By GuestFebruary 1, 2008
Robin Scott Jensen is employed by the Church Archives and works as an editor on the Joseph Smith Papers Project, working on Joseph Smith’s 1843-1844 journals and JS’s revelations. Robin received a master’s degree in history at BYU, writing his important thesis on early Strangite missions. He is currently pursuing a Masters of Library Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has been published in the John Whitmer Historical Association Journal, BYU Studies, and The Journal of Mormon History. Robin has received many awards for his work, including “Student Researcher of the Year, 2005” for the Joseph Smith Papers.
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By David G.February 1, 2008
In the decades following the demise of polygamy, Church leaders were continually called upon to answer questions concerning the practice of plural marriage. The answers provided illustrate the negotiations that these leaders undertook between the presence of the past and demands of the present. I believe that it is simplistic to argue that leaders only downplayed polygamy. Rather, narratives of polygamy were often shaped during this period with not only Protestant America in mind (which led to a marginalizing of plural marriage) but also the RLDS (which led to a centralizing of polygamy in the Mormon past). The following excerpt comes from Charles W. Penrose, “Peculiar Questions Answered Briefly,” Improvement Era 15, no. 11 (September 1912): [sorry, GospeLink doesn’t give page numbers].
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