For over 50 years, archivists and curators at Brigham Young University have acquired, arranged, described, and made available a very large number of unique and important manuscript collections that document the 19th and 20th century social, cultural, religious, environmental, political, ethnic, racial, and business history of the American West, Utah, and the LDS Church.

Acquiring, conserving, and making available historical collections that chronicle the history of our state and region continues to be our primary goal. It is therefore absolutely necessary that we document and preserve the history of the 21st century social, cultural, religious, environmental, political, ethnic, racial, and business history of the American West, Utah, and the LDS Church, in the same comprehensive manner that we have the 19th and 20th centuries. Although the format and character of these 21st century collections may differ significantly from earlier materials found in Special Collections, our commitment to preserve and make available the priceless cultural heritage of our state and region remains the same.