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Lee Library, Brigham Young University (external link) and Utah Academic Library Consortium (external link)

Trails to Utah and the Pacific: Diaries and Letters, 1846-1869


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Trails to Utah and the Pacific: Diaries and Letters, 1846-1869 incorporates 49 diaries, in 59 volumes, of pioneers trekking westward across America to Utah, Montana, and the Pacific between 1847 and the meeting of the rails in 1869. In addition to the diaries, the collection includes 43 maps, 82 photographs and illustrations, and 7 published guides for immigrants. Stories of persistence and pain, birth and death, God and gold, trail dust and debris, learning, love, and laughter, and even trail tedium can be found in these original "on the trail" accounts. The collection tells the stories of Mormon pioneer families and others who were part of the national westering movement, sharing trail experiences common to hundreds of thousands of westward migrants. The source materials are drawn from the collections of Brigham Young University, members of the Utah Academic Libraries Consortium, and other archival institutions in Utah, Nevada, and Idaho.
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The Library of Congress presents these documents as part of the record of the past. These primary historical documents reflect the attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of different times. The Library of Congress, Brigham Young University, and the Utah Academic Library Consortium do not endorse the views expressed in these collections, which may contain materials offensive to some readers.


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Essays (external link) | Interactive Maps (external link)

Understanding the Collection

About the Collection (external link)

Later Maps of the Western United States

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Home Page for this Collection at Brigham Young University (external link)

The digitization and presentation of these materials by the Lee Library at Brigham Young University (external link) was supported by an award from the Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library Competition and is sponsored by the Utah Academic Library Consortium (external link).

The source materials for this collection are housed at Brigham Young University, the University of Utah (external link), Utah State University (external link), the Church Archives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (external link), the Utah State Historical Society (external link), the University of Nevada, Reno (external link), the Churchill County Museum (external link) in Fallon, Nevada, and Idaho State University (external link). Please contact the owning institution with any questions or information about the original materials or requests for reproductions. See list of Contacts at Contributing Institutions.


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