About Us
The Oral Histories (so far!)
71 interviews
125 audio hours
3,322 transcribed pages
Narrators have given you permission to listen to or read their stories here
Project Description
Young LDS Voices is the largest oral history collection focused on early adult and youth experiences in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It contains young LDS voices from each of the last five decades, letting researchers examine culture, programs, messages, and community in different historical contexts. The most recent batch of interviews was with fifteen women who were young adults between 2012 and 2022.
The collection explores life in LDS communities, especially in the Mormon Homelands where Latter-day Saints are a majority population.
Public History
This is a public history project, which means everyone can participate.
You can contribute your own story and conduct oral history interviews with others. You can analyze, interpret, and discuss the stories in the archive.
Young LDS Voices will provide equipment and training to those who want to add stories to the archive, particularly those who will bring greater diversity of race, gender, and identity to the historical record.
Click here if you want more info about participating.
Our Vision
We believe the best way to understand young adult spirituality is to include young Latter-day Saints in the conversation--talk with young adults, not about them! Young LDS Voices elevates young Latter-day Saint experience and enables us to be represented in discussions about theology, culture, and policy.
Oral history is a powerful methodology because it lets people speak for themselves. Narrators who've already contributed their stories were empowered as they spoke about the complexities of their LDS lives, often for the first time. And they were delighted to be heard.
Founders: Alecia Hart and Heather Stone
Alecia is a program director running the Utah Small Business Credit Initiative. She has a degree in economics from Brigham Young University and served an LDS mission in the Philippines. She has a passion for politics and public service, and enjoys hiking with her husband and their puppy Hugo.
Heather is a scholar and CEO with a PhD in communication and rhetoric. She studies Latter-day Saints communities and has won awards for her work. She is on the board of the Mormon History Association and co-founded the Ardis E. Parshall Public History Award given by that organization. She is married with three adult children and one tween.
The Book Project
Alecia and Heather are co-authoring a book titled The Problem of Togetherness. The book draws on the oral history archive to explore social trends and paradigms that make membership in the Church complex for young adult Latter-day Saints. Part of the book's appeal is its co-authorship by two people who bridge vocabulary, priorities, and perspectives from their respective generations.
Supporters and Partners
Faith Matters: collaborating to provide community and resources for young adult Latter-day Saints, distributing content from book.
Neil A. Maxwell Institute at BYU: funded research with an author grant and summer seminar stipend.
American West Center at U of U: funded research with a grant.
Communication Institute at U of U: funded research with a grant.
Marriott Library, including the Aileen H. Clyde 20th Century Women's Legacy Archive: houses the oral histories and Heather's Dissertation.