Perspectives of Parley Pratt’s Autobiography: Joseph Spencer on Pratt’s Poetry

[Yet another post in the Perspectives on Parley Pratt’s Autobiography series. Joe recently received a MLS degree from San Jose State University, but has decided to turn from the practical back to the abstract and will be applying to PhD programs in philosophy this fall. He is active in the Society of Mormon Philosophy and Theology, Mormon Scholars in the Humanities, and the Mormon Theology Seminar, and is well-known in the bloggernacle for his Priesthood/RS lesson posts over at Feast Upon the Word blog. Joe is married with a  handful of kids, and his only flaw is his belief that continental philosophy can solve all the world’s problems.]

Parley P. Pratt is still well known for his poetry, didactic and pedestrian as it often enough is.

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The Perspectives on Parley Pratt’s Autobiography: BiV on “Conjugal Relations of Parley P. Pratt as Portrayed in his Autobiography”

[This is another installment of the Perspectives on Parley Pratt’s Autobiography series. BiV is a legend around the ‘nacle, blogging at Hieing to Kolob and Mormon Matters, and a common contributor to JI.]

Searching the Parley P. Pratt autobiography for clues about his love and marital experiences is a fascinating enterprise, both because of what he includes, and what he purposely leaves out.

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Perspectives on Parley Pratt’s Autobiography: Adriane Rodrigues on Pratt’s use of Literary Voice

[This is the fourth post in the Perspectives on Parley Pratt’s Autobiography series. Adriane Rodrigues Coelho was baptized nearly 23 years ago. She is married to Ricardo Choairy Coelho and they have four children. She received her B.A. degree in English Language and Literature from Faculdade de Letras, of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil, in 2000. After working for 15 years as a teacher of English as a Foreign Language for primary students in her country, she dedicated herself to her graduate program. In 2006 she received her M.A. degree from the same University. Her thesis Ordinary Accounts of Extraordinary Value: Mormon Pioneer Women?s Life Writings was a pioneering effort on Mormon Studies in Brazil. During the Summer Seminar on the Pratts, she wrote “Parley Pratt’s Ready Pen and Satire.” Her future projects include further research in the field.]

Parley Pratt?s high command of the English Language as well of the use of some of his notable literary skills are even expanded in chapters 33 and 34 when he describes his runaway from prison in Missouri.

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Perspectives on Parley Pratt’s Autobiography: Matt Grow on “Writing the Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt”

[This is third post in the Perspectives of Parley Pratt’s Autobiography series. Matt Grow has a PhD in History from Notre Dame University, where he studied under George Marsden. His first book, a biography on Thomas L. Kane, was published with Yale University Press. He is currently co-authoring a biography of Pratt, tentatively titled Parley Parker Pratt: The Saint Paul of Mormonism, to be published with with Oxford University Press. Matt is an assistant professor of history and director of the Center for Communal Studies at the University of Southern Indiana.]

In late 1853, Orson Pratt, then in Washington, D.C., excitedly wrote to his brother Parley about an effort to publish genealogical information on the descendants of their ancestor William Pratt, a Puritan who migrated from England to Connecticut in the 1630s.

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Perspectives on Parley Pratt’s Autobiography: Writing as Restoration and Redemption

Perspectives on Parley Pratt’s Autobiography: Introduction

Warning: If you have grown sick with the number of Parley Pratt posts coming from me lately, it’s about to get worse; much, much worse.

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Mormonism in Howe’s What Hath God Wrought, Part 2 (Concluded)

In my previous post on Howe’s What Hath God Wrought, I discussed Howe’s treatment of Mormon history from the 1820s through 1838. This post will complete my analysis of Howe by examining his discussion of Nauvoo, the exodus, and early Utah history. Let me just reiterate the point of my earlier post-Howe, unlike other historians who treat Mormonism in synthesis histories, has taken the time to get the details right and to engage contemporary Mormon scholarship. Just as he situated early Mormonism in Chapter 8 (“Pursuing the Millennium”) with other millenarian groups in the Early Republic, Howe in Chapter 18 (“Westward the Star of Empire”) includes Nauvoo and Utah within the wider contexts of Manifest Destiny, California, Oregon, and the Mexican-American War.

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Wilford Woodruff and Writing the Histories of the Twelve

This is continued from my other “Woodruff as Historian” posts.

According to Howard C. Searle, whose dissertation on Early Mormon Historiography is by far the best work on the subject, Wilford Woodruff?s work on the short biographies of the Quorum of the Twelve is one of his two most important contributions to 19th century Church history.[1]

While the writing of Joseph Smith?s history was coming to a close in 1856, attention was understandably turning to the next historical project. Logically, they decided to start working on the history of Brigham Young, though this involved going back in history and covering his birth through August 8, 1844, when the Twelve took leadership of the Church. Beyond a history of just Brigham, Wilford wanted a detailed history of the entire Young family. To Phineas Young, Brigham?s brother, Woodruff wrote,

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“We Feel that it is due Joseph Smith…that We Embody Every Act and Word in the History of the Last Days”: A Glimpse into the Difficulties of Wilford Woodruff, Assistant Church Historian

Continued from a former post.

Wilford Woodruff was having a tough time in his new assignment as Assistant Church Historian. After his appointement at the 1856 April General Conference, he was anxious to get started and optimistic about his possibilities. The first couple months, however, ended up being more difficult than he had expected. First, he came down with a crippling disease that kept him away from the office for several weeks–in fact, he wrote that he couldn’t even leave his bed for quite some time. Finally, towards the end of May, he was able to put in his first full day’s work with his new duties, writing to George A. Smith (current Church Historian and on a mission in the East Coast), “I am now calculating to devote my time [to the history].”[1]

Prior to Woodruff’s call, George A. Smith, Thomas Bullock, and the others working in the Historian’s Office had worked on “compiling the History of Joseph Smith from April 1st 1840 to his death on June 27, 1844.”[2] In May 1856, the only thing left to be completed was the Prophet’s last day’s in Carthage. However, this turned out to be a lot more difficult than Woodruff had expected because of incomplete records. On June 24th, he noted in his journal that, “We find a great

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“Oh! Woman, thought I, where is thy shame”: William I. Appleby, Intermarriage, and the Ban

Although I have drafted this post, I acknowledge that the idea for it and one of the sources comes from frequent commenter and guestblogger Steve Fleming.

As Connell O’Donovan has shown in his brilliant research on Walker Lewis and the origins of the Priesthood ban, Brigham Young initially did not see black skin as an impediment to a man holding the priesthood (unless otherwise noted, all quotations come from O’Donovan’s article). In fact, as late as March 1847, Young is quoted as saying that

Its [that is, priesthood restrictions] nothing to do with the blood for [from] one blood has God made all flesh, we

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