Dates

• Existence: 1957 - 1962?

Administrative History

The Bureau of Church Studies (1957-1962?) was a research institute at Brigham Young University. The bureau was responsible for conducting statistical studies related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Bureau of Church Studies was established by the Board of Trustees in 1957. President Ernest L. Wilkinson recruited statistician Howard C. Nielson to lead the bureau. In 1960, Nielson established the Department of Statistics. During the early 1960s the bureau's functions were also supplanted with the establishment of the Institute of Church Studies (1961) and the Institute of Mormon Studies (1966) in the College of Religious Instruction, and by Institutional Research (1962). The Bureau of Church Studies was active through 1962.

The bureau director was Howard C. Nielson.

Citation:

Church activity study, 1959-1960: t.p. (Bureau of Church Studies, Brigham Young University)

Brigham Young University organizational history, via WWW, May 22, 2020 (Bureau of Church Studies; active 1957-1962; gathered information and conducted statistical studies on Church membership; Howard C. Nielson, chairman, 1962; reported to university president)

Brigham Young University, 1975: vol. 4 p. 378 (Bureau of Church Studies; Institute of Church Studies; est. 1957 by Board of Trustees; conducted statistical studies of Church membership, BYU enrollment, and the Church school system; under direction of Howard C. Nielson; functions displaced by Institute of Church Studies (College of Religious Instruction, 1961), Institute of Mormon Studies (1966), and Institutional Research)

Brigham Young University quarterly, 2012: p. 99-102 (Bureau of Church Statistics; est. 1957; Howard C. Nielson recruited to run program, founded the Department of Statistics in 1960)

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records: