Wilford Woodruff used symbols in his journal to make it easier to review his prolific writings each year. His journal uniquely combines ecclesiastical and personal issues, and his detailed system of symbols made it easier to comb through nearly 7,000 pages of documentation. The methodical approach not only preserves historical events related to Church history, but also emphasizes his personal reflections and broader interests. As a result, his journal is an invaluable resource for understanding the early Church. In this interview, Joshua Matson discusses the symbols used in Wilford Woodruff’s journals.
Sign up to be notified when we publish new content, like articles about the St. George Temple, Brigham Young Quotes, and John Turner’s Joseph Smith Biography.
How is Wilford Woodruff’s journal one of the greatest textual records of the Restoration?
Wilford Woodruff’s journal is one of the greatest textual records of the Restoration because of how it merges ecclesiastical and personal history. When I first embarked on my study of his journals, I was motivated to delve into this record because of three primary factors:
- Wilford Woodruff was witness to some of the most important events in Latter-day Saint history and was present at nearly every major event related to the Church in the 19th Century. From his experiences with the Prophet Joseph Smith to numerous missionary labors, including the earliest efforts in Great Britain, to the Saints’ exodus to the Rocky Mountains and ultimately his ascension to the presidency of the Church which ushered in a refined temple consciousness among the Saints, and the Manifesto. Woodruff’s role in these essential events in the history of the Church are enough to make him a person of interest in Church history, but the fact that he meticulously preserved many of these events in the moments in which they occurred make his record an indispensable textual record of the Restoration. Being able to read about these important events from the closest primary source possible was a thrill that I am sure anyone who engages with Woodruff’s journals shares.
- Wilford Woodruff’s determination to provide a comprehensive and consistent record of his life makes his journals the quintessential example of journal keeping for Latter-day Saints. This fact is only heightened when you consider that Woodruff, notwithstanding his leadership responsibilities, predominately recorded the entirety of his nearly 7,000 pages in his own hand. The words written—and as we will discuss later, the symbols drawn—come directly from Woodruff and serve as a memorial to their author.
- Wilford Woodruff’s unique approach to not only recording the events of his life and the history of the Church but to catalogue and organize these events in his life in such a way that make quantifying Woodruff’s ministry possible. No other personal journal or diary that I am aware of provides the level of accountability of the efforts given by a single individual to the tasks to which they were assigned.
While these important characteristics have been noted by other scholars of Church history, as I studied each page of Wilford Woodruff’s journals, I found that they are one of the greatest textual records of the Restoration because they merge the ecclesiastical with the personal. It is easy to see the Church leader of Wilford Woodruff throughout the journals, but Woodruff also finds places to show the personal and human side of his life. This balance between ecclesiastical and personal converging into a single record make it a wonderful example of “keeping a record” as mandated by Doctrine and Covenants 21:1.
Why did he use symbols in his journals?
To uncover the reason Woodruff utilized symbols throughout his journals, I found that reading the entirety of Woodruff’s record in conversation with itself was the most instructive practice. I was caught off guard when I first finished reading Woodruff’s record of 1835 and the recording of events after December 31 was not followed immediately by a record of January 1, 1836, but rather two pages of statistics.
Woodruff himself wrote:
On the night of the last day of Dec & of the year of our Lord 1835, I perused my Journals & found it to contain the following account of my travels & procedings in the year of 1835.
Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 31 December 1835.
Year after year I recognized that Woodruff would spend time at the end of each year “perusing” his journals to compile similar accountings. Returning to the text from the year, I noticed early journals (1835–1837) contained marginalia such as check marks, x’s, and a hybrid check mark/x.
They appear in predictive and repeated patterns.
These marks appeared next to entries that recorded events that corresponded with the data compiled in the year end accountings. Then, starting in 1838, Woodruff developed independent symbols that were drawn next to the events that corresponded with the data at the end of each year.
Taken together, it became clear that Woodruff would utilize symbols as a means of speeding up the process of perusing his journals each year.
What are some of the major symbols that Woodruff used?
