The Diaries of Charles Ora Card

Cache Valley Pioneer Remembered

A new book, The Diaries of Charles Ora Card: The Utah Years,
1871=961886, tells the story of the pioneers' attempts to make the
desert blossom as a rose, including Charles Ora Card's work on the
Logan Temple and Tabernacle. During this era, the Church faced
increasing economic and federal legislative pressures. The records
accent the everyday struggles of a people; their leadership, both
local and Churchwide; and Card's own capture by U.S. marshals.
David J. Whittaker, curator of Western and Mormon Manuscripts, L. Tom
Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, writes: "Charles Ora
Card is usually remembered for his pioneering leadership of the Mormon
settlements in Alberta, Canada, after 1885. But his experience and
preparation were anchored in his earlier life in Cache Valley, Utah.
Here he served in a number of important civic, educational, and
ecclesiastical callings. He superintended the construction of the
Logan Tabernacle (1873=9677) and the Logan Temple (1877=9684) and served
as a counselor in the Cache Valley Stake presidency and then as stake
president. In these professionally edited twenty-three journals are
the records of both the rich history of a Mormon community and also
the life experiences of a major contributor to that community."
Historians who want to flesh out the history of Cache Valle, the
tristate northern Utah area, the American West, and general Church
history will find the Card diaries a valuable primary source that will
assist them in avoiding errors both in fact and interpretation.
Scholars who study how stakes, wards, and Church leadership functioned
in the nineteenth century will find a trove of valuable information in
the detailed records that Card kept. Readers will discover a man of
faith, a man willing to sacrifice his time, talent, and energy to the
Church and community he embraced in his youth.

About the Editors

Donald G. Godfrey, PhD, is a professor of the Walter Cronkite School
of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. He
is editor of the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media. His
articles on Mormon history have appeared in the Journal of Mormon
History and the American Review of Canadian Studies.

Kenneth W. Godfrey spent thirty-seven years in the Latter-day Saint
Church Educational System as a teacher and administrator. His articles
on Mormon history have appeared in the Illinois Historical Society
Journal, BYU Studies, Utah Historical Quarterly, Cobblestone, Nauvoo
Journal, Journal of Mormon History, and John Whitmer Association
Journal.