Arrington, Leonard J.

Leonard J. Arrington was born 2 July 1917 in Twin Falls, Twin Falls, Idaho, to Noah Wesley Arrington and Edna Grace Corn. He married Grace Fort 24 April 1943 in Raleigh, Wake, North Carolina. Leonard died 11 February 1999.

From the guide to the Magic Valley Pioneers : A Photographic Record of N.W. and Edna Corn Arrington, 1991, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)

Leonard J. Arrington was born on July 2, 1917 in Twin Falls, Idaho. He aspired to be a farmer as his parents were, and studied at the University of Idaho. He studied agricultural science in 1935, later changing to agricultural economics. He married Grace Fort in 1942. A year later, he served in World War II for the United States, where he was stationed in North Africa and Italy until 1946. He had three children: Susan, Carl, and James, who he wrote letters to often. He also wrote a variety of publications about Mormon history throughout his life. In 1972, he was appointed Church Historian for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served in that calling until 1982. In 1982, his wife Grace died, and in 1983 Arrington was remarried to Harriet Ann Horne. He lived in Salt Lake City for the majority of his life, until his death in 1999.

From the guide to the Leonard J. Arrington letters, 1972-1999, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)

Mormon author and historian, professor of economics at Utah State University, professor of history at Brigham Young University, and historian for the Mormon Church.

From the description of The Utah Eastern Railroad and its predecessors, 1955. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122392291

Voices from the Past originated as a contest in 1980 through the Continuing Education Department at Brigham Young University as a part of Education Week. Notices of the contest were published, inviting people to submit excerpts from family records containing tales of adventure, history, patriotism, and inspiration. Special attention was given to personal records that related to lives of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints between 1830 and 1980. Entries were reviewed by an editorial board consisting of Leonard J. Arrington as editor, and Thomas G. Alexander, Donald Q. Cannon, Richard H. Cracroft, and Neal E. Lambert as associate editors. Scott Froerer of the Dept. of Continuing Education coordinated the project. Selections were made from the entries to be published in the volume "Voices from the past."

Leonard J. Arrington (1917-1999) was editor of the Voices from the Past contest.

Leonard J. Arrington served as editor to the Voices from the Past contest. Leonard J. Arrington was born July 2, 1917. He was an author and an academic founder of the Mormon History Association. He is known as "the father of Mormon History" due to his work in the field. He died February 11, 1999.

From the guide to the Voices from the Past collection, 1830-1980, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)

Upon his death in February 1999, Leonard J. Arrington left behind a legacy of scholarship and mentoring that rightly earned him the title "Dean of Mormon History." Largely because of his leadership, Mormon historical studies in the second half of the twentieth century became a viable subject in the larger discipline of American history. His book Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints is still considered to be one of the classic works of Mormon history. Due to his prominent place in Mormon studies, Arrington's papers are a valuable source of information for anyone interested in Mormon history in general, but especially for those interested in the growth of the field in the twentieth century.

Leonard Arrington was born on July 2, 1917, in Twin Falls, Idaho, the second child of Noah and Edna Arrington, two devout members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (more commonly known as Mormons). Growing up on a chicken farm, Leonard first entertained thoughts of becoming a farmer himself. This desire was enhanced through his participation in the Future Farmers of America, where he served in both state and national positions. When the time for college came, Arrington chose the University of Idaho, where he had attended an FFA convention, hoping to major in agriculture. The chemistry requirements, however, soon led Arrington to change his mind and he concentrated instead on agricultural economics.

After graduating from the University of Idaho, Arrington continued his education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he began studies towards a doctorate in economics and began teaching classes with the aid of a Kenan Teaching Fellowship. World War II interrupted his schooling, and Arrington served overseas for the United States in both North Africa and Italy from 1943 to 1946, working first in a prisoner-of-war processing division and later performing tasks for Italy's Institute of Statistics. These years were especially difficult for Arrington since he had to be away from his wife, Grace Fort, whom he had married in the fall of 1942. Following the war, Arrington returned to the United States, where he began working as an economics professor at Utah State Agricultural College (later Utah State University) in Logan in 1946. Returning in subsequent years to the University of North Carolina to complete course work and necessary exams, he finally received his doctorate in economics in March 1952. His dissertation was entitled "Mormon Economic Policies and Their Implementation on the Western Frontier, 1847-1900." This topic led Arrington to begin studying a wide variety of issues pertaining to Mormon economic history. Following the publication of his first scholarly articles on this subject in 1951, Arrington began slowly to transform himself from an economist to a historian.

Arrington found his work at Utah State University to be very satisfying. Later in his life he would reminisce about how much he loved his years in Cache Valley and how much he enjoyed teaching and mentoring students. Arrington's professional reputation rapidly grew from his numerous articles and lectures, and in 1958 Harvard University Press published a work based on his dissertation entitled Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints . The book soon became a Western American history classic, but because the press published it on the recommendation of the Committee on Research in Economic History, Arrington received no royalties from the book until 1993, when the University of Utah Press released a second edition.

During his tenure at Utah State University in the 1950s Arrington enjoyed the company of several other budding Mormon scholars, including S. George Ellsworth, a professor of history, and Eugene E. Campbell, a staff member at the LDS Church Institute in Logan. Arrington's family grew during this time with the birth of three children: James Wesley in 1948, Carl Wayne in 1951, and Susan Grace in 1954. Arrington also participated in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served in numerous leadership capacities, including second counselor in the Utah State University Stake Presidency.

From 1958 to 1959 he momentarily interrupted his Logan stay by taking his family to Italy as a Fulbright Professor of American Economics at the University of Genoa. In 1966, he again left Logan to serve as visiting professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles, for the 1966-1967 academic school year.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Arrington participated in several important professional endeavors, including the establishment of the Mormon History Association (serving as its first president) and the creation of the Western Historical Quarterly, the premier academic journal of the American West. He also served as president of the Western History Association, the Agricultural History Association, and the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association. Finally, in 1972, he became Church Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, simultaneously receiving an appointment as Lemuel H. Redd Professor of Western History and Director of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University.

Arrington worked as Church Historian from 1972 to 1982, when the church transferred his division to Brigham Young University, renaming it the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History. As the first (and only) professional academic to be named Church Historian, Arrington presided over a blossoming of Mormon history. His colleagues produced numerous important historical studies, and Arrington himself authored or co-authored several books, including David Eccles: Pioneer Western Industrialist (1975); Building the City of God: Community and Cooperation Among the Mormons (1976); The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints (1979); and Brigham Young: American Moses (1985).

At the same time, Arrington experienced numerous personal and professional frustrations, as he constantly combated a church hierarchy which did not regard the work of his department as "faith-promoting." Balancing his commitment to his profession and his loyalty to his church, Arrington frequently clashed with church authorities. Finally, the Church appointed G. Homer Durham as managing director of the division, and Durham worked constantly to ensure that the department produced "faith-promoting" history. This approach ultimately led to Arrington's release as Church Historian, Durham's appointment to that position, and the transfer of the entire Historical Department to Brigham Young University in 1982.

Arrington also battled a personal tragedy during this time. In March 1982, Grace, his wife of nearly forty years, succumbed to heart disease and passed away. Both personally and professionally bereft, Arrington turned to his role as educator and found solace in his classes at Brigham Young University. He also met and began dating Harriet Horne in 1983. After a quick courtship, the two were married on November 19, 1983. Harriet provided not only welcome companionship, but also aided Arrington's research and writing by entering drafts of his books on her computer and collaborating with him on occasion. As a result, Arrington remained a productive scholar throughout the 1980s and 1990s, publishing numerous works such as the commissioned two-volume History of Idaho, a memoir of his years as Church Historian, a biography of Utah rancher Charlie Redd, and biographies of Harold and Madelyn Silver. He also co-authored two books with his daughter, Susan Arrington Madsen, and collaborated on several projects with his step-daughter, Heidi Swinton. In addition, he continued to mentor numerous scholars in Mormon history by critiquing their manuscripts, write letters of recommendation, and provide encouraging words about their endeavors.

As Arrington grew older, he could look back on the numerous awards and honors he received for his prolific work. In 1962 he presented a well-received paper on the Topaz World War II Relocation Camp for Japanese-Americans as part of Utah State University's Faculty Honor Lecture series. In 1969 he received the David O. McKay Humanities Award from Brigham Young University. In 1986 he became the first Mormon and the first Utahn to be elected a member of the Society of American Historians, one of the highest honors bestowed upon American historians. Finally, in 1996 he was presented with the Governor's Award in the Humanities in Utah.

Arrington has also received numerous accolades for his writings. Great Basin Kingdom received the Award of Merit of the American Association of State and Local History and was also given the annual award of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association for the best first book by a Western historian in 1958-1959. It became the first book on the Mountain West placed in the White House's presidential library. Building the City of God: Community and Cooperation Among the Mormons, co-authored with Dean May and Feramorz Y. Fox, received the Best Book Award for 1976 from the Mormon History Association, while Brigham Young: American Moses was the first recipient of the David W. and Beatrice Cannon Evans Award for a distinguished biography of a significant personality living in Mormon country during the past 150 years. It also won the Mormon History Association Best Book Award for 1985 and was nominated by the National Book Critics Circle as a distinguished work of biography.

From the guide to the Leonard J. Arrington Papers, 1839-1999, (Utah State University. Special Collections and Archives)

Leonard J. Arrington was born on July 2, 1917 in Twin Falls, Idaho. He was raised on a farm in Idaho and attended the University of Idaho where he majored in agricultural economics. He began working towards a doctorate degree in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but his studies were cut short when he was drafted in 1943. That same year Arrington married Grace Fort (they would have three children; James, Carl and Susan.) Arrington served overseas in North Africa and Italy until 1946. After the war he began teaching at the Utah State Agricultural College and except for one year spent in Chapel Hill to complete his doctorate, one year teaching in Italy, and one at UCLA, Arrington would continue to teach at Utah State University until 1972. Between 1972 and 1982 be began working as the L.D.S. Church Historian. In 1982 Grace passed away, and in 1983 he and Harriet Horn were married. Arrington died on February 11, 1999 due to heart failure.

Dr. Arrington was a prolific writer. He began by publishing articles on nineteenth century Mormon economics, but he soon branched out into other L.D.S.History topics as well as Mormon biography. Some of his better known books include Great Basin Kingdom (1958), The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-Day Saints (1979), and Brigham Young: American Moses (1985). Arrington was also a leader as a professional historian. He helped to establish the Mormon History Association (serving as its first president) and the Western Historical Quarterly. He also served as president of the Western History Association and the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association.

From the guide to the Leonard J. Arrington photograph collection, 1830-1995, 1840-1950, (Utah State University. Special Collections and Archives)