By November 10, 2014
The Second Annual Summer Seminar on Mormon Theology
?Christ and Antichrist: Reading Jacob 7?
Union Theological Seminary, New York, New York
June 8?June 20, 2015
Sponsored by the Mormon Theology Seminar
in partnership with
The Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies and
The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
By November 9, 2014
Some historians have told me how they fear that their sources will ?talk back.? As an oral historian, I rely on my sources to ?talk back.? On one level, oral history is a conversation between an inquirer and a source. In my perspective as a Navajo scholar, the relationship between a teaching elder and learning listener interweaves storytelling and oral history. Storytelling represents a form of dialogue, which depends on the rapport between speaker and audience. Among the Dine, our elders serve as storytellers, and simultaneously, public intellectuals, historians, and teachers. Dine scholar Jennifer Nez Denetdale asserts, ?As manifestations of cultural sovereignty, oral histories have proven crucial in projects to decolonize the Navajo Nation and our communities, for the teachings of our ancestors are reaffirmed in the retelling of stories? [1]. When our elders speak, we are obligated to listen and learn.
By October 29, 2014
Today’s post comes from Samuel Brown and Kate Holbrook, good friends of JI and exceptional scholars. This excerpt, from a forthcoming book edited by Phil Barlow and Terryl Givens, offers some provocative thoughts on the legacy of polygamy in Mormon theology. Also, be sure to check out Samuel’s essay in Dialogue, linked below. After reading the essay, I’m sure you’ll want to purchase the book to read the rest of the essay.
By October 28, 2014
Here is the first, in a series, of answers to historical questions about polygamy, as a result of the LDS Church’s new Gospel Topics essays on plural marriage.
Let us know if you have more questions here.
Without further ado, here are the first three questions.
By October 26, 2014
Most notably, the LDS Church released three essays on the practice of polygamy during the Nauvoo, Utah, and post-Manifesto eras. if you have questions about polygamy that were not answered in any of the essays, SUBMIT THEM HERE.
Despite the click-baity title, The New Republic had a great article on Mormon genealogy, particularly as it relates to LDS theology. Here’s a snippet:
By October 25, 2014
On Wednesday, we here at JI declared we were happy to (try to) answer any questions about polygamy people may have, in response to the Church publishing two more essays on the topic. In preparation for that post (or several posts) next week, I’ve hunted through the archives to find older posts on the subject. (Warning, there are a lot.) I’ve tried to group them thematically here below.
LDS responses to anti-polygamy legislation
Responses: Patrick Mason on David Pulsipher on Mormon Civil Disobedience
Joseph H. Dean and Joseph F. Smith on Mexico/Polygamy
The Manifesto and post-Manifesto polygamy
A Review of Lu Ann Faylor Snyder and Phillip A. Snyder, eds., Post Manifesto Polygamy: The 1899-1904 Correspondence of Helen, Owen, and Avery Woodruff (and another review here)
Wasted Seed and Spent Men: Corinne Allen Tuckerman and the Politics of Polygamy after 1890
Reading Like a Conspiracy Theorist, Part 1: A Post-Manifesto Polygamist?s Diary, Part 2: The Case for Polygamy, Part 3: Quinn and Hardy
From the Archives: Joseph Smith III Congratulates Wilford Woodruff on the Manifesto
Remembering polygamy
From Embrace to Embarrassment: Remembering Joseph Smith?s Polygamy
Peculiar Questions Briefly Answered: Charles W. Penrose on Polygamy, Etc.
?Plurality of Wives was an Incident, Never an Essential?: James E. Talmage on Polygamy
Mormon Folklore, Part Two (Polygamy)
Celestial Polygamy is Inevitable
Grub Street History: Peggy Fletcher Stack and The Polygamies of Joseph Smith and Warren Jeffs
Women and the Manifesto: Painting with Broad Strokes
Specific Polygamous Relationships
Helen Mar Kimball blessing and the dating of her marriage to Joseph Smith
Hannah Tapfield King?s Introduction to Polygamy and Hannah Tapfield King, Gendered History, and Class
Movie Review: Emma Smith: A Really Great Catch and Emma Smith Movie, Again
Polygamy and gender
?The cheerless, crushed and unwomanly mothers of polygamy?
Passionate Stability: Polygamy, Dating, and the Creation of Modern Mormon Gender
Polygamy and race
Black Methodists, White Mormons: Race and Antipolygamy
?Prelude to American Imperialism?: Mormon Polygamy, Natural Law, and Whiteness
Miscellaneous
When Did Mormons Become Straight: The Intersections of Mormon History and Queer Theory
Spatial Dynamics and Polygamous Burial Practices
Notes from the Utah State Historical Society?s 56th Annual Conference, Part 2: Polygamy
By October 24, 2014
In the mid- and late-nineteenth century, critics of Mormonism sometimes compared Mormon leaders to the eighth-century Persian religious leader Hashim ibn Hakim, better known as Mokanna, Al-Muqanna (Arabic: ?The Veiled?), ?The Veiled Prophet,? or ?The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan.? In some instances commentators made more involved comparisons between the methods, character, and attributes of al-Muqanna?s followers and non-leader Mormons.
By October 22, 2014
We at JI were very happy to see the LDS Church’s release of three essays on plural marriage yesterday. The histories of Nauvoo Era, Utah Era, and Post-Manifesto polygamy have not been told by institutional sources in such a clear, open way. Facebook conversations and Twitter dialogues popped up quickly; many are still ongoing. The Bloggernacle has begun to respond already.
With that said, we at JI couldn’t help but notice that many individuals still had burning questions on plural marriage. Although many of the questions people had were actually answered by the essays, there are still more nuanced questions that were not answered by the essays. There are also questions of a more personal nature that, for obvious reasons, could not be answered by an essay aimed at a western, if not global, audience. Often, the questions asked on social media were not answered by folks with an academic knowledge of plural marriage. While many people know a lot about polygamy and polyandry, many of the responses to people’s questions were not based in history.
Juvenile Instructor wants to try and answer people’s questions about plural marriage with reference to sources, where available. As an academic Mormon History blog, we have a duty to not only analyze the essays themselves, but to engage with those interested in Mormon History and do our best to answer questions about plural marriage. All questions, from academics or non-academics, are welcome.
There are a few ground rules to participating:
PLEASE SHARE.
Please submit your questions here. You can also ask questions in the comments. We will answer the questions in future posts.
By October 14, 2014
Earlier this year, Tona wrote an excellent post about the fragility of digital archives following up on Max Mueller?s AHA paper that explored both the possibilities and pitfalls of the “I?m A Mormon” campaign as a primary source. Tona noted that, ?What is available to historians relies largely upon on goodwill, technology upgrades, and the market.?
Within this context, it is fascinating to observe, in real-time, the debate over whether or not the General Women?s Meeting is a session of General Conference. This controversy includes the editing of a video of a conference session as well as conflicting (and possibly changing) interpretations about the status of the Women?s Meeting from LDS Public Affairs, the Deseret News website as well as lds.org. While the debate about the status of the Women?s Meeting has been largely framed as a feminist issue, it also raises questions for researchers in tracing changes to historical documents and other sources as well as how ideas get lodged in the imaginations of religious believers. As Tona states,
By October 14, 2014
This came through my inbox last week, and I thought I would post it here in case anyone was interested.
The American Studies Consortium welcomes
Joanna Brooks
Professor of English and Comparative Literature, San Diego State University
author of The Book of Mormon Girl
“When Storytelling is Movement Building:
Putting American Studies to Work in the World of Mormonism.”
© 2025 – Juvenile Instructor
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