MHA 2021 Awards

Congratulations to all of the winners!

Continue Reading

2022 MHA CONFERENCE CALL FOR PAPERS

Theme: Landscape, Art and Religion: The Intermountain West and the World

For its 57th Annual Conference in Logan, Utah, the Mormon History Association has joined forces with the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts to create a program that we hope will bring an art element into the sessions. We have selected a theme which we believe will evoke provocative historical papers and also suggest art topics, meaning all the arts: literature, visual art, music, film, theater, architecture, design, and so forth.

The theme, “Landscape, Art, and Religion: The Intermountain West and the World,” grows out of the assumption that the natural environment shapes culture and society. Social organization, the economy, and artistic expression are formed and directed by the landscapes in which they rest. During the first century of Mormon settlement, the intermountain landscape influenced many aspects of human life In the twentieth century, the Intermountain West remained the heartland of Latter-day Saint culture, but church members had to adapt to other landscapes, cultural and physical, as Mormonism expanded around the globe.

The program committee invites scholars young and old, local and global, to investigate all aspects of this theme. Because of the collaboration with the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts, we hope many will take the occasion to explore artistic dimensions of society and culture. How are the riches and the tensions of Mormonism’s natural settings manifest in literature, music, the visual arts, film, and all the other art disciplines?

Of course, as always, sessions on all aspects of Mormon history are welcomed. We hope to attract the best current scholarship. Though individual papers will be given full consideration, proposals for complete sessions, whose participants reflect MHA’s ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, are most likely to be accepted.

Please submit (1) a 300-word abstract for each paper or presentation and (2) a one-page CV for each presenter, including email and cell phone contact information Full session proposals should include the session title and a 150-word abstract outlining the session’s theme, along with a confirmed chair and commentator or moderator, as applicable. Individuals may only be included as presenters in one proposal per conference. Previously published papers are not eligible for presentation at MHA. Limited financial assistance for travel and lodging at the conference is available to student presenters and some international presenters. Proposals from international presenters or others who cannot attend the meeting in person will be considered for the online version of the conference.  All presenters—including poster session presenters and online presenters—must be MHA members and registered for the conference format (in-person or online) in which they present.

The deadline for proposals is November 15, 2021. Send proposals to the program co-chairs at logan2022@mormonhistoryassociation.org as a single PDF. Acknowledgment of receipt will be sent immediately. Notification of acceptance/rejection will be made by January 15, 2022.

Postdoctoral Fellowship: University of Virginia Mormon Studies

The Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia invites candidates to apply for a post-doctoral Research Associate position. The Research Associate conducts research and supports academic and public events related to the study of religion. Duties will include administrative tasks in support of research activities, the Forum on Democracy and Religion, the Virginia Center for the Study of Religion, and the Mormon Studies Program. The Research Associate will coordinate public events and academic meetings and provide communications and budgetary support. The position may also involve teaching academic courses and an opportunity to present research. This job is ideal for someone who thrives in a higher education environment, has an interest in the study of religion, especially but not limited to American religion and Mormonism. [ADDED LATER: POSITION BEGINS ON 8/24/2021]

Requirements:

Continue Reading

Register for MHA: Best registration rate ends in 6 days!

From friend-of-JI Anne Berryhill:

The registration deadline for “Restoration, Reunion, Resilience,” MHA’s 2021 annual conference is rapidly approaching. Registration closes at the end of the day on May 26, 2021. The face-to-face component will be held at the Utah Olympic Park complex in Park City June 10-12, 2021. Online content will become available at the same time. Conference registration (for MHA members) is $189 (with access to both in-person and online content). However, there are a variety of options to join MHA and to register for the conference. A full list of fees can be found here.

Joseph and I are thrilled by the line-up of presentations, plenaries, posters, roundtables, and book critiques. The preliminary program exhibits an ever expanding state of the field, including contributions from international scholars never before made possible at MHA. The depth and breadth our MHA 2021 preliminary program represents are truly exciting. 

Presenters at the conference must register by the deadline. This will also ensure timely posting of online sessions (since online sessions cannot be posted until all presenters pay membership and registration dues). For other attendees, on-site registration will be available for an additional $40 (not including any meals).   

