Friend of JI Matt Grow passed this on to us. Dr. Grow is the President of the Communal Studies Association for 2020. Here is a LINK to the original.
Dear Communal Studies Association Members,
The CSA board met this past week to consider how best to hold a conference this fall. Given the uncertain situation with the COVID-19 pandemic—including the potential health challenges of traveling and meeting together, as well as budget cuts and travel restrictions at many institutions—we decided that it would be best to hold a “virtual” conference. Our conference will occur on the same dates, October 1-3, and have the same theme, “Foundations and Futures.” But rather than meet at the Historic Ephrata Cloister in Pennsylvania, we will meet on-line to hear the latest scholarship and perspectives in the field of communal studies.
Members of the Mormon History Association received an email in the past few days about the digital conference the organization will offer from June 6-12, 2020 (some presentations will be on the website for longer). There is no registration cost for MHA members; MHA membership is the only requirement for participation. You will receive a password to log in to mormonhistoryassociation.org to view the programming.
As conference co-chairs, Anne Berryhill and I have been blown away by how many people are anxious to help MHA put together programming for a digital conference. Teamwork, truly, makes the dream work. You can see the organization’s email HERE (LINK). The program is also available at the bottom of this post.
The only cost for the 2020 conference is membership in MHA. Digital membership is only $40, and student memberships are only $35, though if you’re like me, you’d prefer to have a physical copy of the journal ($70). You can join HERE. Here are two reasons you should join MHA for 2020 (and beyond!):
Investment in MHA is an investment in the academic study of Mormon history.
Frankly, these are tough economic times. I know that and live that, and the academic job markets I’m entering this fall bear witness to this reality. My $70 is fair and reasonable for access to the Journal of Mormon History and membership in MHA. It’s also my small way of saying, “I want MHA and Mormon history to survive and thrive.” If you’ve let your membership lapse, this would be a great time to re-join. Friends at first are friends again at last, etc.
Please renew your commitment to the academic study of Mormon history. Or, if you prefer, Latter-day Saint and Mormon history. I am an academic because of the skills I learned researching Mormonism and presenting at MHA. Every student, scholar, and consumer of Mormon history deserves the same opportunity that I and hundreds of others have had because of their participation in MHA.
MHA will make decisions on digital programming on future conferences based upon how 2020 goes.
If MHA 2020 goes well as a digital conference, it gives the organization the go-ahead to think about how we can have digital offerings at every conference. For those who face adverse health conditions, have economic constraints, or other reasons they cannot travel, this provides an option to participate online.
You may think to yourself, “I attend MHA every year, what does it matter to me if there are online offerings?”
I don’t think that digital programming will never replace face-to-face meetings. But, frankly, MHA members like me can examine our good fortune that institutions sponsor our travel or that we can find odd jobs to pay for travel, find friends to lodge with and scrimp to be able to pay for meals at conferences. Money, far too often, keeps people from participating at MHA. Digital programming allows more people to participate. More participation means more and better scholarship.
If we aren’t accessible to our membership and can’t allow folks who don’t have institutional affiliations or independent wealth to participate in MHA, then MHA will actively suffer for it. YOU can make a difference in making things better for all the many scholars and enthusiasts MHA hopes to reach by joining MHA. As an academic non-profit, digital options must make financial sense. If more folks join, the 2021 co-chairs can go to the Board and ask for the flexibility and funds to provide more content for MHA’s members.
So please. Join now. Support the academic study of Mormon history. Help MHA make history by pulling off a digital conference that is economically viable.
There were always a million things going on in the life of Mormonism’s founding prophet. But when Joseph Smith had time and secretaries, he set himself to work in matters from the mundane to the metaphysical. That’s certainly the case for the period from May-August 1842 (Joseph Smith Papers Documents, Volume 10, or D10), as he “introduced new religious rituals, directed missionary work, and struggled to organize resources for the hundreds of converts from the United States and England who continued to gather to Nauvoo, Illinois.”[i] Ranging from letters, newspaper selections, financial documents, revelations, and even Nauvoo city scrip (currency), D10’s editors have provided a marvelous set of 105 records for scholars to understand Smith’s chaotic life better.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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).
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
Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “The burden of proof is on the claim of there BEING Nephites. From a scholarly point of view, the burden of proof is on the…”
Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “But that's not what I was saying about the nature of evidence of an unknown civilization. I am talking about linguistics, not ruins. …”
Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “Large civilizations leave behind evidence of their existence. For instance, I just read that scholars estimate the kingdom of Judah to have been around 110,000…”
Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “I have always understood the key to issues with Nephite archeology to be language. Besides the fact that there is vastly more to Mesoamerican…”
Steven Borup on In Memoriam: James B.: “Bro Allen was the lead coordinator in 1980 for the BYU Washington, DC Seminar and added valuable insights into American history as we also toured…”
David G. on In Memoriam: James B.: “Jim was a legend who impacted so many through his scholarship and kind mentoring. He'll be missed.”
Recent Comments
Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “The burden of proof is on the claim of there BEING Nephites. From a scholarly point of view, the burden of proof is on the…”
Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “But that's not what I was saying about the nature of evidence of an unknown civilization. I am talking about linguistics, not ruins. …”
Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “Large civilizations leave behind evidence of their existence. For instance, I just read that scholars estimate the kingdom of Judah to have been around 110,000…”
Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “I have always understood the key to issues with Nephite archeology to be language. Besides the fact that there is vastly more to Mesoamerican…”
Steven Borup on In Memoriam: James B.: “Bro Allen was the lead coordinator in 1980 for the BYU Washington, DC Seminar and added valuable insights into American history as we also toured…”
David G. on In Memoriam: James B.: “Jim was a legend who impacted so many through his scholarship and kind mentoring. He'll be missed.”