On April 6, 1830, the same day The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was formally organized, Joseph Smith received a revelation that “a record [shall be] kept among you” (Doctrine and Covenants 21:1). Since then, through the calling of John Whitmer and subsequent expansions and developments, the church developed the Church History Department.1 Because the department headquarters are in North America, international scholars of the Latter-day Saint faith tradition grapple with the legacy of its centralized nature. With few exceptions, the department in the twentieth and twenty-first century consistently drew upon North Americans to write the global history due to the fact there is a critical mass of historians and publishers at church headquarters. Church records from across the globe were removed from their country of origin and preserved in the Utah area. Without the luxury of being able to regularly travel to the Church History Library, international scholars have often hovered in the margins of scholarly discussions, publication, conferences, and research initiatives.For decades international members encountered a strong vein of Americentrism in official church publications. In the final years of the twentieth century, however, changes began. In 1998, Sigmund Geldenhuys, a South African member, noted: I think where the Church is turning in the right direction—is in the publications. You would read the Ensign and so on and it seemed to be very much Utah focused and [on] things in the United States. You would always think, “Well, this is very nice and this is very lovely and we're very happy for the people in the United States, but it really doesn't help us much.” When you'd get the Church News coming out from Salt Lake, it's always about the Fourth of July pageant and everybody's in their floats and so on. It's very lovely, we're happy for the people in Utah, but really not very interesting to us.2For international scholars and members, this situation is all too familiar. Many history publications seemed to deal with American subjects, and when considering global locations, often did so through an imperialistic missionary perspective, failing to provide a grounded local perspective.The single most significant challenge for global scholars conducting church history research is securing access to records, but progress is being made. In 2005 a focus group was held in Korea to ascertain local members’ views on church history and the prospect of accessing documents through electronic means. The historian conducting the interview outlined a concern they had about global church history. “The worry, though, that we have is that we have this wonderful cache of documents that tells this important history and they are in Salt Lake. We would like to share the records of the archives with the world.”3 Seven years later, on June 29, 2012, the department announced the completion of the Church History Catalog at the Mormon History Association conference in Calgary, Canada.4 The consolidation of several different catalogs into one online, searchable database was a gamechanger for researchers unable to physically access the Church History Library. The functionality afforded to users, including being able to view digitized photographs, books, and other records, made it an incredibly versatile tool publicly available to both Latter-day Saints and those not of the faith.There are, however, challenges relating to the use of the catalog. The operating language of the catalog is that of English and while it is the lingua franca of the church, there are many members who do not speak English. Similarly, cataloging is conducted according to North American standards and perspectives. Non-English-speaking users of the catalog and church history tools are unable to fully benefit from resources that privilege one demographic of a worldwide faith. Documents produced in a foreign language are typically read by English-speaking catalogers who are vulnerable to missing cultural or linguistic nuances. Furthermore, there remains a significant portion of the library's holdings that remain undigitized. Yet, remarkable progress has been made over the years. At the catalog's launch in 2012, there were 400,000 pages of digitized documents and images.5 In 2020 there were19,082,392 images and more than 100,000 assets in the catalog.6 Wait times for digitization pose another barrier for remote users of the catalog who are relying on digital records. Finally, the use of the catalog requires non-U.S. users to be informed of U.S. copyright restrictions and request an evaluation of the rights of an item before it can be used.Researching a person, group, place, or event in church history often cuts across national borders and enters the realm of transnational history. Exploring the life of Mary Caldwell Gardner provides one example of the complexities involved in the research process. Born in Canada in 1877 to Scottish parents of Presbyterian heritage, Mary traveled to Liverpool, England, in 1897 where she met and fell in love with a sea captain. Mary had Scottish relatives living in and around Liverpool and soon married and settled down in the nearby town of Birkenhead.7 In 1910, she came across a church-produced magazine from Independence, Missouri, in the home of a Canadian neighbor who was also a member of the church. Mary was taught by North American missionaries and fellowshipped by Saints of various nationalities. That same year, missionaries in the British Mission baptized hundreds of persons born in places including England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Australia, the United States of America, Switzerland, South Africa, Germany, Spain, Norway, Chile, and Holland.8 In 1916, Mary was called as a “Lady Missionary,” one of hundreds called to serve in the church during the war.9 For years Mary served faithfully in various capacities. In 1930, twenty years after her baptism, she reiterated her gratitude for the gospel of Jesus Christ. “I am glad and proud to