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Preface

As teachers of history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have recognized the need for a convenient, one-volume reference work. Our objective has been to present accurate, concise, and readable articles on a wide variety of Church history topics. These range from items dealing with the Restoration and its early days to articles on current topics. In all, this encyclopedia contains more than 1,400 entries.

More than 350 authors have contributed to this work. Of them, about 50 are colleagues in Religious Education at Brigham Young University and an additional 50 come from other colleges and departments within Brigham Young University. Our authors live in 26 states and approximately 20 nations. In many cases, these authors are the recognized authorities on the topics they treat.

Entries in the encyclopedia discuss a variety of topics. Some describe places that are the sites of specific events, while others present the Church's history in all 50 states, all Canadian provinces, and more than 200 other countries, territories, and political entities. More than 450 entries are biographies, including essays on all who have served in the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, other selected general authorities, and many local pioneers in the international Church. Other entries treat key events-both in and out of the Church-that have affected the direction of Latter-day Saint history. Still other entries discuss organizations, issues, and other themes.

A typical entry begins with a topic sentence that identifies in a few words the significance of the subject being treated. The body of the article then presents a succinct discussion. A list of sources includes places where you can turn for additional information on the subject.