In the early years of personal computers, James Rosenvall and Monte Shelley dreamed of developing a program that would act as a personal research assistant to help anyone search and study the scriptures. In 1983, they got a digital copy of the scriptures from the Humanities Research Center and began developing BYU Concordance. They demonstrated it at a Modern Language Association Conference held at BYU in July 1984 and it was on sale by 1986.

In 1988, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a version of the program (LDSView) with the English scriptures. About 12 years later, a Church committee asked our team to create WordCruncher versions of the scriptures in 30+ languages.

Since the 1980s, our small team has worked with BYU faculty and staff in Humanities, Religion, FARMS, Maxwell Institute, and Family, Home, and Social Sciences to create digital WordCruncher eBooks that were important for their research, teaching, and mission. In 2003 our team was transferred to the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. In 2017, we were transferred to the Office of Digital Humanities.

Today, we strive to enable students, faculty, and researchers in their textual analyses. We continue to develop WordCruncher by enhancing the user experience and providing additional tools.