be a Latter-day Saint sister and a member of the Relief Society, and hope always to be worthy of my greatest blessing and most precious possession—a testimony of the Gospel.”10 The resources needed to research and write Mary's story—including missionary journals, her life history, publications, branch and mission records—are nearly exclusively contained in the Church History Library. Some are available digitally, others are not.With regards to church history, much has changed over the last twenty years. In 1999, British Latter-day Saint Celia Hayes expressed, “Most of the [members] probably know very, very little about church history from Joseph Smith forward, only what they hear in lessons.”11 The launch of the Church Historian's Press in 2008, the ongoing Saints project, and the inclusion of more representative church history into seminary and institute curriculums are three examples of recent efforts to better support members globally. The digital turn has resulted in a sharp uptick in access to church history and greatly contributed to an increased appetite for it. With increased global communications and workflows, it seems an obvious next step is to better incorporate and work with local Saints in writing histories and to become partners in researching and writing history.12The global rise of anti-American feelings, which undoubtedly affects some international members, could prove problematic for the church given its strong tradition of centralization and correlation, particularly in telling the history of the church and its members.13 The acquisition and publication of histories written by Americans rile church members who feel as if their voice and heritage is being appropriated. This animus is a barrier to international collaboration. One such example concerns the process of acquisitions. For most of the 190 years that the church has existed, congregational records and personal documents have been sent to church headquarters. It is only in recent years that Records Preservation Centers have been established in select international locations. However, they are merely for the storage of records in their native country. These locations are not open to the public and consultation of archived materials is not permitted on site.14 The decentralization, therefore, is a timely move that can ameliorate longstanding tensions.These developments are significant when considering the prospects for global church history. Since 1991, there has been a renewed thrust to capture oral histories and acquire records, but even so, there is a minimal sustained presence in the various countries. There were 2,215 oral histories in 1988, which increased to almost 4,700 in 2005, and around 16,000 oral histories in 2020.15 In recent years there has been some forays into establishing local capacity, but there has not been the investment of resources and personnel to do this in a meaningful way. Ironically, other historians have identified the cost-effective nature of having international members write and engage in local church history.16The way church history has been conducted by the Church History Department has not always resulted in satisfactory partnerships with international scholars and Saints. In 2008, a Latter-day Saint historian acknowledged the inadequate nature of the department's approach to church history in non-U.S. countries: “We go into a country, we grab what we can, and we leave the country after just barely scratching the surface of the history of the Church. The idea being that we can't just keep on going to countries for three weeks, you know, once a decade.”17The traditional “grab and run” approach has inevitably failed to ameliorate relationships with others. For some time, the relationship has run one way, and local members have not been treated as partners in the production of church history, despite their vested interest. A solution for this issue is for the department to support, facilitate, and enable international members to write their history, perhaps through coproduction and dissemination with professional historians and consultants. For global scholars, a solution is to network with and connect with church historians and make it clear that there must be a mutually beneficial relationship by establishing boundaries and working relationships early in the interaction.The reality for most international scholars is that researching church history is not a linear process. Several years ago, Melissa Inouye noted that the traditional metaphorical depiction for researching the Latter-day Saint faith was that of an oak tree, “orderly, balanced, everything referring back to the one place where the seed first took hold.” In contrast, Inouye frames future studies as being more akin to a banyan tree. The tree, native to Asia and the Pacific, places prop roots into the soil around the trunk. Such studies will inevitably be “a bit chaotic, growing wherever it can find a foothold, each branch with many of its own sturdy trunks and roots, yet all forming a single living organism.”18There are other issues that global scholars of church history must face when undertaking a project. After frustrations with accessing and securing the rights to use materials from the Church History Library, one British historian described how he had to change his approach to conducting church history research. Instead of using the library, the historian had to rely on secondary literature and acquiring resources from personal contacts. “I felt it was pointless getting irritated,” he recalled, “so I changed my approach to work with what I could use without having to visit the library.”19 This point is of immense value for scholars outside the Wasatch Front. While the Church History Library has immense and invaluable holdings, it does not have everything. Families retain letters, journals, and other key documents. Personal interactions with individuals and families can yield unique and surprising results.The private acquisition of Latter-day Saint related records in international