Whether connecting with the program content in-person or virtually, Joseph and I look forward to the opportunity to once again connect with you. 

Recent Release: Joseph Smith Papers, Documents Volume 12

The final few years of Joseph Smith’s life reveal a man with many responsibilities: religious, familial, and civic. The editors of Joseph Smith Papers, Documents: Volume 12: March-July 1843 (D12) make that abundantly clear in their outstanding volume and give researchers the tools they need to understand better the historical contexts of antebellum America and Latter-day Saint Nauvoo. However, I also felt like I came to know Joseph Smith the person from the 96 documents organized and annotated in D12. In their introduction, they quote Joseph Smith as saying, “when a man is reigned up continually by excitement, he becomes strong & gains power & knowledge.” Smith was never content to operate in one role alone; he saw himself within communities and as a society-builder. Zion, to Smith, was the “pure in heart,” but it was also comprised of people.

Continue Reading

D. Michael Quinn, 1944-2021

Those of us at the Juvenile Instructor, like so many other in the Mormon academic community, are very sad to hear of the passing of D. Michael Quinn, and want to take a moment to honor his legacy as one of the most important historians of Mormonism. Our own Ben Park put together an excellent summation of Quinn life on this Twitter chain, but we’d also like to take a moment here to celebrate Quinn’s tremendous contribution to Mormon history.

For me, what stands out most about Quinn’s scholarship are controversy and indefatigable research. Controversy in Mormon history had been with the movement since the beginning with scholarship on Mormonism often dividing between believers and non-believers. Quinn was somewhat pioneering in tackling controversial topics as both a believer and an “insider” in his work at the church archives and at BYU. Scholars like Marvin Hill had been edgy, but Quinn fully embraced the most controversial topics and even held a kind of press conference to refute Boyd K. Packer’s 1981 “The Mantle is Far, Far Greater than the Intellect.”

Continue Reading

JOB: Church History Department’s Historic Sites Division

Thanks to Jenny Lund for passing this along!

Historic Sites Curator

PURPOSES

The Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is looking for a historic sites curator to serve as a digital operations specialist. As a standing member of the division’s visitor experience team, this individual will assist in extending the reach of historic sites significant in Church history for a global audience.

This is a full-time position.

RESPONSIBILITIES

In order of importance. Includes percentage of time spent on each.

Continue Reading

VIDEO RECORDING: Jennifer Reeder discusses her new book FIRST: THE LIFE AND FAITH OF EMMA SMITH

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel–where the video is posted!

MWHIT Research Grants for Students and Independent Scholars

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

It is time to jumpstart your research in Mormon women’s history with an MWHIT grant! Our organization is thrilled to offer two research grants annually to help one student and one independent scholar forward his or her study of Mormon women’s history. For example, these funds could be devoted to childcare to allow blocks of time for writing, travel for a research trip, acquiring digitized copies of records, editing assistance, and so forth. The work of women scholars and those interested in women’s history 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 Saturday, May 1, 2021. 

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

In an effort to connect researchers to one another, feel free to respond to this email with your research interests and needs. We will see if we can provide you with contacts of persons who share your interests! Thank you to all who have supported our bazaars and other fundraising efforts to make these grants possible.

Book of Mormon Studies Association Call for Papers (October 7-9, 2021)

Call for Papers

The Fifth Annual Meeting of

The Book of Mormon Studies Association

October 7–9, 2021

Utah State University

The Book of Mormon Studies Association (BoMSA) is pleased to announce its fifth annual meeting, to be held in person on October 7–9, 2021, 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 plenary guests will be Terryl Givens (Maxwell Institute) and Laurie Maffly-Kipp (Washington University). We plan to begin this year’s conference on Thursday evening by participating in the Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History Lecture offered by Dr. Maffly-Kipp, who will then be involved in a special plenary session the next day at the BoMSA meeting. We anticipate that this adjustment to our traditional schedule will give attendees the opportunity to participate in the Arrington lecture while also creating space for more sociality over the course of the BoMSA conference weekend.

Continue Reading