Figurative Mormons, or Something

As of last Sunday, I have posted every week for fifty-two weeks in a row. Posting every week didn?t start out as a thing, but it became one somewhere along the way and, proportionate to its actual importance in the world, I?m pretty dang pumped about completing a year. In particular, now that it?s done I can have Saturday evenings (and lately, Sunday afternoons) back: as of today I?m shifting to a once-per-month or once-per-two-month schedule.

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Graphical Images of Horned Mormons

I am writing (very slowly) an article on Mormon horns. The way things look to me now, it seems that ?Mormon horns? were mostly a verbal, rather than graphical, phenomenon. That is, the idea that Mormons have/had horns seems to have been transmitted mostly through oral and written accounts rather than by the distribution of images. Such images did exist, however, and the purpose of this post is to collate all the horned-Mormon graphics I have identified and solicit further examples. (Note: clicking on most of the images below will link to higher resolution graphics.)

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Plant and Fungus Metaphors

A few months ago I wrote about the Upas Tree as a metaphor for Mormonism in the nineteenth century. Today I would like to follow-up briefly with some examples of non-Upas plant or fungus metaphors.

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Southwestern States Mission: The Naming and Blessing of Children

Since we?re looking at childhood, children, and youth this month, I thought I?d look at the ordinance of ?naming and blessing? children as practiced in Texas in the very early 1900s.

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Graphical Representations of Hooded Mormon Vigilantes

Second only to polygamy, Mormons in the second half of the nineteenth century were known for violence. Paramilitary groups of ?Danites? or ?Avenging Angels? allegedly surveilled, threatened, and/or killed as directed by Church leaders. In three instances that I know of, non-Mormons portrayed members of these groups as using robes, hoods, and masks like those of the Ku Klux Klan. The purpose of this post is to put all three instances on the same page at the same time.

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Women in the Academy: Naomi Watkins

Naomi Watkins is an assistant professor in the Department of Education and Teacher Development at the University of La Verne, which is located in the Los Angeles area. She conducts research in adolescent literacy and children?s literature and teaches literacy pedagogy courses to teacher credential students. In June of 2013, she co-founded Aspiring Mormon Women, a non-profit organization and web site with the purpose to encourage, support, and celebrate the educational and professional aspirations of LDS women. 

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Mormon-themed Aphrodisiacs, Part 4 of 4: Masculinity and Orientalization

Note: this post discusses sexual activity in general and erectile dysfunction in particular, though mostly with nineteenth-century language.

Over the past few weeks I?ve looked briefly at the advertising and relative persistence of Mormon-themed aphrodisiacs. Today, in this concluding installment, I want to look at how such chemicals and advertisements fit within broader contexts. I did not succeed in turning it into an essay/blog-post, so it?s just a list. 

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On the Necessity of Interpretation: Three Examples

It is a truth universally (I think) acknowledged among academically-trained historians that all documents must be ?situated historically.? That is, we must interpret the words (and other aspects of an artifact) in light of the original audience, provenance, language of the time, potential knowledge of the creator, and so on. Of course, reasonable professionals may disagree about the type and degree of interpretation necessary for a given document, but I believe there is wide consensus on the idea that no document or artifact can speak entirely for itself. Students, however, do not always readily accept the necessity. In the interest of helping such students, I give three examples of artifacts that require historical interpretation.

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Mormon-themed Aphrodisiacs, Part 3 of 4: Advertising Strategies

Note: this post discusses sexual activity in general and erectile dysfunction in particular, though mostly with nineteenth-century language.

In this week?s post I want to look briefly at the marketing for Franklin Bosworth Crouch?s Mormon Elders? Damiana Wafer. To start, I think I should emphasize that to late 1800s non-Mormons, the ?Mormon Elder? in ?Mormon Elders? Damiana Wafer? almost certainly evoked a caricatured church leader—an old man with a long beard and many, younger wives—rather than the typically young-adult ?Elder? of today . [1] So… why name a drug for erectile dysfunction after religious leaders stereotyped as creepy old men? [2]

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Mormon-themed Aphrodisiacs, Part 2 of 4: Market Penetration

Note: this post discusses sexual activity in general and erectile dysfunction in particular, though mostly with nineteenth-century language.

Two weeks ago I discussed the ?Mormon Elder?s Damiana Wafer,? a late-nineteenth-century sexual cure-all for males and females. The wafer was not alone. ?Mormon Bishop Pills? and ?Brigham Young Tablets? also did their parts for the health and happiness of humanity—though I imagine they did more enriching of peddlers than anything strictly physiological. In this post I will argue that Mormon-themed aphrodisiacs were not one-off gags that popped up in a few times or places but were, in fact, a persistent instantiation of a stereotype of hyper-sexual Mormons. [1]

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