collection is packed with rich details about his life and his service in the Church. Readers of his journals will notice at least three significant and recurring themes:

1. Business Interests and Financial Challenges

Grant’s early writings show a growing capacity for and an interest in business and finance, sometimes at the expense of his other responsibilities. He was nagged by a persistent fear, informed by a childhood in poverty, of failing to provide for his family. When he was ordained an Apostle by George Q. Cannon in 1882, he was encouraged to set aside other distractions to focus on preaching the word of God. The nationwide financial panic of 1893 set Grant back years in personal debt even as he played a pivotal role in salvaging the Church’s own investments during the period. He confided in an 1894 journal entry, “I will indeed be a happy man when the day comes that I am free from debt.” Grant wondered just a few years later if he had devoted himself too much “to business affairs” and wished to do his full “duty as an apostle in the future.” His writings provide insight into his efforts to navigate personal financial struggles as he later modernized Church business practices and developed a robust Church welfare program.

2. Missionary Service and Defense of Truth

Grant’s journals also chronicle important contributions to the expansion of missionary work, including the opening of the Japan Mission in 1901 and his service as the European Mission President from 1903 to 1906. Grant was challenged by his missionary service, and he felt a deep anxiety about his ability to perform the work, including his ability to master the Japanese language. His journal includes his initial reaction upon arriving in Japan and early efforts to lay the groundwork for preaching the gospel. He proved himself a capable administrator and one who could connect on a personal level to the missionaries he served with. At the close of his service in England in 1906, he rejoiced that the Lord had blessed him in “gaining the love and confidence” of the missionaries and in his ability “to inspire them to energy and diligence in promulgating the gospel message.” Grant’s service as president of the European Mission tested his ability to vocally defend his faith as he worked to counter negative impressions of the Church in the press and among the public. His missions gave him an invaluable firsthand look at the expansion of the Church around the globe.

3. Ministry as a Church Leader

Grant’s leadership journey is extensively documented in his journals. As an Apostle from 1882 to 1918 and as the President of the Church from 1918 until his death in 1945, Grant worked closely with many other leaders, including Presidents John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, and Joseph F. Smith. His journals provide a personal glimpse into his experiences serving under their leadership. He frequently recorded summaries of meetings he attended. Grant was candid in his journals about the challenges associated with his many responsibilities. His entries occasionally touch on physical and emotional exhaustion and his attempts to find peace and clarity amidst the demands of his calling. The weight of his responsibilities often made it difficult for him to sleep (a time he used to dictate his journal or correspondence). In 1915, he wrote: “I don’t think the admonition to ‘cease to be idle’ nor to cease to be unclean applies to me, but I certainly do need the admonition and need it badly, to ‘Retire to your bed early that you may not be weary and to rise early that your body and your mind may be invigorated.’ I am going to have these written out and paste them in my desk.” He took up golf as a means of exercise to aid his mental and physical health. Even as his health waned in his later years, he led the Church through major worldwide crises, like World War II. His journals contain many examples of compassionate assistance to Latter-day Saints in need.

General Authorities and Officers Collections

The journals within the Heber J. Grant collection, 1852–1945 (MS 1233) are one of many archival collections currently available digitally through the Church History Catalog. These historical records, often referred to as collections, contain various documents, journals, and photographs from general Church leaders and detail their contributions to building Christ’s Church around the world.

Following direction from Church leaders in 2018—and to enable clearer communication with and expectations of researchers—the Church History Department developed a plan to more consistently release the historical records of past General Authorities and Officers (GAO). To ensure we comply with privacy laws and to protect confidentiality, 70 years following the deaths of individuals was established as an acceptable waiting period before releasing their historical records. See the updated Church History Department Historical Records Access Policy

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for more details. Collections made available in the Church History Catalog in recent years include:

• Wilford Woodruff
  
  • Collection, 1831–1905 (MS 19509)
  • Papers, 1837–1895 (MS 4628)
  • Journals and Papers, 1828–1898 (MS 1352)
  • Stake Correspondence Files, 1887–1898 (CR 1 161)
  • Collections, 1830–1898 (MS 5506)
• Emmeline B. Wells
  
  • Letter to Heber J. Grant, circa 1918 (MS 765)
  • Letter to Aurelia S. Rogers (MS 6414)
  • Letter, Salt Lake City, Utah to Emma Smith, Snowflake, Arizona, 1894 December 26 (MS 7615)
  • Letter to Lucy Bigelow Young (MS 7692)
  • Letter, Salt Lake City, Utah to O. F. and Zina Smoot Whitney, 1880 January 5 (MS 25770)
  • Letter to Phoebe A. Snow (MS 31851)
• Eliza R. Snow Journal, 1842–1882 (MS 1439)
• Heber C. Kimball Papers, 1837–1866 (MS 627)
• Brigham Young, Jr. Journals and Papers, 1862–1902 (MS 1236)
• Louise Y. Robison Papers, 1928–1939 (CR 11 30)
• Marriner W. Merrill Letterpress Copy Book, 1876–1891 (MS 6253)
• Joseph F. Smith Papers, 1854–1918 (MS 1325), (sermons and correspondence)
• John Wells Journals, 1864–1941 (MS 6841)
• Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association General Board Minutes, 1898–1954 (CR 14 6)
• Anthon H. Lund Journals, 1860–1921 (MS 5375)

The Church History Department strives to enable Church history research by sharing GAO collections as soon as it is able. Preparing these collections for release is time and labor intensive. In addition to the 70-year period, confidential materials must be redacted in accordance with the department’s access policy before a collection can be released. We have prioritized the most significant and eligible GAO collections and will release them over the next five years. After 2029, we plan for future collections to be released as the General Authority or Officer becomes eligible. Several collections to look forward to in 2025 include:

• Verna W. Goddard Papers, 1906–1948 (MS 26754)
• Anthon H. Lund Papers, 1869–1920 (MS 1256)
• Joseph F. Smith Letterpress Copybook, 1888, 1895–1896 (MS 27013)
• John A. Widtsoe Diaries and Notebooks, 1881–1952 (CR 712 1)
• Lorenzo Snow Stake Correspondence, 1898–1901 (CR 1 173)

We invite you to read our monthly Newly Accessible Collections articles through the Church History Library’s blog, The Historical Record, to know when these and more GAO collections become available, along with other new items, in the Church History Catalog.

You can also subscribe to the Church History Library’s quarterly email newsletters to stay updated on newly accessible collections and announcements. To subscribe, select “Church History Library” on the Subscription page of the Church’s main website, then click on the save button at the bottom of the page.

The Heber J. Grant Journals, alongside all current and future GAO collections, offer an invaluable record of faith, humanity, leadership, and personal commitment. Their accounts are filled with inspiring stories and historical insights and provide members and researchers with an opportunity to connect with the lives and leadership of some of the most pivotal figures in Latter-day Saint history.

Explore these remarkable collections today and gain a deeper understanding of Church history.