Viewing Past Ward and Stake Histories

In the pamphlet "Church History Guides" the #1 stated purpose of creating Ward and Stake Histories is to "Bring members closer to Christ by helping them remember what God has done for His children and that He always fulfills His promises." This statement strongly suggests that the general membership of Wards and Stakes are able to read their Ward and Stake histories. I have looked several times over the years and to my knowledge there isn't a way for members to view the Ward and Stake histories online. Is there a way to view them?

ckmcdonald wrote:In the pamphlet "Church History Guides" the #1 stated purpose of creating Ward and Stake Histories is to "Bring members closer to Christ by helping them remember what God has done for His children and that He always fulfills His promises." This statement strongly suggests that the general membership of Wards and Stakes are able to read their Ward and Stake histories. I have looked several times over the years and to my knowledge there isn't a way for members to view the Ward and Stake histories online. Is there a way to view them?

What sort of "history" information are you looking for? The historical information of those in callings such as past Bishopric presidencies should be in the 'Officers Sustained' section. I am also interested in what you are requesting for Ward Histories.

Try searching at http://catalog.churchofjesuscchrist.org

@martyrike, from what I can see those histories you can search are not exactly what the OP describes. My understanding is the question was how a general member would be able to access their own ward's year-to-year history, and thus be brought "closer to Christ by helping them remember what God has done for His children and that He always fulfills His promises" specific to where that member lives. Is there a way for members to find their own local histories to see for example what occurred during the first pandemic year of 2020?

Ward histories are combined within the stake and the stake submits one history each year. You might ask if your stake keeps a copy of that history. Some do. Your stake clerk should know where it is kept.

I am the stake clerk. I do know where past copies of stake/ward histories are kept, they are emailed into headquarters each year - they have them. The stake really has no place to keep them. I heard a rumor a few years back that the Church was working on a way for members to view past histories online. Does that exist yet?

As the stake clerk I’m responsible for these histories and I presume making them available to the stake/ward members. Ours have typically been very well done and many hours spent on them but the only instructions I have seen about keeping them is to send them to Salt Lake. I’d like to see these histories meet their stated purpose (stated above) but I don’t think that is happening by just sending them to Salt Lake each year.

I am also interested to discover how the Ward and Stake histories could be made more generally available for learning and review. Writing things down and making them inaccessible defeates the purposes.