Likely because the 2008 meeting of the Western History Association was held in SLC, the Spring 2009 issue of the Western Historical Quarterly contains two solid articles on Mormons and Mormonism.

Virginia Scharff, “What’s Love Got to Do with It? A New Turner Thesis” (5-22)

Virginia Scharff is a major historian of gender and women in the West at the University of New Mexico. In her presidential address, Scharff asks why historians tend to write small and safe books, when we should be pursuing interesting topics that matter historically. In answer to her question, Scharff presents a new Turner thesis, one that is perhaps less bold than the original, yet equally as relevant for young scholars seeking inspiration in the field. Rather (more…)

To begin his preface to A Discourse of the Baconian Philosophy, conservative Calvinist Samuel Tyler quoted approvingly Francis Bacon’s famous statement that had by then became the mantra for American religious discourse: “It ought to be eternally resolved and settled, that the understanding cannot be decide[d] otherwise, than by Induction, and by a legitimate form of it.”[1] (more…)

I came across this a few months ago, and have been waiting until Earth Day to post it. Since last year’s Earth Day post at the JI looked at a quote from 19th century Mormonism on the environment, I thought it would be appropriate to do something from the 20th century this year.  In July 1991, the New Era included a brief article entitled “Planet Pleasing” in the “FYI: For Your Information” section of the teenage-oriented periodical. In addition to the sound and practical advice of the article, I’m intrigued by the author’s effort to connect with her teenage audience. Such lines as “It’s cool to save fuel” and “Gee … Try a Tree” (such profound poetry) suggest a conscious effort to make environmentalism sound cool to young readers (and check out the name of the fictional letter writer within the article … how clever). (more…)

I have been dealving into Nauvoo-era theology recently–a task not for the faint of heart. There are plenty of un-touched topics there just waiting to be analyzed, but one of the themes that has stood out to me the most, however, is Joseph Smith’s reconception of the state of the body–its nature, its potential, and even its inherent power. These are some preliminary thoughts on the topic; preliminary, because it only relies on sermons reproduced in Ehat and Cook’s Words of Joseph Smith (and only those before summer of ’43 at that), and engages very limited contemporary and secondary sources. (Also, since we have been getting quite a bit of discussion on Joseph Smith’s view of spirits lately, I thought we should even it out by also engaging his view of the body.) (more…)

Over the past few years I have gone through a few large Mormon history research collections, including the Kenney Collection at BYU, the Stanley Ivins Collection at the Utah State Historical Society, and the D. Michael Quinn Collection at Yale.  All of these collections have yielded immense amounts of information that I probably would not have come across elsewhere.  The Kenney Collection contains boxes of notes from the First Presidency Papers, General Auxiliary Organization Board Minutes, and other materials that are restricted at the Church Archives.  While the Ivins Collection does not contain as much information from restricted collections at the Church Archives, it is an important collection of notes from diaries and books written by people who visited Utah during the nineteenth century, many of which are obscure.  And the Quinn Papers contain what is perhaps the gold mine of information from restricted Mormon archival materials, with notes from General Authority diaries, Quorum of the Twelve and Seventies Minutes, and notes from a vast number of other important Mormon sources. (more…)

I came across the following article while looking for something else in Samuel Brannan’s The Prophet yesterday.  It was authored by Parley P. Pratt and published in May 1845. I had never heard of it or come across it anywhere else [1], and thought readers might find it useful (or at least entertaining). (more…)

“That idea has not yet been resolved within your heart and is tormenting it.” [1]

One of my inaugural posts for JI was a spiritual autobiographical account of entering the world of the academic study of religion. And I feel as though a continuation of that autobiography is important and necessary, if only for my own sake. (more…)

Kristine Haglund is a stay-in-the-minivan mother of three kids, and the current editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought.  She blames her  interest in Mormon history on her father, who gave her a copy of _Mormon Sisters_ when she was 9 years old, and then asked her to give a sacrament meeting talk about Ellis Shipp and Patty Sessions. She blogs full-time, of course, at By Common Consent. Kristine presented these remarks at the Mormonism in the Public Mind conference at UVU on Friday, April 3, 2009.

I am more than a little bit surprised to find myself on a panel with “new media” and “pop culture” in the session title-I grew up mostly without a TV and am inflicting the same deprivation on my children; I’m old enough to have taken a typewriter with me when I went to college; and I grew up in a home where “contemporary” music meant anything post-Mahler, like maybe Copland.  (more…)

…and don’t worry, it doesn’t mention any salamanders. (more…)

BYU News Press Release: (more…)

Before I start this post, I just want to apologize to all my fellow JIers for my unproductive participation in the blog as of late. Because my primary area of research falls outside of the Mormon History paradigm, I often have to wait for the spirit to move me towards some sort of meaningful post. I still want to put together some concluding thoughts on Mormonism and ethnicity one of these days, but it seems like my dissertation research has kept me pretty busy the last little while. I am hoping to attend at least some of the Mormon History Conference in May since Springfield is quite close to Champaign. Several posts on the Bloggernacle of late (not particularly on JI but as a blog devoted to Mormon history I think this is a good forum for addressing the issue) have made me think about the reality and role of bias in the production of historical scholarship. (more…)

Day two of the Mormonism in the Public Mind conference at UVU went very well.  See my notes for Day 1 here.

The First Panel, “Political Discourse and the Latter-day Saints” has been reported in a number of places.  The Mormon Times reported on Kirk Jowers’ presentation “Did Romeny’s Religion Cost Him the Presidency?” and Thursday’s Keynote speaker, Michael Paulson liveblogged portions of each of the three panel participants on his Boston Globe religion blog, Articles of Faith.

My notes are as follows: (more…)

I attended both days of the Mormonism in the Public Mind Conference at Utah Valley University in Orem, UT.  I took some lazy notes on the first day, so I will provide my notes and links to reports made in other venues.  I took much more copious notes on the second day, which I am cleaning up now for posting, probably today.  Here is the conference program. (more…)

View Elder Andersen’s biography here.

Last October’s General Conference featured a talk by Elder Andersen entitled “You Know Enough”. Never was there a more appropriate talk for review by our readers. 

Elder Andersen has not authored any books that I am aware of.  It will be interesting to see if that changes in the coming years.

We recently had a stirring discussion over at BCC concerning the causes of the 1838 conflict in Missouri. Much of the discussion concentrated not on the historical evidence that has survived, but on the role of bias in determining what gets included and what gets left out when individuals narrate the past. (more…)

On March 5 of this year, UVU hosted a panel discussion on the Mountain Meadows Massacre featuring Rick Turley, Will Bagley, and Forrest Cuch and was moderated by Alex Caldiero.  Brent Brizzi was on the scene and has provided a transcript of the proceedings.  He consulted a recording and notes provided him by the participants. Thank you, Brent for you hard work putting this together for those of us who couldn’t make it. (more…)