Friends of JI Rachel Cope and Lisa Tait are co-chairing a conference jointly sponsored by BYU’s Church History and Doctrine Department and the LDS Church History Department. The theme is sure to produce thoughtful and innovative papers. Please remember to send in your proposals by May 1, 2015. Better yet, why not sketch out your proposal now?

Beyond Biography:
Sources in Context for Mormon Women’s History

Scholars of Mormon women’s history have long demonstrated a commitment to and an interest in biography. The resulting narratives have helped to recover and preserve voices that would have otherwise been lost to modern awareness and have allowed us to sketch the outlines of Mormon women’s experience over the past two centuries. The 2016 Church History Symposium will build upon past biographical work and push our understanding forward by addressing the following questions: How might we employ archival and other sources to create more complete and complex pictures of Mormon women’s history? How might we consider what individual lives mean within their broader contexts? How will these approaches expand or recast our understanding of Mormon history?

We invite proposals that explore these questions about Mormon women’s history by engaging any of the following methods or topics: social history, cultural history, lived religion, lived experience, material culture, generational ideas, agency, class, collaboration, religious expression, domesticity, public/private and center/periphery. Successful proposals will include a clear argument, innovative use of primary sources, and new approaches to doing Mormon women’s history.

If you wish to be considered for participation in this symposium, please submit the following byMay 1, 2015 to chsymposium2016@gmail.com:

• Proposal of 300-700 words
  • Proposals should be formatted with separate headings and brief discussion of each of the following:
    • Thesis statement
    • Overview of the primary sources to be used
    • Contribution to the field of Mormon women’s history
• Also include a brief biographical paragraph describing your relevant academic background.

Decisions for inclusion in the symposium will be made by July 1, 2015. Because it is anticipated that the committee will receive a high volume of submissions, deadlines and guidelines will be strictly observed. Several papers that best fit the conference theme will be selected for publication in an edited volume. Authors whose papers are selected for publication will be notified within 30 days of the symposium.

A small number of travel grants may be available to assist participants coming to the symposium from a distance. If you would like to apply for one, please include a short paragraph with your proposal stating your request.