Kurt Manwaring has published an interview with Joseph Geisner, over on his site, From the Desk. Geisner has published in Sunstone, the John Whitmer Historical Journal, the Journal of Mormon History, and Irreantum. Joe is an avid book collector of the New Mormon History, and rare and collectible Mormon books. An excerpt from Manwaring’s site on Geisner’s new edited collection, Writing Mormon History: Historians and their Books is available here; click over to From the Desk to read the rest!

What are a couple of your favorite stories from the book?

Joseph Geisner: Every chapter is a new adventure, so saying just two is not an easy question.

Many people have told me that Vickie Cleverly Speeks’s chapter resonates with them. I would have to say she does this with me. Her description of the lunch in Nauvoo with her new found friends at JWHA. These are some of my favorite times, breaking bread and talking history. I believe this is called nirvana.

The other is Mike Quinn finding all the manuscripts in the basement of the Church Administration Building. Arrington told Mike this was one of three events that were the most important in Mormon History in the Twentieth Century. The funny part, I can’t find any entries in Arrington’s diary about this event. Also, many people who worked under Joseph Fielding Smith knew about these manuscripts, but Mike and then Arrington got the ball rolling for them to become accessible and then used.