LDS Church’s PCC to house new Polynesian Football Hall of Fame

This article is a few months old, but the recently founded Polynesian Football Hall of Fame has found a home at the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) in Hawai’i. “PFHF honors the sport?s greatest players, coaches and contributors from Polynesia.” This is an interesting development considering the history of the PCC and Mormonism throughout the region.

Pioneer Ancestors ? FamilySearch.org

Primarily targeted at pioneer stock Mormons, this microsite “is FamilySearch’s attempt at comparing the list of pioneer companies to those listed in your Family Tree. We recognize that it may not be comprehensive or completely accurate historically. We hope you enjoy this information.” I’ve included a screen grab of my results for those who likely won’t have many connections:

“Marmans!”

UHQ Summer 2014 Web Extras

“Since 1928, Utah Historical Quarterly has collected and preserved the state?s history. Until now, UHQ content has only been published in print form. The content presented here is our inaugural effort to introduce the journal?and our state?s rich and colorful history?to an online audience.” It’s great to see the Utah Historical Society/UHQ finally move into the world of rich media.

This Was the Place: The Making and Unmaking of Utah

This is an essay by Jared Farmer that appeared in the print version of the Summer 2014 UHQ but has been enriched with more media. Farmer’s discussion of maps, landscape, and human boundaries challenge us to think about “place creation and landscape loss” not only in Utah but everywhere. It’s a delightful romp!

Polygamous wives who helped settle the west

An interesting essay by Paula Kelly Harline about how polygamous family arrangements influenced the city planning of early Mormon settlements:

When Brigham Young parceled out Salt Lake City land plots, he allowed polygamous husbands to draw a lot for each of their wives, and this pattern continued exponentially as polygamous wives sometimes moved without their husbands to settlements in Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico, supporting themselves as teachers, hat-makers, landlords, post mistresses, boarding house proprietors, laundresses, venders, and farmers.