Andrew Jenson undertook a lifelong quest to render the LDS historical record complete and comprehensive. As Assistant Church Historian of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jenson tirelessly carried out his office's archival mission and advocated for fixed recordkeeping to become a duty for Latter-day Saints. Reid L. Neilson and Scott D. Marianno offer a new in-depth study of Jenson's long life and career. Their account follows Jenson from his arrival as a Danish immigrant to 1860s Utah through trips around the world to secure documents from far-flung missions, and on to his public life as a newspaper columnist and interpreter of LDS history. Throughout, Jenson emerges as a figure dedicated to the belief that recorded history united past and present Latter-day Saints in heaven and on earth—and for all eternity.

Engaging and informed, Restless Pilgrim is a groundbreaking study of an important figure in Latter-day Saint intellectual life during a transformative era in Church history.

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Acknowledgments ix

Prologue 1

1 Danish American Emigrant 7

2 Entrepreneurial Chronicler 29

3 Historian's Office Affiliate 50

4 Itinerant World Traveler 79

5 Assistant Church Historian 104

6 Elder and Emissary 121

7 Scandinavian Mission President 140

8 Modern Record Keeper 165

9 Explorer of Latin America 183

10 Public Commemorator 203

11 Twilight Church Historian 221

Epilogue 240

Notes 247

Bibliography 293

Index 309

|"Restless Pilgrim: Andrew Jenson's Quest for Latter-day Saint History provides a fast-paced walk through the life of this seminal Latter-day Saint historian, and his relentless thirst to gather as much history of the early Saints as possible." —Journal of Mormon History
"It is well that we historians and archivists reflect upon the origins and development of our professions. As we do so, we will find Restless Pilgrim invaluable." —Utah Historical Quarterly
"Restless Pilgrim features clear prose, meticulous research, and a high standard for accuracy and context. The authors narrate Jenson's globetrotting quest for documents and his efforts to systematize the preservation of local records. This penchant for record-keeping has been an incalculable gift, not just to church members but to historians of American religion more generally."—John G. Turner, author of The Mormon Jesus: A Biography and Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet
|Reid L. Neilson has served as the Assistant Church Historian and Recorder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is an award-winning author and editor of dozens of books on the Latter-day Saints, and coeditor of Pacific Apostle: The 1920-21 Diary of David O. McKay in the Latter-day Saint Island Missions. Scott D. Marianno is an historian in the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and coeditor of A Voice in the Wilderness: The 1888–1930 General Conference Sermons of Mormon Historian Andrew Jenson.