By AmandaFebruary 24, 2014
Note: The description of the Salt Lake City lesbian community comes from Vern and Bonnie Bullough?s ?Lesbian in the 1920s and 1930s: A Newfound Study,? which appeared in the Summer 1977 issue of Signs.
As part of a course I am taking on public history, we are writing an application to make the Henry Gerber house in Chicago a National Historic Landmark. Gerber was a German immigrant who founded the first gay rights organization in Chicago in the 1930s. He was a cantankerous man who was exasperated by the inability of his organization to attract people more respectable than a laundry queen, an impoverished preacher, and an employee of the railroad. When I took the class, I assumed that it would have very little to do with my dissertation research, which focuses on nineteenth-century Mormon missionary work. I was surprised when a historical consultant, who was visiting class to help us strategies ways to maximize the chances that the application would be accepted, mentioned that there had been a lesbian club in Salt Lake City in the 1920s.
I looked up surprised and asked, ?Really??
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By Mees TielensFebruary 23, 2014
For your enjoyment, this week’s edition of the MSWR.
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By Ben PFebruary 21, 2014
[From our good friends at the CHL.]
Research Assistant-Joseph Smith Papers Project
Type: Full-Time – Regular
USA – UT – Salt Lake City
Posting Info:
- Posting Dates: 2/18/2014 – 3/14/2014
- Job Family: Library, Research&Preservation
- Department: Church History Department
Purposes
The Church History Department announces an opening for a research assistant with the Joseph Smith Papers project. This will be a full-time position lasting one to two years, beginning in May 2014. Compensation competitive with other internships; benefits included.
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By Ben PFebruary 19, 2014
In one of the most exciting days of the year for Mormon history geeks, the Mormon History Association posted a preliminary program for the 2014 conference (pdf), which will take place June 5-8 in San Antonio, Texas. I’ll let you read through it all and find whatever niche papers you are most excited about, but below you will find the plenary addresses along with the papers being delivered by your ol’ pals here at JI.
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By JJohnsonFebruary 18, 2014
Last week a new Doctrine and Covenants seminary manual popped up on lds.org. My pragmatic self tends to try and manage expectations with new manuals, but I was pleased to see a new chapter on “The Utah War and the Mountain Meadows Massacre” with most of the chapter focusing on the massacre. The prior seminary manual (2001) included nary a mention of the massacre.[1] This manual also includes a quite extensive chapter on plural marriage (extensive in comparison to other chapters).
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By ChristopherFebruary 16, 2014
Missed out on the latest news in the world of Mormon Studies? We’re here for you and back with another weekly roundup of relevant links. Let’s get to it:
Over at Rational Faiths, Connell O’Donovan writes about three newly discovered early black Mormon women. The discovery—incredibly important to recovering the African American presence in early Mormonism in all of its facets—is based on careful and surely time-consuming analysis of personal papers and printed sources.
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By Steve FlemingFebruary 14, 2014
There were no sealing rituals between parents and children in Joseph Smith’s life time. [1] In his August 13, 1843 speech the prophet explained why such sealings were unnecessary: “A measure of this sealing is to confirm upon their head in common with Elijah the doctrine of election or the covenant with Abraham?which which when a Father & mother of a family have entered into their children who have not transgressed are secured by the seal wherewith the Parents have been sealed.” [2] Parents who were sealed to each other would have the opportunity of having their children sealed to them also so long as their children did not “transgress.” [3] Therefore, no additional ordinance was necessary. Howard and Martha Coray’s much notes make it clear that William Clayton’s much briefer notes (just a few sentences) were problematic. “When a seal is put upon the father and mother it secures their posterity so that they cannot be lost but will be saved by virtue of the covenant of their father.” [4] Again, Clayton’s notes were extremely truncated; researchers need to look to more thorough notes to get a better sense of Joseph Smith meaning (like Elder Bednar did).
Joseph Smith did teach antinomianism but like all other antinomians (from the heresy of the free spirit to John Dee to John Humphrey Noyes) perfection and thus being above the law was something that one achieved. One progressed to that stage.
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By Steve FlemingFebruary 13, 2014
The announcement that the church is planning to build a complex in downtown Philadelphia next to the temple puts me in mind of the church’s history in Philadelphia. This history revolved around Benjamin Winchester who began preaching in Philadelphia in 1840. Winchester was immediately successful but his success was soon tainted by the fact that most of his converts quickly grew to seriously dislike him. Apparently Winchester was rather dictatorial, excommunicating all who disagreed with him. The problems Winchester created (the Philadelphia branch split in two between the pro- and anti-Winchester factions) continued until Winchester left the church shortly after Joseph Smith’s assassination.[1] Thus Winchester left this unfortunate legacy, made even more unfortunate considering Winchester’s intellectual legacy. Winchester wrote the Mormons’ first Bible concordance, the first refutation the Spaulding theory, and the Mormons’ first historical theology, which gave a history of the apostasy that made statements that Joseph Smith endorsed in his very last speech.[2]
Winchester set up his own periodical in Philadelphia (The Gospel Reflector) where he asserted Mormon doctrine.
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By ChristopherFebruary 12, 2014
What follows is a sort of follow-up to Joey’s excellent post last week analyzing reactions to the 1978 revelation ending the race-based priesthood and temple ban. I am admittedly far outside of my own field here, and it is entirely possible I’m not aware of some study that has already been written and published. Please feel free to point out any such work in the comments, and to otherwise respond to the post.
In December 2007, perennial presidential candidate and prominent Mormon Mitt Romney was asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” about the 1978 revelation that signaled a shift in LDS church policy and lifted the ban that had previously denied people of African descent ordination to the priesthood and entrance into LDS temples. Romney’s response was a familiar one to most Mormons:
I can remember when I heard about the change being made. I was driving home from ? I think it was law school, but I was driving home ? going through the Fresh Pond rotary in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I heard it on the radio and I pulled over and literally wept. Even to this day, it?s emotional.
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By David G.February 9, 2014
Another week, another edition of the Mormon Studies Weekly Roundup!
There were significant new developments at church headquarters. First, it has been reported that the church’s Seminaries and Institutes department was revising its curriculum, in part to incorporate insights from the Joseph Smith Papers Project and the revamped Gospel Topics page on lds.org. The first installment in this revised curriculum was released this week, with an updated Church History and Doctrine and Covenants manual. The folks at FAIR Mormon are pleased with the results. Second, the Young Women organization announced a new board that will include substantial representation from women outside the United States. The Relief Society and Primary organizations are expected to form similar boards to better meet the needs of the international church. Additionally, training sessions for these organizations, which have traditionally been held only in Salt Lake City, will be made available via the internet. The Research Information Division at church headquarters is looking for a full-time researcher with graduate training in the social sciences.
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