Printing for the Youth of Zion: One Approach to the History of Latter-day Saint Print Culture
In 1831, Joseph Smith dictated a revelation on the “printing…selecting and writing books for schools in this church, that little children also may receive instruction.” (D&C 55:4) This instruction to W.W. Phelps and Oliver Cowdery established that the creation of printed material for children and youth was to be a priority for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While the effort of creating printed material for children lay largely dormant for a few decades, by the late nineteenth century, a robust print culture had developed around this goal, and it continued to gain momentum into the twentieth century.
The Church History Library in Salt Lake City will hold an all-day workshop on the history of Latter-day Saint printing for youth on Friday, May 17, 2024. Led by four scholars—Rebecca de Schweinitz, Amber Taylor, Lisa Olsen Tait, and Robin Scott Jensen—participants will explore the trends, technology, and implications of youth print culture through hands-on analysis of materials including books, magazines, newspapers, lesson manuals, and ephemera spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Participants will explore new ways of approaching and analyzing these sources.
Participation is limited to approximately fifteen individuals to ensure a quality workshop experience. Those interested in print history, including students (both upper-undergraduate and graduate), collectors, scholars, and other individuals wishing to expand their knowledge of the past are invited to apply. All applicants must submit a CV and a single-page letter of intent. Letters should include how this workshop might help their scholarship or further a project (academic or not) they are working on or planning to pursue. Though the workshop cannot cater to each stated project, some sessions might be shaped based upon letters of intent. Submissions are due January 15, 2024, emailed to either of the co-organizers (email addresses below).
Any questions can be directed to the co-organizers.
Robin Scott Jensen (jensenrob@churchofjesuschrist.org)
Lisa Olsen Tait (lisa.tait@ChurchofJesusChrist.org)
Church History Library
______
The Church History Library is the repository for millions of printed items relating to the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Book History Program of the library seeks to raise awareness of the history of print culture of the Church and educate patrons of the Church History Library about the rich resources available. Do you have a topic you hope to see addressed? Let us know!
Visions and
Visionaries: Joseph Smith in Comparative Contexts
The
Department of Church History and Doctrine at BYU and the Church History
Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announce the
Church History Symposium, March 12–13, 2020. The symposium will convene at
Brigham Young University (March 12) and at the Conference Center Theater in
Salt Lake City (March 13). Keynote speakers include Sheri Dew and Richard Lyman
Bushman (March 12), and President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First
Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (March 13).
From our friends at the Joseph Smith Papers Project:
Call for Papers
“Joseph Smith’s Expanding Visions and the Practical Realities of Establishing Nauvoo.”
(September 1839-April 1842)
On 11 October 2019, the Joseph Smith Papers Project will host its third annual conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. As with past years, the 2019 conference will be held to celebrate the release of recent volumes–Documents 7, Documents 8, and Documents 9. These volumes reproduce high-quality transcriptions of Joseph Smith’s papers from September 1839 through April 1842. As noted in the call for papers:
The JSP just published the following Call for Papers:
To celebrate the release of volumes seven, eight, and nine of the Documents Series, the Joseph Smith Papers Project will host the third annual Joseph Smith Papers Conference on October 11, 2019.
Due to the overwhelming public interest in past conferences, this year’s event will take place at the Conference Center Theater in Salt Lake City, Utah, to accommodate all who want to attend.
The conference will focus on the history of Joseph Smith and the Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois, from September 1839 to April 1842.
We invite proposals for papers that engage with the theme “Joseph Smith’s Expanding Visions and the Practical Realities of Establishing Nauvoo.”
The Mormon History Association’s annual conference will be in SaltLake City, June 7-10, 2018. The topic for next year’s conference is “Isolation and Integration” and the deadline for proposals is this week—Thursday the 15th. Find the Call for Papers here.
The Fifth Annual Summer Seminar on Mormon Theology
?Are We Not All Beggars? Reading Mosiah 4?
Cittadella Ospitalità, Assisi, Italy
June 17?June 30, 2018
Sponsored by the Mormon Theology Seminar
in partnership with
The Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies,
The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship,
and the Wheatley Institution
We are pleased to feature this Q&A with Steve Evans, co-founder and a co-editor at the BCC Press. Steve was gracious enough to answer a few questions for scholars for JI. You can submit a manuscript or direct further questions to the press here.You can read more about the BCC Press here and here.
How would peer review work for authors at the BCC Press? Historians and academics are naturally concerned about issues of tenure, CV-building, etc.
We are thrilled to share this announcement from Quincy Newell, a friend of JI and member of the Board of the Mormon History Association
Dear Members of the MHA:
Our organization is affiliated with the American Historical Association (AHA) and, as such, has the opportunity to co-sponsor sessions at the AHA’s annual meeting. The next AHA annual meeting will take place January 4-7, 2018, in Washington, D.C. More information is here. Proposals for this meeting are due on February 15. If you are submitting a proposal to the AHA and would like the MHA to co-sponsor the session, please e-mail the following materials to Quincy D. Newell (qnewell@hamilton.edu) no later than February 8:
1. Session title
2. Participants’ names and institutional affliiations (if any)
3. Session abstract
4. Presentation abstracts.
For workshop, practicum, and experimental session proposals, please contact Quincy to determine the most appropriate materials to submit for MHA consideration.
Please note that co-sponsorship by the MHA in no way guarantees acceptance by the AHA program committee. Nevertheless, we hope that you will seize this opportunity to represent our organization to our colleagues at the AHA!
Quincy D. Newell
Associate Professor of Religious Studies
Hamilton College
That’s the deadline for proposals for next year’s Mormon History Association annual conference in St. Louis, Missouri. It’s three weeks away. It is, as they say, looming.
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.”