Literary

Alexander L. Baugh: A Faithful Latter-day Saint Scholar of the Missouri Period and Liberty Jail

Published August 25, 2026 at 7:11 AM

1990s · 1995
Logan, Utah; Provo, Utah
Todd Morgan

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Todd Morgan

Beaumont, CA, 92223

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Alexander L. ('Alex') Baugh is a professor and former chair of the Department of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University, and a native of Logan, Utah. A faithful Latter-day Saint who served a mission in the Virginia Roanoke Mission (1976–78), Brother Baugh has devoted his scholarly life to the Missouri period of early Church history—the expulsions, the Haun's Mill massacre, and the imprisonment of the Prophet Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail. He is a leading voice helping the Saints understand the Lord's sustaining hand in the Church's most trying season. His life is a faith-promoting witness that the careful, honest study of the Church's history can deepen rather than shake faith, and that the Lord's providence is visible even in the Liberty Jails of His people.

Sources & References

'Alex Baugh,' BYU Religious Education (https://religion.byu.edu/directory/alex-baugh); 'Publishing Mormon History: A Conversation with Alexander L. Baugh,' BYU Religious Studies Center (https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-16-no-1-2015/publishing-mormon-history-conversation-alexander-l-baugh); 'What You Never Knew About Liberty Jail,' Church History Matters podcast, with Alex Baugh.

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