By Elizabeth Cullimore
A trip to Illinois is not the only way to learn about the Nauvoo Temple.
The L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library at BYU houses letters and documents from people that lived in Nauvoo during the construction of the original temple in the 1840s.
“Special Collections is a library within a library,” said David J. Whittaker, curator of the 19th century western and Mormon Americana manuscripts in the Special Collections in the Harold B. Lee Library.
“We deal primarily with things that are so rare, their price and historical value so high, that they need to be housed in a special, non-circulated collection,” he said.
Whittaker said the Special Collections were organized in the mid 1950s. They hold diaries, letters, receipts, manuscripts and other one-of-a-kind items that cannot be replaced.
Whittaker said that students and historians have recently become interested in Mormon history and things related to the temple in Nauvoo.
“What”s going on in the world today affects which part of the past people are interested in,” Whittaker said.
Since The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is dedicating a temple in Nauvoo, Special Collections has had many requests from people to see documents and letters from people who were in Nauvoo during the construction of the original Nauvoo Temple.
“Architects have looked at the work receipts in the collection and were able to determine the size of the stones, where the stones were placed, and the finish they used,” said Russ Taylor, supervisor of reference services in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections.
Whittaker said the collection includes early newspapers and pamphlets produced by the Church of Jesus Christ in the 1840s that contain articles about how the church defended itself against its antagonists.
“A lot of people don”t realize how much has gone into the collections,” said Trenna Johnson, 22, a senior from Idaho Falls, Idaho, majoring in psychology. “It”s real stuff that makes up our history.”
Special Collections also has literature and pamphlets from Joseph Smith during his campaign for president of the United States.
“A university is a library with professors who know what is in the library, and students who want to know what”s in the library,” Whittaker said. “Part of who we are is what happened in our past.”
Special Collections houses 28,000 books, 8,000 manuscript collections and 500,000 photographs.
“This facility is one of the most expensive facilities that the church owns because of the nature of the incredibly rich variety of material that we house,” Whittaker said. “We collect materials for students to have access to.”
