By June 17, 2012
How were potential missionaries identified, vetted, and called on missions? It appears that the local quorums of Seventy recommended and interviewed potential male missionaries. [1] Other than that, however, I mostly don?t know: the diaries tend to start when the missionary leaves home, with nary a word about the call or preparations.
By June 10, 2012
The missionaries and the people living within the boundaries of the Southwestern States Mission often found themselves at odds. In this post I will look briefly at how the missionaries wrote about interactions that were negative in some way. [1]
By June 3, 2012
A few weeks ago, on the topic of evil spirits encountered by missionaries in the Southwestern States Mission, I wrote: ?There are a few acknowledgments of the possibility of possession, but no instances of it.? Now, after a trip to the Church History Library, the possession record is slightly more complicated. [1]
By May 27, 2012
How were mission presidents called and trained? I only have two examples, told from only one perspective, so I?ll simply give an ?and then? and then? and then?? narrative. Also: I think the correspondence loses more than usual in gloss, so I?ll reproduce many of the diary entries.
By May 20, 2012
In September 1857 a group of Mormons (and some Native Americans) attacked, disarmed, and then killed approximately 120 men, women, and children from an Arkansas-to-California wagon train. In the early 1900s this ?Mountain Meadows Massacre? was in living memory and Arkansas was part of the Southwestern States Mission. [1] How did Mormon missionaries in East Texas encounter and deal with it?
By May 13, 2012
I am not aware of any primary sources by women in the Southwestern States Mission near the turn of the century. The five traveling missionaries I have been studying did not write much about mothers. There are a handful of entries explicitly noting letters to or from ?Mother?; in 1900 President Duffin released two Elders on account of their mothers? failing health [1]; and Elder Clark transcribed a mission song wherein ?teardrops Stained a mother face? [2]; but that?s about it. [3] The Elders did, however, note work done by women they encountered and my not-yet-systematically-argued impression is that the Elders were struck by how hard the work was and touched when it was done for them.
By May 6, 2012
How did Mormon missionaries around 1900 understand and act against Satan and his incorporeal minions? The diaries point mostly to literal belief in sentient, personal beings that actively worked against the Elders by influencing understandings and feelings. [1] There are a few acknowledgments of the possibility of possession, but no instances of it. In three cases the Elders report the direct detection of evil spirits (rather than deducing influence from the unreceptiveness of the people) but there are no mentions of exorcism: these Elders resisted Satan by living gospel principles and persuading others to do the same.
By April 29, 2012
Mormon missionary efforts within the United States prompted resentment beyond simple sectarianism. Most turn-of-the-century Americans thought of ?missionaries? as working with non-White non-Protestants, usually overseas. [1] Since they sent missionaries to ?inferiors? they tended to perceive missionaries at their own door as a racial insult.
By April 22, 2012
In the early 1900s mission presidents addressed the general conference of the Church.
By April 15, 2012
For 1900 Jul 16, Elder Jones reports that ?After dinner I went out to the branch where I washed my garments and had a bath.? [1] How often and in what circumstances did the missionaries wash clothes?
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