The Church Historian’s Press has released a new George F. Richards (GFR) digital history project that includes transcripts of his journals. This appears similar to the George Q. Cannon diaries CHP project. Currently the website holds transcripts of the first two volumes of GFR’s journals, spanning August 1880 to March 1892. GFR’s journals have been on a short list of documents that I have been interested in for a long time, and I am consequently very excited.
Assist the Global Support and Acquisitions Division (GS&A) of the Church History Department in collecting, preserving, and sharing Church history throughout the world. This is an exciting and unique opportunity for someone interested in pursuing a career in history or library/archival science. We are looking for a motivated, energetic, and organized individual to join our team!
This paid internship is anticipated to last one year (12 months). This position is a part-time (28 hours per week) hourly, nonexempt position. The candidate must be currently enrolled in, or recently graduated from (within the last 12 months), an undergraduate- or graduate-degree program. Preference will be given to history/MLIS students, or those who are English majors working on an editing certificate.
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought seeks research-based
articles, personal essays, round-table discussions, fiction, art, and poetry on
Indigenous, Native, or First Nations peoples and their place in the Latter-day
Saint (or other Restoration churches) tradition. The submissions will be considered
for a special issue of the journal that will focus on this topic and related
themes.
The Book of Mormon, the foundational scripture of Joseph Smith’s movement, recounts a historical narrative about the origins of peoples in the Americas and the Church’s drive west led to numerous meetings and convergences of Indigenous peoples with diverse peoples/immigrants/migrants. The landscape was then shaped by Mormon and US Government interventions. As the Church spread globally, these encounters continued to be tinged by colonization as a geo-political force. Such encounters and narratives about indigeneity continue to define the present.
We encourage research article submissions to treat such topics as
colonialism and postcolonial studies, historical studies and enthographic
approaches, indigeneity as a category of identity, scriptural narratives, and
theological reflections, among other topics. Personal essays, art, fiction, and
poetry on these topics would ideally also wrestle with legacies of Mormonism’s
relationship to indigenous peoples as well as issues that are of contemporary
concern. We are especially interested in featuring the work of Indigenous
persons.
Questions about submissions may be directed to Taylor Petrey,
editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (dialogueeditor@dialoguejournal.com).
Joseph Smith’s attention to his own day-to-day
activities ebbed and flowed throughout his fourteen years of religious
leadership. The final three years of his life mark the high point of his
documentary record. In Documents, Volume 9 of the Joseph Smith Papers,
historians and editors Alex Smith, Christian K. Heimburger, and Christopher
Blythe provide invaluable insight and background on 102 documents created
between December 1841 and April 1842. As the editors note in their
introduction, this volume captures less than six months of Smith’s life,
“and no subsequent volume in [the Documents] series will capture more than
half a year of Smith’s activities.”[1]
Smith created a large number of documents during this period, at least in comparison to previous times in his life, owing to several circumstances. Latter-day Saints enjoyed a season of relative peace during this time frame, which allowed for physical improvements to the city and a steady trickle of immigrants gathering to Nauvoo. Stability brought innovation. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints expanded its own organization, most notable among them being the Nauvoo Female Relief Society.
The Joseph Smith Papers Project is looking to fill two editorial assistant positions. See job posting below:
UNITED STATES | UT-Salt Lake City ID 245661, Type: Temporary Full-Time POSTING INFO Posting Dates: 10/23/2019 – 11/06/2019 Job Family: Editorial, Writing & Language Department: Church History Department
PURPOSES
The purpose of this job is to assist the Church History Department in helping God’s children make and keep sacred covenants—specifically by helping prepare Church history materials for publication.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The Church History Department seeks an Editorial Assistant to help with the important work of publishing The Joseph Smith Papers and other department publications intended for scholars and/or members of the Church. This is a temporary, one-year position, with the possibility of being extended for an additional year based on performance and need. The Editorial Assistant will work on the editorial team as part of a large team of historians, archivists, and other editors. The primary responsibility of the Editorial Assistant will be checking facts, sources, and source citations for print and web publication. In this capacity, the Editorial Assistant checks facts for accuracy; analyzes sources to determine whether they have been used appropriately; checks quotations from original sources, making sure spelling, punctuation, and capitalization are correct; makes and files copies of sources; uses a number of databases and other resources to find sources; formats citations according to the Chicago Manual of Style and internal style guides; and corresponds with historians and editors through multiple correction cycles. Other responsibilities of the Editorial Assistant may include proofreading, copyediting, coding documents in the project’s XML database, and assisting with producing transcripts of documents. This is a great opportunity to participate in various aspects of the publishing process, to hone your skills, and to learn more about Church history.
QUALIFICATIONS
Bachelor’s degree in English or related field College-level coursework in editing preferred Some professional editing experience preferred Copyediting and proofreading ability Familiarity with Chicago Manual of Style (seventeenth edition) Ability to research in nineteenth-century sources; experience working with primary sources a plus Ability to work collaboratively with a wide variety of people Ability to give scrupulous attention to detail and sustain concentration for long periods of time with the highest level of accuracy Ability to perform repetitive tasks Ability to manage time effectively, be dependable, and regularly meet deadlines Ability to learn new technology and processes Must be a critical thinker and have a natural curiosity Experience with text markup languages (such as XML or HTML) and software (especially Oxygen) a plus Knowledge of early Church history WORTHINESS QUALIFICATION
Must be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and currently temple worthy.
