With the gift of the Gregory A. Prince Collection, the UVA Mormon Studies program is poised to provide the leadership needed for a new generation of students and researchers of Mormonism. Read more about this innovative resource in this story from UVA Today. We invite you to help us realize that vision by giving to the Mormon Studies Program Fund. We will earmark your gift to that end. Also, please contact us if you would like to make a gift which would memorialize your family or other figure whose papers or history are part of this collection.
Built over a lifetime of research in and writing about Mormonism, the Prince’s Collection is widely recognized as one of the finest private collections and, in terms of twentieth century materials, it is unique. Within a year, it will be available to researchers and the public at large.
It is no exaggeration to say that when these materials are curated for public use, the UVA Mormon Studies program will become a unique center for research in Mormonism. No library east of the Rockies can approach the strength of the Prince Collection in terms of the amount and kind of materials. It is worth noting also that the majority of religious research is done in the east and by UVA’s neighbors to the north and south. This will be a working, not a decorative library.
In total, the Prince Collection is comprised of 11,000 items. It includes such rich original sources as the official diaries of David O. MacKay and extensive interviews of late twentieth-century leaders, such as Chieko Okazaki. Among its periodicals is the most complete collection of manuals and periodicals ever published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Scholars and independent researchers will find especially useful Dr. Prince’s research notes for his prize-winning scholarly articles and books covering two centuries of Mormon history. In quantitative terms, the Collection includes:
- 700 biographical and autobiographical books
- 1,500 historical books
- 1,100 theological books
- Over 4,000 pamphlets
- 250 books of Mormon fiction
- 140 periodical series, including all the manuals and magazines ever published by the LDS Church
- Over 100 books about Joseph Smith
- Over 200 books and pamphlets on the American Temperance Movement, in relation to LDS “Word of Wisdom”
- A bound photocopy (100 volumes) of the official diaries of Church of Jesus Christ President David O. McKay
We welcome your donation to make this unique collection accessible to researchers through an endowment or one-time gift in any amount. This maybe done directly through the Mormon Studies Program Fund or, with respect to an endowment or substantial one-time gift, by contacting the Bushman Professor of Mormon Studies.