We’re pleased to welcome a distinguished and honorable new guest blogger to the fold. Put your hands together for Max.

Max Perry Mueller is a PhD candidate in American religious history at Harvard University, focusing on nineteenth century Mormonism and African American religious history. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Divinity School (M.T.S.) and Carleton College. His current research project involves early black Mormon pioneers to Salt Lake. He is excited to find interlocutors on all things Mormon, especially issues of race in the Restored Church (to which, quoting Booker T. Washington following his own 1913 visit to Utah, he has “not yet converted”).

As always, this is not a transcript, but my own notes, typed as fast as I can, edited, and reformulated for clarity. I will have notes forthcoming this weekend from five other presentations: Casey Griffiths, “Joseph F. Merrill and the Transformation of the Church Educational System”; John P. Livingston on “N. Eldon Tanner and LDS Church Administration”; Matthew Heiss, “The Annual History: The Origins of Local Unit Record Keeping”; William G. Hartley & Theodore Moore, “Our Churches and Hoes Shall Be Beautiful: The LDS Church’s beautification movement, 1938-47″; and Mark L. Grover, “The Beginning of the Church Construction Program in South America.” In addition, BHodges will have notes from a number of the presentations he attended (different from mine–we tired to coordinate on this) at his blog, Life on Gold Plates. (more…)

For a recent project, I was doing some research and came across a brief summary of Elijah Abel, a man who has fascinated me since I first read about him a few years ago. As most of you already know, Abel was a close friend of the Prophet Joseph Smith who received the partial endowment in the Kirtland Temple and was ordained a Seventy during the Prophet’s time. He served several missions, returning from his last mission immediately previous to his death in Salt Lake on 25 December 1884 (you can check out his obituary here). There’s been a fair amount of research done on Elijah Abel and his life, but as I was reading an article about the new grave marker that the Church had placed on his grave in 2002, I came across someone I had not heard of before: Mary Ann Abel. (more…)

Rachel graciously shares autobiographical reflections in the first profile of the “Women in the Academy” series. These reflections show the ways in which she has been shaped by women in and out of the academy, from her great-grandmothers to Gerda Lerner to Louisa May Alcott. As she shares her journey, Rachel reveals pieces of her vision for women in and out of the academy in America and around the world. Rachel’s thoughts serve as an exciting window into the “beautifully transformative” effects of study and creation, for men and women alike.  (more…)

Here is the program for the BYU Studies Conference, March 12-13, 2010.

Also, don’t forget to join the Salt Lake Mormon Studies Student Association as it welcomes Brian Cannon to speak on “Historians’ Treatment of Divine Influence in LDS History” this Thursday, February 25, 2010.

Full details can be found here including information about dinner at 5:15 p at Moochie’s.

The Juvenile Instructor introduces a new series consisting of interviews with various up-and-coming female Mormon scholars. These women will answer a series of questions about their educational paths and their research interests, as well as reflect on how gender and femaleness affect their studies and their involvement in the academy.

Look for the upcoming interview with Rachel Cope, who holds a PhD in American history from Syracuse University and currently works at BYU Studies.

In yesterday’s Inside Higher Ed, Kevin Schultz and Paul Harvey explore what they see as the paradox of the current state of American religious history. On the one hand, more historians appear to be engaging religious history than in past years. They note, for example, that according to a recent AHA report, “religion now tops the list of interests that historians claim to have as their specialty” and point to a number of stellar offerings recently published in the field. (more…)

On Saturday I emerged from the Boston Temple a changed woman, a stronger woman. I am more Mormon than I was before, and I am okay with it. Let me explain why.  (more…)

Taken from here. (the link is found on the left.)

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

9:00–10:00 A.M.
Opening
SPE AKER
Richard Lyman Bushman Joseph Smith and the Routinization of Charisma (more…)

While looking through some historical reports of the San Benito Branch, I came across this interesting entry: (more…)

The Salt Lake Mormon Studies Student Association will host Brian Cannon, Professor of History at BYU, on February 25, 2010 at 7 pm for a public lecture entitled: “Many Refractions of Light: Historians’ Treatment of Divine Influence in LDS History.”  The lecture will be held on the University of Utah Campus in the Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building, room 101 (main floor). (more…)

This is adapted from an excerpt of a larger paper I wrote for my public history internship course last year. Sorry in advance for the sub par photography: (more…)

In conclusion: Mormon horns have piles of company and most of the folks keeping the idea were (probably still are) Mormon themselves. (more…)

Update: See end of list for Signature Book’s 2010 list of forthcoming titles.

Last year I put together, with help from a number of publishers, a list of forthcoming and recently published books on Mormon History.  Most of those books highlighted last November have indeed found a place on bookshelves, so it’s about time to do it again.  There are some exciting books that have recently come off the press and which are still forthcoming.  I wasn’t able to be as comprehensive as last time, but there are still some neat things on the horizon that I was able to find, and maybe I’ll be able to do a follow up post. For now, I’m sure I missed some titles, so if you know of others, please leave a comment and I’ll add it to the list. (more…)

Curbelo, Néstor.  The History of the Mormons in Argentina.  Translated by Erin Jennings.  Salt Lake City:  Greg Kofford Books.

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A year following the discussion of King’s life and death in 1968, a series of editorials and letters to the editor reignited the debate on King in a manner that reflected the deviating views of BYU students on civil rights. On 30 April 1969, assistant news editor Judy Geissler wrote an editorial titled “In Memoriam: M. L. King.” Speaking to the idea of King’s life as a sacrifice to racial equality, Geissler declared that prejudicial words and attitudes had frequently led to the justification of discrimination, subjugation, and murder on the basis of race in the United States. She also provided a respectful biographical sketch on King in order to substantiate her own argument that BYU students should not only think about furthering equal rights but should “get out and DO something about it.” (more…)

Sometimes I get bogged down in the details of my job and forget just how much I enjoy what I do. I’ve developed a list to remind myself why I got into this field just in case the tedium of it starts getting to me. Some of these are kind of silly, but others can have a profound impact.

1. Old stuff. This is probably a prerequisite for anyone getting involved in history. (more…)

To avoid either dragging out this series inordinately or clogging up The Mormon Archipelago, I’ve broken a seven-part run into three posts with links to sub-pages. The links (to date) are below. (more…)