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Milton V. Backman Jr. personal papers, 1943-2013

 Sub-Series — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MSS 8785 Series 1 Sub-Series 1

Scope and Contents

Contains letters, photographs, journals, and other personal memorabilia of Milton Backman. Included documentation are documents pertaining to various vacations/trips Backman made to places such as Aruba and Carthage, Illinois, family records, birth/death/marriage certificates, audio-visual materials including CDs and floppy disks, and biographical information on Backman, his wife, and his parents. Dated 1943-2013.

Dates

  • 1943-2013

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Open for public research.

Conditions Governing Use

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances. Permission to publish material from Milton V. Backman Jr. papers must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/or the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Coordinating Committee.

Biographical History

Milton Vaughn Backman, Jr. (1927-2016) was a Mormon historian of American religions with particular emphasis on the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Milton Vaughn Backman Jr. was born on June 11, 1927 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He enlisted in the Maritime Service near the end of World War II. After his Maritime Service, he served a mission in South Africa for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He then served in the Korean War. On his birthday in 1953 he married Kathleen McLatchy. He graduated with a degree in history from the University of Utah in 1954. He then went on to receive his PhD in history from the University of Pennsylvania in 1959. He was a professor of church history at Brigham Young University from 1960 to 1991. He published many books including American Religions and the Rise of Mormonism, Christian Churches of America: Origins and Beliefs, Eyewitness Accounts of the Restoration, and many more. After retiring he served several short-term missions in Nauvoo, Illinois and two additional missions with his second wife Sharon Richey, in Nauvoo and Kirtland, Ohio. Backman died on February 6, 2016 in Herriman, Utah.

Extent

3 cartons

36 folders

Language of Materials

English

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