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The Church History Museum, formerly the Museum of Church History and Art, is the premier

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

operated by the Church History Department of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

(LDS Church). It is located in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, and is opposite the west gates of the church's

Temple Square Temple Square is a complex, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), in the center of Salt Lake City, Utah. The usage of the name has gradually changed to include several other church facilities that are immediately ...

. The museum has collections of art, artifacts, documents, photographs, tools, clothing and furniture from the almost two-century

history of the LDS Church #REDIRECT History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints #REDIRECT History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints {{R from other capitalisation ...

{{R from other capitalisation ...

. Outside of the curators, administrative, and other staff, a large volunteer workforce of Latter-day Saints from the surrounding communities conduct tours of the museum's exhibits and put on many of the museum programs. The Church History Museum is open six days a week and admission is free.

Museum history

A major proponent of the creation of the museum was Florence S. Jacobsen, a church

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

and a former general president of the

Young Women organization The Young Women (often referred to as Young Women's or Young Woman's) is a youth organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The purpose of the Young Women organization is to help each young woman "be worthy to ma ...

of the church. It was dedicated and opened on April 4, 1984.Cazier, Bob
"New Church Museum Dedicated"
''

Church News The ''Church News'' (or ''LDS Church News'') is a weekly tabloid-sized supplement to the ''Deseret News'' and the ''MormonTimes'', a Salt Lake City, Utah newspaper owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is t ...

'', May 1984. Retrieved on 16 March 2020. When the museum opened it had 63,500-square-feet of space and early exhibits included the “Mormon Panorama”, the 22 historic paintings by C. C. A. Christensen about the early Church and the exhibit “Paintings and Prints by Contemporary Latter-day Saint Artists”. In 2012, the museum was reviewed in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', "The museum shows how earthly a religion Mormonism is, how practical its actions have been and how intimately connected its history is to the American past. The printing press, the farm, depictions of the ordinary citizens who were the first church members — we see a vision of early American democracy." In 2013, the museum hosted two exhibits to mark the 100th anniversary of the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded ...

, featuring 23 paintings by

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...

. The museum closed in October 2014 for a year-long refurbishment and remodeling of the first-floor exhibits with a renewed emphasis on Jesus Christ and the faith's founder, Joseph Smith. When the museum reopened in September 2015 the improvements and new exhibits included a replica of the Newel K. Whitney Store, the seer stone Joseph Smith purportedly used to produce the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude d ...

, and a specially constructed 220-degree-view theater that takes viewers into a thicket of trees in upstate New York where Smith claimed a vision of God and Christ. The museum also contains the printing press that produced the first edition of the Book of Mormon in 1830 and a chair that carpenter

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his ...

built before joining the Church through baptism in 1832. In 2020, the Church History Museum and many of the other buildings on Temple Square were closed in response to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

.Harkins, Paighten
"LDS Church closes Temple Square, other downtown attractions, because of coronavirus"
'' The Salt Lake Tribune'', 14 March 2020. Retrieved on 16 March 2020.

International Art Competition

In 1987, Richard Oman started the "International Art Competition" at the Church History Museum. The competition is held every 3–4 years for artists worldwide to submit works of art in assorted mediums around specific church and gospel themes. The "11th International Art Competition" held in 2019 included 151 artists from 26 countries chosen from 947 submitted works.Stephenson, Kathy
"151 artists, 26 nations, one faith — Latter-day Saint art show features diverse works about belief"
'' The Salt Lake Tribune'', 12 March 2019. Retrieved on 16 March 2020. A ceremony honoring artists whose works were purchased for the permanent collection or earned awards of merit is held as part of each competition.

Museum Store

The Museum Store was founded along with the museum to support the many exhibits and programs. Over 200 works of reproduced art have been made available to the general public from the Museum's and Church's extensive collections by prominent historical Latter-day Saint artists such as C. C. A. Christensen, John Hafen, and

Minerva Teichert Minerva Bernetta Kohlhepp Teichert (August 28, 1888 – May 3, 1976) was a 20th-century American painter notable for her art depicting Western and Mormon subjects, including a collection of murals depicting scenes from the Book of Mormon. Te ...

, in addition to contemporary Latter-day Saint artists such as

Walter Rane Walter Rane (born 1949) is an American painter and illustrator known for book illustrations and religious art. Rane was born in National City, California and raised in Southern California. He obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Art Center C ...

, Robert Barrett, and

Arnold Friberg Arnold Friberg (December 21, 1913 – July 1, 2010) was an American illustrator and painter noted for his religious and patriotic works. He is perhaps best known for his 1975 painting ''The Prayer at Valley Forge'', a depiction of George W ...

. The store also sells historical toys, literature, statuary, and pioneer-era clothing, such as bonnets.

See also

*

Mormon art Mormon art comprises all visual art created to depict the principles and teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), as well as art deriving from the inspiration of an artist's LDS religious views. Mormon art includes ...

Notes

References

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External links

Church History Museum Official site

International Art Competitions Official site

Utah.gov Tourism site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Church History Museum 1984 establishments in Utah History museums in Utah

Museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

Latter Day Saint culture Latter Day Saint church buildings Mormon migration to Utah Museums established in 1984 Museums in Salt Lake City Properties of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Religious museums in Utah The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah Mormon museums in the United States