By January 27, 2013
Male missionary in the Southwestern States Mission in the early 1900s proselyted ?without purse or scrip? (WOPOS). [1] If they could not persuade someone to board them for the night, they ?slept with Uncle Sam? [2]; if they could not persuade someone to give them food, they went hungry. WOPOS was taught as both doctrine and policy.
By January 26, 2013
From our good friends at BYU and the Church History Department. You can follow up-to-date changes at the conference’s website.
______________________________
Approaching Antiquity:
Joseph Smith?s Study of the Ancient World
CHURCH HISTORY SYMPOSIUM
March 7-8, 2013
Jointly Sponsored by
The Department of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University
The Church History Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
By January 22, 2013
January means a lot of things. For me, it means biting cold and a desire to never leave the house.
But it also means new stuff from the Mormon History Association, which is a bit better news than the weather. First, the new issue of Journal of Mormon History was released. (Amazingly, with no letters to the editor!) You can find the full table of contents here. Articles include an examination of John D. Lee’s trial, a fascinating look at Mormon redress petitions in Nauvoo by new JSP editor Brent Rogers, and an article by myself and fellow JIer Rob Jenson on what a particular debate in 1846 between a Strangite and Brighamite tells us about the succession crisis. There are also, as always, a good mix of book reviews to keep you up to date on developments in the field. If you don’t already, make sure to subscribe to the journal, especially now that you can have immediate electronic access to new issues.
MHA also uploaded their January newsletter (pdf here). Here are a few of the highlights:
By January 20, 2013
Some missionaries in the Southwestern States Mission noted the passing of birthdays and the anniversary of their leaving home. [1] If there is any pattern in this small sample, it is that missionaries in their forties were somewhat more likely than their younger colleagues to note birthdays.
By January 13, 2013
Male, travelling missionaries in the Southwestern States Mission trimmed or removed facial hair as part of weekly grooming and hygiene routines. Moustaches were relatively common but Van Dykes and full beards much less so. In the diaries I detect no ?freighting? of facial hair with cultural or religious significance beyond middle-class respectability.
By January 10, 2013
Queen Liliuokalani as a young woman
In 1899, a young Mormon woman named Hannah Kaaepa traveled to Washington, D.C., as a delegate to National Council of Women?s Congress. She had been invited by May Wright Sewall to speak about the rights of Hawaiian women and the recent overthrow of the Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani. While in Washington, she was feted by Hawaiian Queen who threw her a dinner party and invited the women who had accompanied the young Kaaepa to Washington. As a result, Emmeline B. Wells, Susa Young Gates, and Lucy B. Young
By January 10, 2013
From our good friends at the MHA:
_______________________________________
Dear Colleagues and Students:
I serve as chair of the Mormon History Association?s best undergraduate and graduate student papers awards committee. Each year we solicit nominations from students for these awards. Students may make one submission by sending me an electronic copy no later than February 15, 2013. The undergraduate award carries a prize of $300. The graduate award carries a prize of $400.
To be considered:
– the work must have been completed in 2012
– an electronic copy of the paper must be submitted to jsillito@weber.edu by the due date
– the submission must include a cover letter which provides the student?s name, school, status, major, contact information (phone and street address), and e-mail address
Additional information can be found at:
www.mormonhistoryassociation.
Winners in each category will be contacted prior to the MHA annual conference, June 6-9, 2013, in Layton, Utah.
Please encourage your students to make submissions, and feel free to send this information to others who might be interested.
John Sillito
Weber State University
Ogden, UT 84408
801-626-8568
By January 6, 2013
Before Christmas I wrote a few posts about the death of missionaries or their close relations and how those deaths were handled institutionally. In this post I will discuss how the missionaries reacted to the death of the President of the Church, Lorenzo Snow, on 1901 Oct 10.
By December 30, 2012
New Year?s Eve and Day did not prompt much celebration among missionaries in the Southwestern States Mission. The end of the calendar year did, however, inspire a degree of introspection, some resolutions, and many reports for office missionaries to write.
By December 28, 2012
About a week ago, I landed in Honolulu on a research trip for my dissertation. Although I have been studying Mormon history in the Pacific for about three years, it was my first trip to Hawai?i and the Pacific. Initially, this post was going to be about the Polynesian Cultural Center but after my week in Hawai?i, I have decided to write a much more general reflection about being an American and an American who studies Mormon history in the Pacific traveling in the islands.
© 2026 – Juvenile Instructor
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