The most prevalent symbol that Woodruff utilized throughout his journal was the symbol of a hand pointing to the right. This symbol identified times in which Woodruff wrote a letter.
The next most frequently employed symbol is a simple box, sometimes with dots inside of it. This symbol identified times in which Woodruff received a letter or package.
After these symbols, Woodruff also consistently used keys to demarcate entries in which he participated in a priesthood ordinance or utilized his apostolic authority. These three symbols often highlighted the ecclesiastical side of Woodruff’s record.
On the more personal side of his record, Woodruff would draw bows and arrows to represent moments in his life of distress, sickness, or aggression towards him or the Church.
Similarly, he marked the death of friends and family members by drawing a coffin, which originally began with the deceased individual’s initials appearing inside of the drawn coffin and then expanded over time to include the entire name of the individual and, at times, biographical information.
The final symbol that is frequently utilized by Woodruff is a stylized heart that marked births, marriages, sealings, and birthdays for those close to him.
These symbols are sometimes used together, merging their meanings together (such as a bow and arrow piercing a heart suggesting that distress, sickness, or aggression came against someone that Woodruff cared about, or a key within a heart that represented a priesthood ordinance being done in connection with someone close to him).
How do the symbols relate to the year-end summaries in Woodruff’s journals?
As I looked at the context in which each of the symbols appear in Wilford Woodruff’s journal, I found that they appear in predictive and repeated patterns. As I catalogued what these repeated patterns were, I found that they directly correlated with the information that was recorded on the year-end summaries Woodruff included in his record.
Connecting these symbols with the year-end summaries, and Woodruff’s frequent reference to reviewing his journals at the end of each year, led me to conclude that the symbols were created and utilized for the purpose of expediting the process by which Woodruff could review his activities and account for those activities in the year-end summaries.
How does Woodruff’s use of symbols compare with contemporary diarist?
Wilford Woodruff’s symbols from 1835 to 1838 mirror those of contemporary diarists as he utilized check marks, x’s, and a hybrid checkmark/x to identify entries in his journal that he wanted to quickly return to for future review. However, these marks were employed to draw attention to entries that contained multiple activities Woodruff would later add to his year-end summaries, meaning there was not a single meaning for the mark.
Other diarists in the 19th Century did likewise, but they utilized this system to demarcate days on which they participated in a single activity, making the mark synonymous with that activity.
Where Woodruff appears to depart from other diarists in 1838 is when he begins to draw more intricate symbols to identify specific activities recorded on the year-end summary page (letters written, letters received, ordinances performed, etc.). While using multiple symbols in a journal to distinguish between activities is not exclusive to Woodruff, where he really separates his record from contemporary diarists is in expanding to 18 symbols that represent a variety of activities, both ecclesiastical and personal.
What are some examples of symbols that became more elaborate over time?
Most of Wilford Woodruff’s symbols stayed very consistent over the more than sixty years in which he kept his personal record. A couple of symbols, however, became more elaborate over time.
The coffin that Woodruff drew to demarcate dates on which an individual close to him died is one of the most recognizable of these shifts. In the early utilizations of this symbol, a simple coffin was drawn. Beginning in 1844 with the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Woodruff begins to insert the initials of the deceased within the coffin. Finally, beginning in 1875, Woodruff expanded the Coffin symbol to occupy enough space to also include biographical information for the deceased, including their full name, their death date, and their age at death, sometimes to the day.
Other examples of elaborate uses of the symbol can be seen with the heart symbol on January 28, 1844. Here, Woodruff draws 13 stylized hearts with a key inside each of them intertwined with in a larger central stylized heart with four keys in the center of it to commemorate the day on which he and Phebe were sealed.
Given the context of this entry, the symbol suggests that their sealing not only joined them together as a couple but connected them with the ancient patriarchs and matriarchs (Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Rachel) as well as to the other individuals who had received this ordinance, particularly the other members of the Twelve and their wives, who provided instruction pertaining the sealing prior to its performance.
Why did Wilford Woodruff draw Queen Victoria in his journal?