POSTING NOTICE/MORE INFO.
Please Note: All positions are subject to close without notice.
Find out more about the many benefits of Church Employment at http://careers.churchofjesuschrist.org.
Many thanks to Ben Spackman for passing this on to us! His bio can be found at the bottom of this post.
We are delighted to invite you to contribute to a BYU Studies Quarterly special issue on the thoughtful integration of evolution and faith. BYU Studies publishes scholarship within a restored gospel of Jesus Christ context. Submissions are invited from all scholars who seek truth “by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118), discern the harmony between revelation and research, value both academic and spiritual inquiry, and recognize that knowledge without charity is nothing (1 Cor. 13:2).
In this special issue we seek to faithfully explore issues related to biological evolution and Latter-day Saint belief and practice. We are soliciting articles on any issues related to this topic, including but not limited to: interpretations and contexts of Genesis (including Moses and Abraham), 2 Nephi 2:22, Doctrine & Covenants 77:6–7, 101:32-34, and related passages; hermeneutical and exegetical history; Latter-day Saint intellectual history within American contexts (e.g., the Fundamentalist/Modernist controversy); historical, contextual, and intellectual factors influencing Latter-day Saint interpretations of scripture and interpretive assumptions; religious and scientific epistemologies; the historical Adam and Eve; the nature of science; misconceptions about evolution (e.g., “the Second Law of Thermodynamics disproves evolution”); approaches to evolutionary pedagogy; how evidence of evolution does not necessarily threaten a gospel perspective; and methods for reconciliation.
We are issuing an open call for abstract submissions. If you have an idea for a manuscript that you believe would fit into this special issue, please email an abstract (1,000 words or fewer) to submissions@byu.edu by February 1, 2020.
“The Restoration and the Arts: Theory, Practice, Intersections” Brigham Young University June 8 – July 14, 2020
In the summer of 2020, the Neal A. Maxwell Institute at Brigham Young University, with support from the Mormon Scholars Foundation, will sponsor a summer seminar for graduate students and other qualified individuals on “The Restoration and the Arts: Theory, Practice, Intersections.”
The latest issue of the Journal of Mormon History hit my
mailbox last week. As always, it’s chocked full of valuable archival-based
research and helpful book reviews. Here’s a quick overview of its contents.
For the past several days, the Juvenile Instructor has examined the work of the sociologist Armand Mauss, a pioneering figure in Mormon studies, under the banner of our occasional series “Reassessing the Classics.” This is the last of three posts dealing with Mauss’s landmark 1994 book THE ANGEL AND THE BEEHIVE: THE MORMON STRUGGLE WITH ASSIMILATION (University of Illinois Press). I wrote it.
I
first encountered The Angel and the
Beehive in the early years of my graduate school training—not in readings
for a course or recommendations from a professor, but in a way far more glancing
and tangential (as so many of the best things in academic research develop). I
was working on a project about miracles in Mormonism, and it suddenly seemed as
though it would be useful to me to know whether or not Mormons commonly talked
about such things in the regular monthly testimony meetings held in every Mormon
congregation.
For the next several days, the Juvenile Instructor will examine the work of the sociologist Armand Mauss, a pioneering figure in Mormon studies, under the banner of our occasional series “Reassessing the Classics.” For the next three days, several scholars will examine Mauss’s landmark 1994 book THE ANGEL AND THE BEEHIVE: THE MORMON STRUGGLE WITH ASSIMILATION (University of Illinois Press). The first of these went up Monday, October 14. Today, Jana Riess, author of many well-regarded books on Mormonism, including the important THE NEXT MORMONS: HOW MILLENNIALS ARE CHANGING THE LDS CHURCH (Oxford, 2019).
Recently, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
unveiled the first peek at its new global youth program, which will provide
activities and instruction for Saints from ages 8 to 18. As I have been reading
about the new initiative, one thought kept going through my mind: Is this a sign of retrenchment or
assimilation?*
Christopher on LATTER-DAY SAINT THEOLOGY &: “Blake, I get a kick out of your poor reading comprehension skills.
If your comment is directed to Joseph, who posted this description, please understand that…”
Eric Nielson on LATTER-DAY SAINT THEOLOGY &: “Matt, I have signed up with a friend account, but when I try to open the file I am told that I do not have…”
Recent Comments
Christopher on LATTER-DAY SAINT THEOLOGY &: “Blake, I get a kick out of your poor reading comprehension skills. If your comment is directed to Joseph, who posted this description, please understand that…”
Eric Nielson on LATTER-DAY SAINT THEOLOGY &: “Matt, I have signed up with a friend account, but when I try to open the file I am told that I do not have…”
Terry H on LATTER-DAY SAINT THEOLOGY &: “I mean, I know its in the link, but just curious.”
Terry H on LATTER-DAY SAINT THEOLOGY &: “Perhaps I missed something, but when and where is it?”
Matt Witten on LATTER-DAY SAINT THEOLOGY &: “This one? https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/157453”
Eric Nielson on LATTER-DAY SAINT THEOLOGY &: “I would like to read Paulsen's dissertation. Does anyone have some link or way to access it?”