35 years ago today - 35 years - Aug. 2, 7, 1979

[Alfonso G.] P[ia]: It was during the same period too, in the early '60s * '62, '63, right in there * that the question of dividing the initiatory ordinances from the endowment took place, which was very controversial. It came about as a result of recommendations made that tied into computerization. * It was done in Salt Lake and it was done in Los Angeles initially. * I'm inclined to believe that the first separation of the initiatory work was done in the Los Angeles Temple. Well, to my knowledge, in the early stages as the Church commenced doing records tabulation work, it was played down and wasn't made public. As it became broader and broader, I think in the late '60s in reports you would start to see so many endowments performed, so many names submitted by [the] membership, and so many others, but undefined. I believe the reports came out with an "others" category. I'm not sure what the ratio is now, but I understand that well over half the work comes in through records tabulation.

[Source: Alfonso G. Pia oral history, Aug. 2; 7, 1979; pp. 13-14; excerpt in Buerger Papers as quoted in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]