The following is an announcement from Brigham Young University:
BYU Studies is pleased to announce the release of the Charles C. Rich DVD Library. This unprecedented DVD-ROM contains original documents, biographies, family histories, and photographs of Western American colonizer Charles C. Rich.
Rich, who was an apostle for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, witnessed important events in LDS history, including Joseph Smith's presidential campaign, the building of the Kirtland (Ohio), Nauvoo (Illinois), and Logan (Utah), temples and the western pioneer migration.
Rich played an important role in the colonization of the west. He settled San Bernardino, California in the 1850s after several difficult and harrowing trips to the state. The LDS Church had planed to have a series of settlements from Salt Lake City to San Francisco to Los Angeles, with San Bernardino playing an important role in helping the Church achieve these goals.
Rich's ability to colonize was admired by Brigham Young, who later asked him to settle the Bear Lake valley. At the time, the valley was in Utah, but the northern part of it is now in Idaho. Despite hardships and extreme weather, the Bear Lake valley settlement proved to be a success. The DVD chronicles the events leading up to and the settlement of the valley in the 1860s.
The documents on the DVD, such as Rich's diaries, letters, speeches, and photographs, allow readers to see glimpses of his life at the time those items were created. Linking this material is the chronology, which pulls together these individual pieces, offering an overview of his entire life. Through the chronology, readers see the ups and downs that he and his family endured, including times of estrangement while he served a mission for his church in Great Britain. Included in the DVD are biographical sketches of all of Rich's wives and most of his 53 children.
The Charles C. Rich DVD Library is available at byustudies.byu.edu or at the BYU Bookstore (1-800-253-2578, byubookstore.com)