locations is not impossible, although it can require patience and has financial implications. Some current and former members no longer want certain items. In my experience, people have only been too willing to share them or give them away entirely. In many British chapels, at least, I have found scrapbooks and other historical documents that local church leaders have been happy to share or provide digital copies. Furthermore, Latter-day Saint families often have records and stories that they are willing to share. Local history and family history societies can also have useful information, particularly concerning the identification of places of worship. Using databases and archives in native countries can also generate surprising results. A British example is the UK Charity Commission that requires the church to submit an annual report detailing its activities in the British Isles for the previous year with several previous years available at any one point in time.20 National and regional libraries, such as Bibliothèque Nationale de France (National Library of France), provide free access to hundreds of texts and records relating to Latter-day Saints that can be viewed in person or online.21 In addition, local and national archives provide access to letters and other ephemera.Access and usage restrictions of church-held materials can be another discouraging barrier—particularly to those who are unfamiliar with the field and profession. One Scottish historian noted that due to copyright issues some items are unable to be digitized and could only be viewed in the library during an in-person visit.22 When international scholars face such issues it can have a warping effect on the type of history told. Scholarly attention and output are significantly influenced by the sources and materials that are accessible and viable for use. A prominent British scholar has previously noted that “historians have often shown a preference for ploughing well-worn furrows,” which is further amplified when the availability of sources and records is somewhat limited for scholars trying to examine a global faith.23 Focusing on local events, people, and places can be one way to start the research process and expand as and when more sources are identified and acquired.There are other resources available that can combat the inaccessibility of Church History Library records. A prime example is The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, which is the longest-running church-produced periodical, which ran from 1840 to 1970. It was discontinued by Joseph Fielding Smith, along with many other magazines, to form a correlated publishing approach.24 Although produced by the British Mission, it published materials from across the globe and contained letters, photographs, news, and changes relating to areas far beyond the British Isles. These are now all in the public domain and are readily accessible on the Internet Archive, along with other crucial publications such as the Juvenile Instructor, the Relief Society Magazine, and others. For most historians, as one Welsh scholar noted, the publications are a “real blessing” that are “consulted all the time.”25Beginning in the 2000s, there was a new effort to decentralize the Church History Department, particularly regarding the acquisitions process.26 As part of this move, a new role was developed that has come to be known as church history country specialists.27 These men and women supervise and support stake church history specialists and work with those leading record preservation centers if there is one present in their country. For global scholars, unfortunately, the decentralization of publications has not yet taken place. Nonetheless, working with the country church history specialists is a valuable way to make contacts and to network with church leaders and members, which in turn can be a valuable way of gaining access to locally held records and conducting research.28One German church history specialist with ten years’ experience felt well supported in their work, but at times felt overlooked by church history employees and scholars who researched in Germany without liaising or working with them. Negotiations or donations of materials without interacting with the specialist resulted in lost opportunities and information they could have gained from working with native historians. “I am interested,” wrote the historian, “in mutual openness and optimal understanding.”29While international scholars may find paths blocked on researching certain topics due to access to sources, there is an abundance of other avenues and areas ready to explore. As David Howlett has previously noted, “The academic study of Mormonism outside the United States seems to be a field of nearly limitless possibilities.”30 There is much groundwork that remains to be done in exploring and uncovering the lives and experiences of Latter-day Saints at global and local scales. The words of former Church Historian Marlin K. Jensen speak to this point, “History is life, and from ordinary lives come stories that reinforce what we more ordinary people believe, what we stand for, and what we should do in the face of adversity.”31 The current historiography relating to church history has significant gaps that need addressing—most notably at the local level. Global scholars are ideally suited and positioned to research and write these histories.Various institutional and voluntary efforts have sought to mitigate the lack of engagement and participation of international Latter-day Saints in the history of the faith. However, for now, the research and writing of church history remain an experience largely undertaken by a specific and limited North American demographic. Ultimately, increased representation in the collection and telling of church history will allow international Latter-day Saints to positively inform, create, and share stories of the faith. The challenges facing these scholars are not insurmountable and recent developments point to a promising future.