Richard Eyring "Rick" Turley Jr. (born February 18, 1956)[1] is an Americanhistorian and genealogist, and an Assistant Church Historian of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). On April 26, 2016, the church announced that he would succeed Michael Otterson as the managing director of the church's Public Affairs Department, effective September 1, 2016.[2]
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When Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy was called as Church Historian and Recorder in 2005, he filled a position that stemmed from the earliest days of the Church but had been vacant since 1997 and essentially inactive since 1989.
Elder Steven E. Snow, Church Historian and Recorder, addresses Mormon History Association Conference June 3, 2017.
For much of the time, the Church Historian’s Office was staffed by typists and clerks. “Today, the department is comprised of divisions, the names of which give us a glimpse of the variety of work that is done in the Church History Department. These include the Publications Division, the Library Division, the Museum Division, the Historic Sites Division, the Records Preservation Division, the Global Support and Acquisitions Division.”
The department received its current name, the Church History Department, in April 2008.
Elder Snow spoke individually of numerous men and women who in turn have fulfilled Andrew Jenson’s forecast that “a greater work” would be done.
In 1972, Arrington and other historians in the department were transferred to Brigham Young University, where they comprised the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute of Church History. The reunification of the institute with the Church History Department occurred in 2005, and the men and women of the institute became primarily what is today known as the Publications Division of the Department.
“This was a happy time for us which resulted in a particularly productive time of remarkable work,” Elder Snow said. “Never before has Church history been able to assemble such a team of bright scholars as now exists in the department.”
Many of the team now work with the Joseph Smith Papers project, he said. “Building on the work of Dean Jesse and others, the Joseph Smith Papers was launched in 2001 while still at BYU with the mandate to publish a comprehensive edition of the papers of Joseph Smith.” http://tinyurl.com/mmchurchhistorydept