One of the more intriguing symbols that Wilford Woodruff drew throughout his journal was that of a humanoid, usually in the form of the head of a woman. It is the most complex and elaborate of the symbols that Woodruff employs throughout his record. This symbol does not correlate with the year-end summaries, but instead draws attention to memorable moments in Woodruff’s life.
On February 10, 1840, when Woodruff was serving as a missionary in Great Brittan, he recorded the marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and demarcated the entry with a drawing of the Queen. Given the pomp and circumstance that surrounds a royal wedding, Woodruff recorded the astounding net worth of the royal couple at $2.175 million, which likely was on full display.
Woodruff’s intrigue by political figures in other utilizations of the humanoid symbol provides an additional layer of context for the image.
Is his use of the twelve stars to mark meetings of the Quorum of the Twelve related to the Deseret Flag?
When I originally wrote on Wilford Woodruff’s symbols as an undergraduate in my 2013 BYU Honors Thesis, I made this exact connection with the symbol of twelve stars in a circle. However, as I have thought and read on the topic further, I am less convinced that what Woodruff is drawing in 1844 had a direct connection with the Deseret Flag. But I do believe that the idea of twelve stars in a circle was a prominent symbol within the minds of Latter-day Saints in the 19th century as a symbol of the Twelve Tribes of Israel or the Twelve Apostles.
The first reason that I am not convinced that there is a direct one-to-one connection between the symbol in Woodruff’s journal and the Deseret Flag is the limited use of the symbol to indicate meetings among members of the Quorum of the Twelve.
The twelve stars in a circle is one of three symbols used by Woodruff to indicate council meetings, but is the least utilized of the three (appearing only 5 times in August of 1844). By 1846, these three symbols are replaced by the symbol of a key to highlight meetings of the Twelve. If the symbol had found more wide use in Woodruff’s journal, especially in the Deseret period, there may be an argument to be made.
The second reason that I do not see a correlation between the journal and the flag is that on May 29, 1847, Woodruff recorded some of the remarks made by Brigham Young concerning a flag for the Kingdom of God and sketched what he deemed as the “standard.” That sketch differs drastically from the one that is described as the Deseret Flag in our oldest sources.
My final reason is more of a general historical point as we are not certain what the flag that Brigham Young had in mind looked like. The prominent blue and white flag, with blue and white stripes and a field of blue in the upper left hand corner with twelve white stars in a circle around a brighter white center star that flies at the base of Ensign Peak today and has largely been adopted as the Deseret Flag appears to be created from the description of a flag that was flown from a window during Brigham Young’s funeral in 1877 in the journal of Don Maguire.
This differs slightly from the description of a flag that was flown from the Salt Lake Temple construction site on April 6, 1880 as described in John D. T. McAlister’s journal of a white flag, with a blue field having 15 white stars, a circle of twelve stars with three stars forming a triangle in the middle. Interpreting the flag, McAlister stated that the stars represented “the First Presidency & the Twelve, Truth and peace, Fidelity.”
Taken together, I think we can safely conclude that for 19th century Latter-day Saints, twelve stars in a circle was seen as a symbol for the Quorum of the Twelve which in turn is connected with the Twelve Tribes of Israel and was utilized for various versions of the Deseret Flag, though we cannot be certain of the flag’s details.
How long did it take to analyze the symbols across the entirety of Wilford Woodruff’s journals?
I first started studying the symbols of Wilford Woodruff’s journal as part of a term paper for an archival methodology course that I took at BYU as an undergraduate in 2011. The course was so impactful to me and the project was so interesting that I almost immediately began a follow up project diving into more of Woodruff’s drawings. By the summer of 2012, I placed those notes and ultimately this project on the back burner with an intention to return to it at some future date.
I probably spent 1,500 hours with Woodruff’s journals and the symbols.
That future date ended up being April 2013 when I was invited to graduate with University Honors at BYU if I could complete a thesis. Like a strike of lightening, I had a revelatory experience in which I was directed to return to this project and write it up.
