“A HISTORIAN IN ZION: The Autobiography of Andrew Jenson, Assistant Church Historian,” revised and enhanced edition, edited by Reid L. Neilson and R. Mark Melville, BYU Religious Studies Center and Deseret Book, $39.99, 716 pages (nf)
Andrew Jenson spent 65 years of his life chronicling the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including as assistant church historian.
His autobiography, titled "Autobiography of Andrew Jenson," was published in 1938, three years before his death in 1941.
Brigham Young University’s Religious Studies Center has recently re-published it — 75 years after the Danish-American convert’s death — in "A Historian in Zion: The Autobiography of Andrew Jenson, Assistant Church Historian."
An introduction sharing Jenson’s life by co-editor Reid L. Neilson and an explanation in the updates to the autobiography are included in this revised and enhanced edition.
Jenson is noted as having “traveled an incredible one million miles in his lifetime — twice around the world, crossing the Pacific Ocean four times, the Atlantic 13 times. He visited ever Latter-day Saint mission except that in South Africa. He served 10 missions for the church, including a three-year term as president of the Scandinavian Mission.”
Jenson kept a series of journals, and much of his 93-chapter autobiography is based on those journals and also includes his correspondence.
Jenson shares his own conversion and path to becoming a church historian and a variety of stories and experiences, from those that are entertaining to those that are more somber and spiritual, through traveling, collecting and sharing the history of the LDS Church and its members. Jenson shares interesting details that provide slice-of-life insights.
“Jenson felt spiritually called to the work of record keeping in the dispensation of the fullness of times and dedicated his life to helping his fellow Saints remember the goodness and mercy of a loving Father in Heaven,” the editors wrote in the preface.
Three other books have also been published in the last several years, including “Tales from the World Tour” (2012) and “Rediscovering the Sites of the Restoration” (2015).
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