The following is excerpted from the Church Newsroom. To read the full article, CLICK HERE

President Spencer W. Kimball was one of the great advocates and examples of keeping a personal journal.

For the first time, the late Church president’s own journals are now open and available for public viewing, according to a Church History Library blog post.

President Kimball’s journals will be a valuable addition to Church history records, said Elder Kyle S. McKay, a General Authority Seventy who serves as the Church historian and recorder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“President Kimball’s journals are some of the best in Latter-day Saint history,” Elder McKay said. “Just as Wilford Woodruff’s amazing journal chronicles nineteenth-century Latter-day Saint history, Spencer W. Kimball’s journal gives tremendous insight into the history of the Church in the twentieth century.”

Who Is President Spencer W. Kimball?

  • Spencer Woolley Kimball served as the Church’s 12th president from 1973-1985.
  • He was born in Salt Lake City on March 28, 1895, the sixth of 11 children. He was raised in Thatcher, Arizona, where he worked on his family’s farm and attended school.
  • From 1914 to 1916, he served a mission to the Central States Mission before returning to Arizona, where he married Camilla Eyring in 1917.
  • After working several years as a bank clerk, he ran a real estate and insurance business. He also served as stake president of the Mount Graham Stake.
  • President Kimball was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during the October 1943 general conference. He served in the Quorum of the Twelve for 30 years until 1973 when President Harold B. Lee died.
  • His 12-year presidency was marked by a rapid growth in membership and temples, the restructuring of the Seventy, new editions of the scriptures and the 1978 revelation on the priesthood.
  • President Kimball died in 1985 at the age of 90

To read the full article, CLICK HERE