By May 20, 2012
In September 1857 a group of Mormons (and some Native Americans) attacked, disarmed, and then killed approximately 120 men, women, and children from an Arkansas-to-California wagon train. In the early 1900s this ?Mountain Meadows Massacre? was in living memory and Arkansas was part of the Southwestern States Mission. [1] How did Mormon missionaries in East Texas encounter and deal with it?
By May 13, 2012
I am not aware of any primary sources by women in the Southwestern States Mission near the turn of the century. The five traveling missionaries I have been studying did not write much about mothers. There are a handful of entries explicitly noting letters to or from ?Mother?; in 1900 President Duffin released two Elders on account of their mothers? failing health [1]; and Elder Clark transcribed a mission song wherein ?teardrops Stained a mother face? [2]; but that?s about it. [3] The Elders did, however, note work done by women they encountered and my not-yet-systematically-argued impression is that the Elders were struck by how hard the work was and touched when it was done for them.
By May 12, 2012
Mormon missionary history typically focuses on the histories of the white men who traveled from the gold fields of California to proselytize among the native Hawaiians or among Australians living in Perth and Melbourne. Although these histories can be engaging forays into Mormonism, my research recently has focused on the men and women who lived in Laie in an attempt to avoid American anti-polygamy legislation. Doing so has been a fascinating glimpse into the dynamics of the early Mormon community. I have learned, for example, that Susa Young Gates loved a bit of salacious gossip, even though she often repented of it afterward. The women of the mission responded bitterly towards her, writing in one case that that woman could ?talk? in spite of being told that no one on the mission cared to listen to that ?rubbish.?
What has been most fascinating, however, has been reading about their various pregnancies and labors.
By May 11, 2012
There are three exciting events happening in El Paso, Texas this summer, July 28, 2012. A little over a year ago I found myself thinking about the impending 100th anniversary of what has become known as the Mormon Exodus in 1912 which saw several thousand Euro-American Mormons from northern Mexico colonies leave their homes and take a train first to El Paso (where some remained) and then on to other areas of the country in response to their concern for their personal safety during the Mexican Revolution. Though some returned shortly after (and two of these colonies remain to the present), for the families of many such as George Romney (Mitt’s father), this migration represented the end of a decades-old sojourn in Mexico.
By May 9, 2012
Today, I am going to be attending the Community of Scholars program, sponsored by the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan. Each year, the institute accepts a dozen or so students from across the university into a seminar to discuss the ways in which sexuality, gender, and race intersect in their work. My friends and I sometimes refer to it as feminist boot camp. The competition for acceptance into the seminar can be intense, especially for those students whose work is in fields that typically privilege gender as a category of analysis. A few months ago, Brittany Chapman and I were bemoaning the absence of a similar space for people interested in gender to discuss their work in Mormon Studies. Although female historians like Claudia Bushman, Jill Mulvay Derr, and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher began the process of unearthing a woman?s Mormon history decades ago, relatively little has been published in the field. Knowledge about the everyday lives of Mormon women ? the rituals surrounding childbirth, the difficulty in securing food and shelter during their husbands? absences as missionaries, the development of bonds between sister wives and children, the inspection of homes through Retrenchment Societies, and the ways in which they maintained contact with their families in the East, Great Britain, Scandinavia, and the Pacific ? remains fragmentary at best.
By May 8, 2012
(The following is cross-posted, with permission, from the stupendous blog Feminism and Religion. If you haven’t been reading their fascinating and sophisticated material, repent and bookmark their site today.)
Readers of FAR have been treated to a number of posts over the past few months from members of the ?Gendering Mormonism? class I taught this semester at Claremont Graduate University. I was fairly apprehensive in offering the course. For one, I?m not a scholar of gender, gender studies, feminist theory, feminist theology, queer studies, queer theology, or anything related?I?m a historian of American religion, and most of my training to that effect was about the white guys in American religion (most of whom, you?ll be shocked to learn, weren?t exactly feminists). I have also spent some time in international peace studies, where I got a crash course in issues of gender justice. But I entered this course as a relative novice. This is one of the fun things about being a member of a graduate faculty?as a professor I don?t have to pretend to be the fount of all wisdom all the time, and I learn a lot from students who are often more expert in a particular field than I am.
By May 6, 2012
How did Mormon missionaries around 1900 understand and act against Satan and his incorporeal minions? The diaries point mostly to literal belief in sentient, personal beings that actively worked against the Elders by influencing understandings and feelings. [1] There are a few acknowledgments of the possibility of possession, but no instances of it. In three cases the Elders report the direct detection of evil spirits (rather than deducing influence from the unreceptiveness of the people) but there are no mentions of exorcism: these Elders resisted Satan by living gospel principles and persuading others to do the same.
By May 4, 2012
We’re pleased to present a guest post by Christopher Smith, who is a PhD candidate at Claremont Graduate University in Religions in North America. He has never been to the North Pole, and thus can neither confirm nor deny that there are no Israelites there.
According to an 1831 revelation, when Christ returns to the earth the continents will join together and the ?great deep . . . shall be driven back into the north countries.? Then, the ten lost tribes of Israel who reside in the ?north countries? will ?smite the rocks? like Moses, ?and the ice shall flow down at their presence,? and a ?highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep,? and they shall march to Zion in glory. [1] A milder version of the same idea was communicated in a vision in 1836, in which ?Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the Earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the North.? [2] These prophecies enlarged upon Jeremiah 31:8, which referred to a remnant of Israel being gathered from the north.
By May 4, 2012
I know that too often church history after Joseph Smith gets shortchanged. I think there are a few reasons for this. Mostly, it?s just that Joseph is such a powerful figure it?s hard to look at anything else. Another reason, at least in the church, is that we focus on church history through and by the D&C, and the D&C gets really sparse after Joseph?s death. But I found myself falling into the same trap as I organized my class. Unit 1 was about Smith, and then we did an entire unit on ?everything else.? My reasons for doing so are basically academic-and are based on Max Weber?s idea of institutionalizing charisma. Even the devout Latter-day Saint must admit that, compared with Joseph Smith, his successors to the prophetic office were not as dynamic as he.
By April 29, 2012
Mormon missionary efforts within the United States prompted resentment beyond simple sectarianism. Most turn-of-the-century Americans thought of ?missionaries? as working with non-White non-Protestants, usually overseas. [1] Since they sent missionaries to ?inferiors? they tended to perceive missionaries at their own door as a racial insult.
© 2026 – Juvenile Instructor
Recent Comments
Glen Larson on CFP: Book of Mormon: “Please add me to your mailing list. Thanks”
Mark Staker on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “Jenny was always generous in sharing her knowledge. She was not only an exceptional educator (who also taught her colleagues along the way), but she…”
Gary Bergera on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “Jenny's great. Thanks for posting this.”
Kathy Cardon on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “I worked in the Church's Historical department when Jenny was in the Museum. I always enjoyed our interactions. Reading this article has been a real…”
Don Tate on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “Very well done and richly deserved! I am most proud of Jenny and how far she has come with her life, her scholarship, and her…”
Ben P on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “My favorite former boss and respected current historian!”