Resources about our pioneer heritage

As part of the celebration of the 24th of July, 2015, I wanted to focus on the pioneer experience both historic and modern. If you have pioneer ancestors, you may or may not know some of their stories. I decided to list just a few of the resources available to find the histories of your own ancestors that may have been pioneers. Here is that list:

• Christensen, T. C, Ron Tanner, Darin Southam, Katherine Nelson, James Gaisford, Mia Selway, Travis Eberhard, et al. Ephraim’s rescue, 2013.
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Family History Department. LDS Reference Unit. Early Church Information File. Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1991.
• Clayton, William, and LDS Archive Publishers. The Latter-Day Saints’ Emigrants’ Guide: Being a Table of Distances, Showing All the Springs, Creeks, Rivers, Hills, Mountains, Camping Places, and All Other Notable Places, from Council Bluffs, to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake : Also, the Latitudes, Longitudes and Altitudes of the Prominent Points on the Route : Together with Remarks on the Nature of the Land Timber, Grass, &c. : The Whole Route Having Been Carefully Measured by a Roadometer, and the Distance from Point to Point, in English Miles, Accurately Shown. [Grantsville, Utah]: [LDS Archive Publishers].
• Crockett, David Romney. Saints Find the Place: A Day-by-Day Pioneer Experience. Tucson, Ariz.: LDS-Gems Press, 1997.
• Daughters of Utah Pioneers, and Lesson Committee. Museum Memories. Vol. 1 Vol. 1. Salt Lake City, Utah: International Society, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 2009.
• International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Pioneer Pathways. Salt Lake City, Utah: International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1998.
• International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, and Lesson Committee. Museum Memories. Volume 2 Volume 2, 2010.
• Jenson, Andrew. Day by Day with Utah Pioneers, 1847.
• Nibley, Preston. L.D.S. Stories of Faith and Courage. Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1957.
• Thompson, Vickie. LDS Pioneer Companies of 1847 to Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah: [s.n.]., ///.
• Utah Immigration Card Index, 1847-1868. Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1963.

Here are some further resources online:

• Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel Database
• Joseph Smith Papers
• Presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Prophets of the Restoration
• Church History Maps
• Photographs of Church History Sites
• Mormon Studies
• History of the Church
• Studies in Mormon History
• Digital Collections at BYU
• Mormons and Their Neighbors
• Mormon Migration

Here is a list of libraries from LDS.org that have significant collections of LDS history materials:

• Brigham Young University Harold B. Lee Library
• BYU-Idaho David O. McKay Library
• BYU-Hawaii Joseph F. Smith Library
• University of Utah Marriot Library
• Utah State University Merrill-Cazier Library
• Weber State University Stewart Library
• Southern Utah University Gerald R. Sherratt Library
• Dixie State College Val A. Browning Library
• Snow College Library
• The Bancroft Library
• The Huntington Library
• Harvard University Houghton Library
• Princeton University Library
• Yale University Sterling Memorial Library
• New York Public Library

There are a huge number of individual biographies of early pioneers. If you search in WorldCat.org for the name of the pioneer, you may find a book about your ancestor.