Qualla: Church History Museum

Church History Museum: Introduction

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Foxe at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. The printing press sits quietly in a climate-controlled gallery, looking unremarkable for a machine that changed American religious history. In 1830, this press produced the first edition of the Book of Mormon in Palmyra, New York. Now it rests in the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City, alongside a small brown stone that Joseph Smith purportedly used to translate the text. These artifacts anchor a collection spanning nearly two centuries of Latter-day Saint experience, from handcarts to hymnals, pioneer bonnets to paintings by artists from 26 countries.

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Image: John Foxe at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Church History Museum: Florence Jacobsen's Vision

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Epachamo, CC BY-SA 4.0. The museum exists largely because one woman insisted it should. Florence S. Jacobsen served as a church curator and as general president of the Young Women organization. She championed the creation of a dedicated space to preserve and display the artifacts of her faith. On April ...

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Image: Epachamo | CC BY-SA 4.0

Church History Museum: The Sacred Grove in Salt Lake

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Epachamo, CC BY-SA 4.0. The museum closed in October 2014 for a yearlong transformation. When it reopened in September 2015, visitors could step into a specially constructed 220-degree theater that transports them to a thicket of trees in upstate New York. This immersive experience recreates the Sacred ...

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Image: Epachamo | CC BY-SA 4.0

Church History Museum: Art Across Borders

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ntsimp, Public domain. Since 1987, the museum has hosted an International Art Competition founded by Richard Oman. Every three to four years, artists from around the world submit works exploring church and gospel themes across all mediums. The 11th competition in 2019 drew 947 submissions, from which j...

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Image: Ntsimp | Public domain

Church History Museum: Rockwell and the Scouts

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. In 2013, the museum mounted an exhibition marking the centennial of the Boy Scouts of America with 23 paintings by Norman Rockwell. The collaboration reflected a century-long partnership between the LDS Church and scouting, a relationship that would end in 2018 when the church an...

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Image: Public domain

Church History Museum: Living Collection

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Epachamo, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Museum Store offers reproductions of works by artists who shaped the visual language of Mormonism: C.C.A. Christensen, John Hafen, Minerva Teichert. Contemporary artists like Walter Rane, Robert Barrett, and Arnold Friberg carry that tradition forward. Beyond art, the store s...

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Image: Epachamo | CC BY-SA 4.0