From April to July 2013, I spent 9-10 hours a day reading, cataloguing, writing, and reviewing my study of the symbols in Wilford Woodruff’s journals. This included having the special opportunity to visit the Church History Library in Salt Lake City to compare my notes to two volumes of the journals in person. I then wrote my Honor’s Thesis and put the project in my rear-view window until I was invited by Steve Harper with the Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation to return to my research by giving a presentation on it at the Building Latter-day Faith Conference on March 4, 2023.
After my presentation, Professor Harper further encouraged me to write my presentation up as an article, so I spent two more months refining my argument, comparing my original cataloguing to the now accessible images of all of Wilford Woodruff’s journals, and setting the context for the symbols.
In total, I probably spent 1,500 hours with Woodruff’s journals and the symbols over the last decade to produce this article and the accompanying resources now available on the Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation website.
Why are the symbols significant for interpreting his journals today?
In a world that didn’t have the ability to “command-f” (or control-f for my Windows friends) on a document to find a specific word or phrase in a large collection of texts, the symbols utilized by Woodruff for over 60 years to catalogue and organize his journals is remarkably ahead of his time.
In many ways, Woodruff viewed his journals as a resource for others to see the Restoration of the Church through his eyes. When he was nearing the end of his life, he commissioned two of his sons to go through the journals and use them as the basis of a biography about him.
The symbols and year-end summaries would be a valuable resource for anyone trying to see what Woodruff valued in his life of service and family. The journals were almost immediately transferred to the Church History Department for keeping upon his death, further emphasizing his desire that the record he maintained be not only preserved but utilized by future generations.
Ultimately, the symbols serve as a guide to reading what Wilford Woodruff wrote. The extra time he took to highlight specific entries, and sometimes specific insights in those entries, shows us what Woodruff felt was of most value in his incomparable record.
What question would you most want to ask Wilford Woodruff?
Selfishly, I would ask him if the interpretation that I have presented about the symbols is correct. While I have done my due diligence in making sure that no stone is left unturned, there is always the possibility that I misread a symbol or overlooked something else importantly connected with the symbols.
Woodruff didn’t leave us a legend to identify what the symbols represented, but I feel confident that when the data is analyzed as a whole as I have attempted to do in my article, the symbols nicely align with the work of highlighting both ecclesiastical and personal actions in his life that he deemed important and worth highlighting for future readers to see.
Did you enjoy this article?
Subscribe to receive an email each time we publish new content!
About the interview participant
Joshua M. Matson holds a PhD in Religion from Florida State University, an MA in Biblical Studies from Trinity Western University (Langley, British Columbia, Canada), and a BA with University Honors in Ancient Near Eastern Studies from Brigham Young University. In addition to his formal education, Josh is a former research associate with the Scripta Qumranica Electronica project at the University of Haifa and an Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls Scholar at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research focuses on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Bible (particularly the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament and the Jewish Context of the New Testament), ancient and modern manuscript studies, and contextualizing the Book of Mormon in the ancient world.
Further Reading
- Wilford Woodruff Quotes
- Why Does Laurel Thatcher Ulrich Admire Wilford Woodruff’s Journals?
- How Did Wilford Woodruff Influence Temple Work?
- What Was Wilford Woodruff’s Vision of the Founding Fathers?
- What’s In George D. Watt’s 1851 Journal?
- What Did Belle Harris Write About Her Stay in Prison for Plural Marriage?
- How did Wilford Woodruff Use Agency to Fulfill Prophecy?
Wilford Woodruff Journal Resources
- Decoding the Self-Tracking Symbols of Wilford Woodruff’s Journals (BYU Studies)
- Wilford Woodruff Journals (Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation)
- A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women’s Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835-1870 (Knopf)
- Sketches in the Wilford Woodruff Journals (Times and Seasons)
- Ensign Peak (BYU RSC)
One reply on “Why Did Wilford Woodruff Use Symbols in His Journal?”
I have a question: Did Wilford Woodruff write in his journal who was the architect of his Woodruff Villa home built in 1892? It might have been designed in either 1891 or ’92 and completed in ’92 or’92.
Please let me know. architect Allen Roberts, AIA
allendale72@outlopok.com
801-635-6918
Thank you, Allen