A friend alerted me not too long ago to an effort by a local in San Antonio, Texas to document the history of the LDS Church in his city.  The site is called, The Saints of San Antonio: A Video History in Their Own Words.

He has conducted filmed interviews of some senior residents to document some of the stories of the beginnings of organized congregations in San Antonio in the 1920s to the 1970s as well as footage of an anniversary meeting celebrating the 50th anniversary of the creation of the San Antonio, Texas Stake. I’m glad to see these efforts and others like them. I’m pleased to see San Antonio natives gathering to commemorate and document their own history. I’m also pleased to see efforts here to include the history of Spanish-speaking congregations and early converts, including some of the struggles involved in combining Spanish-speaking congregations with English-speaking to form a unified stake. As far as I can see,  however, there is no content yet in the Spanish language.

Though it is a video history, some basic organizational texts and chronologies might be of great value in helping orient the viewer and give a larger picture. Perhaps at least a transcript of the video interviews in English and Spanish could make the information presented even more accessible and easier to find in internet searches by interested parties.

Much work remains to be done, but I think we will see an increase in these grass roots efforts as members of the LDS Church throughout the world seek to recover and celebrate their own local heritage in LDS Church history. Such efforts are welcome and needed.