Diaries, January-June 1968

File — Box: 67

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: The David Oman McKay papers (1897-1983) contain correspondence, diaries, notebooks, scrapbooks, speeches, and sermons relating to the personal and ecclesiastical life of David O. McKay (1873-1970), ninth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church/Mormon Church). The collection is divided into four sections and also contains materials relating to members of McKay's family.

The first section of the collection (boxes 1-2A) consists of correspondence dating from 1897 to 1936. The first seven folders of box 1 contain letters from David O. to his wife, Emma Ray, while the rest of the box holds letters between David O. and various individuals. The letters in boxes 2-2A concentrate on family matters. Most of the correspondence contained in these boxes is between David L., Emma Ray, and Lou Jean. Some letters from David O. and various other members of the family, however, can also be found here.

The second section (boxes 3-10) dates from 1897 to 1961 and consists of David O. McKay's diaries. For the most part, the diaries contain daily accounts of McKay about his ecclesiastical duties. The diaries in box 3 concentrate on McKay's first mission experience in Great Britain. They describe his journey to the mission field as well as various missionary experiences. Many of these experiences are duplicated in the letters (found in box 1) he wrote to his then friend and confidant, Emma Ray. The diaries in box 4 provide McKay's thoughts on the LDS Church and life experiences in general. He describes the weather conditions and provides notes, statistics, and minutes on LDS stake conferences he attended and presided over. Beginning with box 5 and continuing through box 10, the diary entries become scattered and shortened as McKay briefly describes his daily activities regarding his family and church callings.

The third section of the collection (boxes 11-18) consists of notebooks belonging to David O., Emma Ray, and Mildred McKay (daughter), as well as some miscellaneous materials of David O.'s and David L.'s. This section dates from 1897 to 1983. Boxes 11-13 contain notebooks with information on what transpired in various meeting and conferences David O. attended. These notebooks also contain letter drafts from David O. to various members of LDS stakes. Miscellaneous notebooks of David O.'s can be found in boxes 14-16. These include notes for talks and from trips, quotes, poems, notations, lists, and addresses. Notebooks pertaining to Emma Ray are in box 17. She includes letter drafts and detailed accounts of daily activities and trips she took. There is one notebook in the same box belonging to Mildred McKay where she makes notations about her trip to Europe with David O. and Emma Ray. Box 18 contains miscellaneous materials which generally are unrelated to any other section. These materials include Weber Academy letters, notes, membership cards, certificates, tax and insurance information, and travel documents and memorabilia.

The fourth section (boxes 19-107) consists of two addenda to the collection. These materials date from 1850 to 1970 and include scriptures, diaries, scrapbooks, speeches, and funeral sermons. The scriptures consist of a Bible and a bound volume of the New Testament. Included with the New Testament are LDS "Ready References" and John Jacques's Catechism for Children. The scriptures are undated except for an inscription in the Bible to McKay by his mother dated 1897. The rest of the materials in this section reflect McKay's years as a missionary (1897-1899), an apostle (1932), as a member of the First Presidency (1936-1951), and as president for the LDS Church (1951-1970). The missionary diaries are photocopies of the originals, which are in box 3 of the collection, while the rest of the diaries are typescripts prepared by McKay's long-time secretary, Clare Middlemiss. The scrapbooks are the originals and contain news clippings, photographs, letters, and various ephemera on McKay. Funeral sermons and speeches prepared by McKay, as well as various LDS temple dedicatory service materials, are also included in this section. Of interest is a scrapbook concerning the making of the motion picture, The Ten Commandments. Photographs of Mr. and Mrs. McKay with Cecil B. DeMille and Charleton Heston are included.

The original letters from boxes 1-2 were transferred to the Manuscripts Division Reserve Collection and photocopies have been placed in their stead.

Click here to view digitized materials from the papers or the links below.

Dates

January-June 1968

Conditions Governing Access

Only photocopies of the original materials from boxes 20-71 are available for researchers.

Twenty-four hours advance notice encouraged. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.