Arnold K. Garr

Arnold Kent Garr (born June 14, 1944) is the chair of the department of Church history and Doctrine in the Religious Education Division of Brigham Young University (BYU). He was also the lead editor of the Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History.

Biography

Garr was born and raised in Ogden, Utah. As a young man, Garr served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Finland. Garr married Cherie Burns in the Salt Lake Temple on November 20, 1967. They would have five children.

In the LDS Church, Garr has served as a bishop, counselor to a stake president, member of a stake high council and branch president among other callings. He is currently a member of the Church Correlation Committee.

Late in his life Garr took up running and he has completed five marathons since turning sixty.

Education

Garr received a bachelors degree in history from Weber State University, a master's degree in history from Utah State University, and a Ph.D. in American history, minoring in LDS Church history, from BYU in 1986.

Career

Garr began his career with the Church Educational System (CES) as a seminary teacher at Roy High School in Roy, Utah. He later served as director of the Institutes of Religion in Rochester, New York, Boulder, Colorado and Tallahassee, Florida. After 21 years with CES, Garr joined the BYU faculty in 1991. He taught at the BYU Jerusalem Center in Israel during 1996–97 and has been chair of the Department of Church History and Doctrine.

Publications

• Garr, Arnold K. (1973) (Master's thesis). A History of Brigham Young College, Logan, Utah. Department of History, Utah State University. .
• —— (1986) (Doctoral thesis). A History of Liahona the Elder's Journal: A Magazine Published For the Mormon Missions of America, 1903-1945. Department of History, Brigham Young University. .
• —— (1992). Christopher Columbus: A Latter-day Saint Perspective. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University. ISBN 0884948420. http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/rsc,18724. 
• ——; Johnson, Clark V., eds. (1994). Missouri. Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History. Provo, Utah: Department of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University. 
• —— (2000). "Theodore Roosevelt and the Latter-day Saints". Out of Obscurity: The LDS Church in the Twentieth Century. 29th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium. Provo, Utah: Deseret Book. ISBN 1-57345-842-2. 
• ——; Cannon, Donald Q.; Cowan, Richard O., eds. (2000). Encyclopedia of Latter-Day Saint History. Holzapfel, Richard Neitzel (photographic editor). Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book. ISBN 1573458228. OCLC 44634356. 
• —— (Fall 2000). "Bishop Daniel S. Tuttle: Episcopalian Pioneer Among the Mormons". Mormon Historical Studies 1 (2): 78–80. http://www.mormonhistoricsitesfoundation.org/publications/studies_fall2000/mhs1.2GarrFall2000.pdf. 
• —— (2002). "Which Are the Most Important Mormon Books?". BYU Studies 41 (3): 35–47. http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/byustudies,4284. 
• Cannon, Donald Q.; Garr, Arnold K.; Van Orden, Bruce A., eds. (2004). The New England States. Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History. 5. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University. ISBN 0842525831. http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/rsc,20380. 
• Kettley, Marlene C.; Arnold K. Garr, Craig K. Manscill (2006). Mormon Thoroughfare: A History of the Church in Illinois, 1830-1839. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University. ISBN 0842526528. 
• Garr, Arnold K. (2007). Joseph Smith: Presidential Candidate. Setting the Record Straight. Orem, Utah: Millennial Press. ISBN 1-932597-53-0. 

Sources

• BYU faculty bio

External links

• BYU Religious Education Faculty website
• Works by or about Arnold K. Garr in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Arnold K. Garr article "Growing with a Living Church" in Ensign, November 1996, p. 25