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Church History Consultant Assistant (Contract Employee)  

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Call for Manuscripts to Restoration Studies Journal

From friend-of-JI Katherine Pollock. Thanks, Katherine!

About: Restoration Studies is an annual publication combined with the Fall/Winter John Whitmer Historical Association (JWHA) Journal. Restoration Studies focuses on theology, religious, and cultural studies in Latter Day Saint Movements.

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MWHIT Research Grant: Due May 1, 2020

From our friends at the Mormon Women’s History Initiative Team

We sincerely hope that you and your loved ones are safe and healthy, and that you have found things that bring you joy in these uncertain times. Creating a meaningful goal can be one of the best ways to invigorate life and look ahead with hope. And we have a boost to help you get there.

MWHIT is thrilled to offer two research grants annually to forward work in Mormon women’s history, one for a student and one for an independent scholar. In reviewing academic articles and books about Mormon history from 2019, we noted a serious lack of contribution from women authors. This year we would like to focus these funds to help women scholars submit their work for publication. Whether these funds are devoted to childcare to allow blocks of time to finish writing, travel for a final research trip, editing assistance to help dissolve anxiety–use these funds for whatever that last hurdle is that has been stopping you from sending your work to academic journals and presses for publication. The work of women scholars desperately needs to be shared, and that means YOU or someone you know! Forward this email to a friend who may also be interested. The deadline to apply for an MWHIT research grant is Friday, May 1, 2020. 

Click here for details on the Student Grant and here for details on the Independent Scholar grant.

Thank you to all who have supported our bazaars and other fundraising efforts to bring this goal to fruition!

A Comprehensive Exam List in Mormon History

In 2011 and 2014, our own Ben P. set out a theoretical Mormon history “canon” or “comprehensive exams list.” Here’s what he wrote in 2014: “It is designed as a template for a grad student’s theoretical comprehensive exam list (though I should again emphasize that I’d think it’d be a stupid idea for a grad student to dedicate a portion of a comprehensive exam merely to Mormonism). Thus, books need to cover a broad swath of topics, chronologies, and approaches in order to be inclusive, but they should also match a particular level of quality.”

With all of this indoor time and time to finish long-thought-of-but-not-written blog posts, I decided to try my hand at it. While Ben stuck to naming 25 books to orient one to the field, I went to 42 and wrote a list for those studying American history. I plan to write one for religious studies, but we will see what time I have to do that in future months.  

IMPORTANT: This reflects my own interests and biases. It is not definitive. If I didn’t include your book or your cousin’s best friend’s bowling coach’s book that doesn’t mean that I don’t like it. These are introductory books that set the table for future study in American history. Other titles may appear on other lists.

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Call for Contributions to the Wilson Archive at BYU Special Collections

The William A. Wilson Folklore Archive at Brigham Young University’s L. Tom Perry Special Collections is collecting the stories of Latter-day Saint missionaries who have served during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you or someone you know may be interested in sharing their story, please contact the curator, Christine Blythe at Christine_blythe [at] byu [dot] edu. The interviews will become a part of a broader collection of Latter-day Saint experiences with COVID-19. Please help us document this unique era in world and Latter-day Saint history.

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Review: Sarah M.S. Pearsall, Polygamy: An Early American History

Sarah M.S. Pearsall’s argument in Polygamy: An Early American History is succinct: Polygamy “is a form of marriage and therefore, like monogamy, a matter of public concern structuring societies, cultures, and lineages” (7). She repeatedly, and helpfully, drives this home as she documents and analyzes arguments for and against plural marriage/polygyny/polygamy over three centuries, from early Spanish colonization in New Spain, New France, King Phillip’s War, and among the enslaved in eighteenth-century British colonies before moving on toward the Latter-day Saint practice of plural marriage in antebellum America. She proves, beyond all reasonable doubt, that, “Contrary to popular opinion, American polygamy did not start with the Mormons” (1).

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CFP: Book of Mormon Studies Association

The Fourth Annual Meeting of

The Book of Mormon Studies Association

October 9–10, 2020

Utah State University

Please see this statement on coronavirus on the BoMSA website!

The Book of Mormon Studies Association (BoMSA) is pleased to announce its fourth annual meeting, to be held October 9–10, 2020, at Utah State University. The event is sponsored by USU’s Department of Religious Studies and with thanks to Patrick Mason, the Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture.

This annual event gathers a variety of scholars invested in serious academic study of the Book of Mormon. It has no particular theme but instead invites papers on any subject related to the Book of Mormon from any viable academic angle. This year’s two keynote speakers will be John Durham Peters (Yale University) and Nancy Bentley (University of Pennsylvania). We will also hold a special plenary session on the Maxwell Institute’s Brief Theological Introductions to the Book of Mormon series in conjunction with its full release in 2020.

We therefore invite the submission of papers and proposals for inclusion in the 2020 conference program. Note that newcomers to the organization are required to submit a full paper for consideration, while those who have presented at any of the previous conferences are free to submit a proposal or a paper. Papers submitted should be no longer than 4000 words, while proposals should be between 500 and 750 words.

The submission deadline is June 1, 2020. All submissions should be sent to bookofmormonsa@gmail.com. Be sure to include “Conference Submission” in the subject line of the submission email.

We particularly encourage the participation of graduate students. To that end, BoMSA will continue to host a special lunch for graduate students in attendance, free of charge, in the hopes of creating networking opportunities.

Hotel space for the conference has already been secured at a reduced rate at the USU Campus Inn. Once acceptance letters have been sent out in June, rooms can be booked online through the “Conference” page at www.bomsa.org.

KEYNOTES: John Durham Peters (Yale University) + Nancy Bentley (University of Pennsylvania)

DATE: October 9–10, 2020

LOCATION: Utah State University, Inn and Conference Center

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: June 1, 2020

SUBMISSION EMAIL: bookofmormonsa@gmail.com

Mormon History Audiobooks from Audible

Looking for a new book to listen to as you practice social distancing? Try these out!

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A Few Favorite Mormon History Podcast Episodes

As millions of us throughout the world move into voluntary isolation to avoid spreading COVID-19 I thought it would be nice to recommend a few podcast episodes to download to pass the time. Please add your own in the comments!

Seriously, though. Wash your hands. Flatten the curve.

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Q&A with Benjamin Park

An excerpt from an interview with our own Benjamin Park, Assistant Professor of History at Sam Houston State University, whose book on politics and polygamy in Joseph Smith’s Nauvoo is soon to be published with Liveright/Norton. Park received his PhD in History from Cambridge University in 2014. He is also co-editor of the Mormon Studies Review. For the full interview, head over to Kurt Manwaring’s site, From the Desk.

What surprised you during your research for Kingdom of Nauvoo?

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