After studying naturally rapid readers, including a graduate professor in the drama department at the University of Utah, Evelyn Nielsen Wood applied her professor's methods and other research to establish a reading institute. In 1959, Evelyn and her husband, M. Douglas Wood, co-founded the Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics rapid reading system in Washington, D.C. By the mid-1960s, the Woods opened institutes throughout the United States and in several foreign countries. Evelyn also taught her speed-reading techniques to the staffs of Presidents Kennedy, Nixon, and Carter, as well as employees of one hundred corporations and fifty universities. The Woods retired in 1972, and the business was dissolved in 1976.

Evelyn Nielsen Wood (1909-1995), the daughter of Elias and Rose (Stirland) Nielsen, grew up in Ogden, Utah. She earned her B.A. from the University of Utah in 1929, and on 12 June of that year Evelyn married the university's student body president, Myron Douglas Wood (1903-1987), son of William Wood, Jr. and Ellen Sutton (Goddard) Wood. Doug was raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. He served in the Swiss-German and German-Austrian LDS missions from 1925-27, and earned his B.A. in business from the University of Utah the same year as Evelyn. The couple had one child, a daughter named Carol.

Doug and Evelyn lived in Hitler's Third Reich for a brief period. Beginning in April 1938, Doug presided over the West German LDS Mission. Shortly thereafter LDS Church authorities advised the Woods to evacuate the missionaries to Denmark and Holland, though they later permitted the missionaries to return to Germany. Just prior to the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, the LDS Church issued another evacuation order; this time no missionaries would return to Germany. LDS Church authorities reassigned the Woods to the Swedish Mission but they returned to Salt Lake City by the end of 1939. The collection includes the Woods' correspondence surrounding their experiences in Germany, allowing a fascinating glimpse into the effects of Nazi power on the relationships between the German people and LDS missionaries.

During the 1940s, Evelyn wrote and directed large LDS pageants and pursued a graduate degree. In 1941 and 1947, Evelyn wrote and directed "Prepare Ye The Way," an Aaronic Priesthood Pageant of a cast of 450 in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Evelyn pursued her M.A. from the University of Utah in 1947, writing and presenting thirty-two radio programs on the history of Utah for her master's thesis. As the LDS Church celebrated the centennial of its presence in Scandinavia, Evelyn again turned to pageant writing and directing. In 1950 Evelyn directed a cast of 1,100 in the Scandinavian Pageant at the University of Utah stadium. The collection includes materials from these pageants and radio programs.

As Doug became owner-operator of Wood Ironrite, Inc. from 1955-59, Evelyn taught speed reading courses at the University of Utah and the University of Delaware, among others. The popularity of her rapid reading courses encouraged Evelyn and her husband to found Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics in 1959. After four years, the couple sold the business. In the late 1960s, they rejoined the company, under new ownership, until they retired in 1972.

The Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics program consisted of a series of courses that sought to help students increase their reading speed and comprehension. Various courses were designed for all ages. The collection includes documents from a 1972 lawsuit in which the Woods claimed a former employee had used Evelyn's techniques to open a competing speed-reading institution. Evelyn taught her techniques to the staffs of Presidents Kennedy, Nixon, and Carter, as well as employees of one hundred corporations and fifty universities.

Because of her achievements, the University of Utah awarded Evelyn the Distinguished Service Award in the 1970s.