Call for Participants–CHL Book History Workshop

Exploring a Network of Family and Print

Latter-day Saints hold strong beliefs about connecting to their ancestors. This manifests in many ways, including a desire to better understand these ancestors and to perform sacred ordinances on their behalf. The genealogical work done by Latter-day Saints is represented by the millions of records digitized and preserved on familysearch.org, countless volunteer hours to assist those who desire a stronger connection to their family, and the vast rhetoric of family heritage and history over Latter-day Saint pulpits and within classrooms. But this family history work is also dependent upon technology, including print technology. How did the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints disseminate information about family history? What printed forms were required to be filled out to submit a name for temple ordinances? How did print connect ever increasing families with each other? Print and print history sheds light on the fascinating history of genealogical efforts within the church.

The Church History Library in Salt Lake City will hold an all-day workshop on the history of Latter-day Saint print and genealogy to be held Friday, April 3, 2026. Led by three BYU scholars—Amy Harris, Christopher Cannon Jones, and Joseph R. Stuart—participants will explore the trends, technology, and printing history of genealogy, family history, and LDS temple work. They will also explore historical implications of investigating such source material as cultural artifacts. This workshop will include hands-on analysis of print materials, including family group sheets, family association newsletters, lesson manuals, church produced magazines and books, and ephemera spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Participants will explore new ways of approaching and analyzing such sources.

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CFP: Mormon Studies at the American Academy of Religion

The Mormon Studies Unit welcomes papers and/or panels on a variety of themes and topics relating to the Mormon tradition, broadly defined. The proposals should analyze the material in terms of the academic study of religion. For the November 2026 conference, we propose a few themes:

• Reality TV and Mormons; Mormons and the media
• Patriotism as a performative aspect of a US Mormon identity
• Papers related to the 200th anniversary of Joseph Smith’s witchcraft trial
• Biographies of marginalized figures in Mormon history
• The current state of Mormon Studies

Open Call: Other papers or panels dealing with aspects of Mormonism not mentioned in the previous call will also be considered. Papers may be selected for their relevance to themes which emerge among other submissions.

Panel proposals are welcome.

APPLY HERE!