After more than a half-century of writing, lecturing, teaching and crime-fighting, W. Cleon Skousen is setting up an independent library and research center in Murray.
The 89-year-old scholar, best-known for his writings about the evils of communism, has spent a lifetime collecting hundreds of books along with eight file cabinets full of reports, research papers and other documents.
While many people compile a personal library, Skousen's materials are of interest to archivists who seek to document the research and history of a man whose experience has cut a wide but distinctly conservative swath: assistant to former FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover, Salt Lake City police chief, attorney, Brigham Young University faculty member, author, widely known constitutional speaker and founder of the Freemen Institute.
The collection includes a wide range of topics, both spiritual and secular, as well as nearly 300 binders filled with his personal impressions and experiences. All but the personal journals are now being catalogued in preparation for their shipment to the new library's location, housed in the same building as a private school, Kimber Academy, operated by his son-in-law.
Skousen told the Deseret News he has arranged to donate much of what is contained in his research files to Brigham Young University. But he will make copies of those same files to be housed in the new library. The Murray location will include hundreds of books he has used as reference material over the years for more than 30 major works and another 42 "special studies."
Asked why he wanted to open a separate library rather than simply donating his papers to BYU or another university, Skousen said he wants the public to have ready access to a "working library. If it gets into a university library, too often it ends up in Special Collections (archives) and it's not out in the open to get easy access to.
"If I put it in there (with the Kimber Academy), the kids can be working in it every day." The library will be open to the public, he said.
The papers he generated during his tenure with the FBI, as Salt Lake police chief in the early 1960s and his research, both secular and spiritual, will be included in the collection, he said.
Skousen said he is well aware of the controversy generated recently over ownership of the late LDS historian Leonard Arrington's papers, which were donated to Utah State University. The collection contained material The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said had been loaned to Arrington from its archives. When church attorneys requested the return of the material, the school's attorney became involved and the ownership issues were negotiated.
Arrington and Skousen lived in the same LDS ward and were good friends, Skousen said. "He anticipated some of these problems. But there were papers he thought (they) were giving him and they were loaning them. That's why I have a copy machine. If you want something, then copy it, but don't say you will bring it back."
Skousen said his strategy with the library is a deliberate one that will ensure those who want access to his materials will have it. "My only protection is to reproduce it and scatter it. All of my material is footnoted. If you want to know why I put it in my book, here is the source. If you think I've overemphasized it, I'll take responsibility for that."
His first best-selling but controversial book in the early 1960s, "The Naked Communist," launched his career as an author who sought to expose communist threats during the Cold War. That research helped form the basis for his studies of America's Founding Fathers and their intent for the U.S. Constitution. Those studies led to his formation of the Freemen Institute in 1971. The organization facilitated constitutional seminars Skousen said he taught to more than 10,000 people during the group's existence.
But the fall of communism in the Soviet bloc and the end of the Cold War put a damper on interest in the Freemen Institute, he said, and revenues dropped dramatically.
As he spent less time traveling and teaching seminars, he spent more time researching several more recent books dealing with both spiritual and secular topics, some on Latter-day Saint scripture, and others with what he believes has been a 20th century "dismantling" of many of the Constitution's most basic principles.
His most recent book, "The Majesty of God's Law," took 23 years of research into what Skousen said some of the Founding Fathers came up with as "The Law of Nature" that was designed to better "protect the rights of the individual" but was never formally adopted as part of the U.S. legal system.
He has two books that remain unfinished, he said, one of them tracing predictions of how the Constitution would be destroyed. Having his materials available at the library will allow others to follow up on his work if he is unable to finish it, he said, and training children to research the materials will provide a way to perpetuate an interest in constitutional studies, he said.
Sales of his materials continue through the National Center for Constitutional Studies, which grew out of Skousen's Freemen Institute. He resigned as president of the center in 1989. A controversy emerged in the mid 1990s over establishment of a southern Utah center to house that organization, and the developer's unfulfilled promises to some investors who purchased land near it.
Skousen retired from working with the center in 1993, but the organization continues on. It publishes a monthly newsletter and has a Web site that offers Skousen's materials for sale.
Glenn Kimber, Skousen's son-in-law and founder of the Kimber Academy where the new library will be housed, said the concept of a personal library free from institutional oversight was presented to friends during Skousen's 89th birthday party in January.
As Skousen continues to age and health challenges increase, Kimber said his family came together to discuss with Skousen how best to preserve his life's work. "We wanted to establish a library while he is still here and healthy."
But the effort won't focus on past history alone, Kimber said. "We'll be putting out a whole series of seminars, with printed material on America, the Constitution and so forth. . . . We want to be able to take prominent issues of the day and take the very best (information). We want the very best 'pro' and the very best 'con' arguments on each side of the issues."
Kimber said the library will be "a nonprofit entity funded by public contributions. He has many friends in many parts of the world and this is a chance for his legacy to go on for many years."
Though some questions about the technical aspects of preserving the collection are still being considered by the Skousen family, Kimber said the library and research center will be set up as a nonprofit, 501-c3 organization that will seek donations. Some funding is already in place, and there have been commitments for future funds, he said.
With the library in place, "we'll be using this material as the basis for further seminars and workshops."
Kimber envisions a time when students at his academy, and other satellite locations he wants to establish, will use the library for their own constitutional research. The library will provide a place where others can take up Skousen's passion, Skousen said. And as long as he lives, he plans to continue researching and writing on whatever topic he feels he can make a contribution.
"If you get into a field and its new, you never get really good at it unless you study about it. I can't stay away from the typewriter. I have to write it up. That's where so many of my books have come from."
E-mail: carrie@desnews.com