Richard S. Van Wagoner
Latter Day Saint and Utah historian (1946–2010)
Richard S. Van Wagoner (July 23, 1946 – October 10, 2010) was an American historian, audiologist, and author who published works on the history of Utah and the history of the Latter Day Saint movement.
Early life and education
Van Wagoner was a Lehi, Utah, native and a fifth-generation Mormon. He was an Eagle Scout and was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the church's Central States Mission. In 1970, he graduated from Brigham Young University with an M.S. degree.
Career
Trained as a clinical audiologist, he began professional practice in 1977 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Van Wagoner wrote the books Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess and Mormon Polygamy: A History. His 1994 biography of Sidney Rigdon won awards from the Mormon History Association and the John Whitmer Historical Association.
Van Wagoner was a member of the board of Signature Books, and was described after his death as a "trailblazer in Mormon studies", having published historical articles in Utah Historical Quarterly, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, and Sunstone. He lived in Lehi, Utah, and acted as the town's historical archivist.
Personal life
From the early 1980s, Van Wagoner lost his hearing due to otosclerosis; he received a cochlear implant in 2001, which partially restored his hearing.
The public source identifies “Richard S. Van Wagoner” as latter Day Saint and Utah historian (1946–2010). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Richard, Wagoner and Latter.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 21, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7328839. VIAF identifies the subject as 94736707. The Library of Congress control number is n82099457. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1946, 2010, 1970 and 1977.
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This entry incorporates text from “Richard S. Van Wagoner” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.