MHA Odds and Ends, January

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:

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Southwestern States Mission: Birthdays and Anniversaries

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.

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“Manvotionals” and (Gentle)manly Nostalgia

This Christmas we got a lovely gift under the tree from my sister that was especially appropriate for our family, and which we really liked. It was a gift set on the “Art of Manliness” with two books and a set of coasters in a self-described “classic cigar box.” One book was an etiquette and advice manual updating 19th and early 20th century counsel for the 21st century man dispensing “classic skills and manners,” and the other was a collection of readings described as Manvotionals, clustered around “the seven manly virtues” (in case you’re keeping track, those are: manliness – which, I have to say, seems a little redundant, plus courage, industry, resolution, self-reliance, discipline and honor). My teen sons have already devoured both books and the collection’s appeal is undeniable – the books come pre-scuffed in that new-but-looks-old-book way that is so popular these days, abundantly illustrated with graphic elements and engravings that look borrowed from Gilded Age business periodicals and 1920s Arrow collar ads.

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The JI’s New Recruit: J Stuart

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve added another bright, young historian to our ranks, J Stuart. Here’s how he describes himself: 

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Southwestern States Mission: Shaving

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.

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2013 Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture with Terryl Givens

I am feeling the stirrings of envy as I see advertisements for the annual Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture. Rules about repeating seminars prohibit me from jumping at the chance to immerse myself for six weeks in explorations of the theology and history of spiritual gifts, ordinances, and priesthood authority in LDS thought. That triad is impossibly juicy, and I?m anxious to see what presentations and papers emerge out of this year?s group.

Terryl Givens is conducting this summer?s session (June 3 – July 12, 2013), which continues the series started by Richard Bushman and hosted by the Neal A. Maxwell Institute over fifteen years ago. The first series of summer seminars on ?Joseph Smith and His Times? ran from 1997 to 2002.  In 2003 Claudia Bushman conducted a seminar on ?Mormon Women in the Twentieth Century.?  In recent years, Richard Bushman and Terryl Givens have expanded the Joseph Smith seminar series to broader topics, such as ?Mormon Thought 1845-1890: Dealing with the Joseph Smith Legacy;? and ?Mormon Thinkers 1890 to 1930,? and with the help of Matthew Grow, “Parley and Orson Pratt and 19th-century Mormon Thought.” The last two summers, Richard Bushman organized the seminar around the history and context of the golden plates, and this summer, Terryl Givens will be picking back up the history of Mormon thought with “Workings of the Spirit and Works of the Priesthood: Gifts and Ordinances in LDS Thought and Practice.”

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Hannah Kaaepa: A Hawaiian Mormon Woman in Washington

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

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Call for Submissions: MHA Graduate/Undergraduate Paper Awards

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.org/awards/

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

Touchdown Jesus, Catholic Blessings, and Supporting Mormon Religion

Not even a Catholic blessing could save Manti Te’o and the dying pop-culture Mormon moment he represents. (source: Wall Street Journal)

[cross-posted at Religion in American History]

On Monday afternoon, just hours before the Alabama Crimson Tide blew out the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the BCS National Championship football game, Peggy Fletcher Stack posted a short note at the Salt Lake Tribune‘s Following Faith blog on the Catholic pregame rituals of ND.

Specifically, Stack drew readers’ attention to the Mormon story embedded within a fuller exploration of that subject at the Wall Street Journal: Star linebacker, Heisman Trophy runner-up, and devout Mormon Manti Te’o joins his teammates in “attend[ing] a Catholic Mass, receiv[ing] ‘a priest-blessed medal devoted to a Catholic saint,’ and ‘kiss[ing] a shrine containing two slivers Notre Dame believes came from Jesus? cross.'” He was even photographed receiving a blessing from Notre Dame president emeritus Father Theodore Hesburgh (a blessing Te’o reportedly sought out). Football team chaplain Father Paul Doyle explained that Te’o has privately told him that “he feels supported here [at Notre Dame] in his Mormon religion.”

All of this immediately brought to mind some of my previous thoughts on Mormon supplemental worship, in which Latter-day Saints supplement their Mormon activity by attending other Christian church’s services (a habit that dates back to at least the late nineteenth century). While the example provided by Te’o is clearly part of that larger historical tradition, it also strikes me as unique for a couple of reasons:

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The Burden of Church History and its implications for Mormon History

For those unable to attend this year’s annual American Historical Association held in New Orleans last week, Twitter is a godsend, and on Saturday night, the site was all abuzz as Laurie Maffly-Kipp, professor of Religious Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, delivered the presidential address at the annual meeting of the American Society of Church History.[1] Entitled “The Burden of Church History,” Maffly-Kipp’s address was a call to members of the ASCH to not abandon church history as the field of American religious history moves further away from institutional histories in pursuit of histories that analyze spirituality and deconstruct the meaning of religion.[2] I’ve yet to read the entire address, but Elesha Coffman has posted a helpful summary and insightful response at Religion in American History that I encourage all to read.

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