The Mormon History Association (MHA) is accepting submissions for a poster session, to be held in the Utah Olympic Park during the 56th annual conference in Park City, Utah, June 10-12, 2021. We welcome proposals that address the conference theme, “Restoration, Reunion, and Resilience,” but all proposals will receive equal consideration. Please visit MHA’S WEBSITE to view the conference call for papers. This poster session offers participants the opportunity to discuss and answer questions about their work in a relatively informal, interactive setting. This format is particularly useful for works-in-progress and for projects with visual and material evidence. Presenters must be MHA members, register for and attend the meeting, and be available for a two-hour poster viewing session and reception during the conference, date and time TBD. MHA will waive the conference registration fee for all student poster presenters.
The submission deadline for poster proposals is April 26, 2021. Notifications of acceptance or rejection will be sent May 1, 2020. Proposals will be evaluated on the persuasiveness of the abstract and the project’s connection to major questions and issues in Mormon history and the conference themes. MHA allows a maximum of four presenters per poster. All posters must be 36 inches x 48 inches. We will provide cardboard, binder clips, and easels for those who request them. Presenters are responsible for all other materials, including the printed poster itself. Accepted posters will be on display for the entirety of the conference. Please send your proposal to mharochester2020@gmail.com. Contact program co-chairs Anne Berryhill or Joseph Stuart at this email address if you have any questions.
If you, like millions of Americans, turned in to watch Murder Among the Mormons, and are interested in reading more on the Hofmann saga, Early Mormonism’s “magic world view,” or scholarship examining Mormonism as the “Other,” check out this list.
I want to add to this list–please send me a note or comment here for me to update it with additional resources!
For the second part of this review, (see first part here) I want to talk about the ways that Davis and Brown attempt a kind of middle ground between the larger secular scholarly field and those who believe in Joseph Smith operating under divine guidance while he translated. Both make attempts at explaining what Smith did in terms of translation, and this brings up the old religious-studies question, “Does explaining supernatural experiences mean explaining them away?”
Indeed, Davis’s theses certainly makes an attempt to explain the process of the Book of Mormon translation in terms of Smith’s abilities to draw on mnemonic speaking devices in order to dictate the Book of Mormon. Davis goes so far as to propose that Smith could have had a short, written outline of the book that he could have occasionally referred to throughout the process.
We want to make you aware of several upcoming opportunities for papers and proposals through the Utah State Historical Society. Please feel free to share with your colleagues and on social media. Call for Papers: Utah State Historical Society Annual Conference The CFP announcing this year’s annual conference is now open for submissions. The theme centers on public health and the common good. We rely on your participation and support to make our conference possible. Please spread the word for us. For questions or recommendations for programming related to the theme, please don’t hesitate to reach out at uhq@utah.gov. Call for Papers: Public Health and the Common Good
Call for Proposals on Utah Historical MemorialsWe also want to make you aware of an exciting initiative. This year we are launching a blog series on historical memorials. We seek proposals for short essays that place historical markers in historical and contemporary perspective. We hope the series will represent the diversity of thought about historical markers and will facilitate public discussion about the place of historical markers and memorials in our society. Check out our website for more information and deadlines for proposal submissions. Call for Proposals: Blog Series on Historical Memorials
Student Manuscript AwardFinally, the historical society has a new award for the best student manuscript submitted for publication in Utah Historical Quarterly. A cash prize will be given to a manuscript that shows innovative historical thinking, rigorous research, and excellence in writing. If you know of student work that fits the bill, please ensure they submit the paper to uhq@utah.gov. Any student manuscript submitted between January 2020 and March 31, 2021 will be considered. Sincerely,UHQ editors
Brown, Samuel Morris. Joseph Smith’s Translation: The Words and Worlds of Early Mormonism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020.
Davis, William. Visions in a Seer Stone: Joseph Smith and the Making of the Book of Mormon. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2020.
This past year saw a number of important publication on Joseph Smith’s translation; in addition to the ones above, also Michael Hubbard MacKay, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Brian M. Hauglid, eds. Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith’s Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity (Salt Lake City: University of Utah, 2020) in which Brown has an essay.
But first I want to compare Brown and Davis. In this post, I give a summary of their works and then discuss the implications more in a follow up.
I am Bri Romanello, a Ph.D. Anthropology student at Arizona State University. A bit about myself: I have been a member of the LDS Church my entire life and am deeply involved and passionate about the well-being and representation of women’s experiences within our community. I am also very interested in the immigrant experience and the lives of Latina women living and parenting in the United States. This is why I am conducting a study with Latina Mormon/ LDS mothers in Arizona I want to use my opportunity as a Ph.D. student to better demonstrate the immense diversity and contributions of Latinas and mothers in our Church and also local communities.
During this interview, I will be interested in learning about your personal story, your membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and your experiences as a mother. This interview is anonymous and you can use a different name if you wish.
If you agree to participate in this study, it will involve an interview that should last no more than 75 minutes depending on the amount of information you choose to share with me. I would like to demonstrate my gratitude by offering you a small gift of $25 for your time and participation. Please fill out this form and I’ll get back to you in the next 72 hours: https://forms.gle/3eMefUC7LZ3spsFA9
Thanks to Kurt Manwaring for making us aware of this interview with Dr. Matthew Harris, on The LDS Gospel Topics Series: A Scholarly Engagement! You can read the rest of the interview HERE.
The University of Utah Press announced this morning the creation of The Juanita Brooks Series in Mormon History and Culture. Here is more from their email announcement (sign up for email updates from the press HERE):
The Juanita Brooks Series in Mormon History and Culture Editor: Amanda Hendrix-Komoto, Montana State University
This series, named for pioneering Mormon historian Juanita Brooks, welcomes exciting new academic monographs and contributed volumes of previously unpublished essays that break new ground in the study and understanding of Mormon history and culture. Books that explore understudied or controversial aspects of Mormonism are considered essential to the intellectual mission of the series, as are works that put Mormon history and culture in conversation with contemporary scholarly trends in transnational studies, Native American and Indigenous studies, the study of the American West, women’s history, and regional histories. Always open and inclusive, the series accepts proposals from established and emerging scholars and writers alike, while striving to publish rigorous scholarship accessible to an informed general audience.
Yesterday, acclaimed actress Cicley Tyson passed away at the age of 96. Among the many roles she played in her groundbreaking and lengthy career was that of Binta, Kunta Kinte’s mother, in Alex Haley’s sensational television series, Roots. Coincidentally, the end of January also marks 44 years since Roots premiered on TV in 1977. The sights and sounds of Tyson portraying Binta’s labor and the birth of Kunta form the opening scenes of the series. There is much that has and can be said about Roots and the way that it brought Black family history and depictions of slavery to the forefront of American entertainment in commanding fashion. Indeed, it was the most watched television event to date in America.[1] Scholars have shed light on how the Roots phenomenon created unprecedented interest in family history for African Americans and captured the nation’s attention.[2] But one aspect of this fascinating story that has not been widely studied is Alex Haley’s relationship with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and how the Church sought to ride the huge momentum for genealogy research created by Roots in its programs and messaging.
Tyson as Binta, Kunta’s mother, in Roots, episode one. Maya Angelou played the role of a midwife. Photo credit: ABC Photos Archive.
Haley’s interaction with Church leaders and his use of the Church’s genealogical resources is significant, especially in light of the Church’s priesthood and temple restrictions to people of Black African descent were still in place. About seven months after Roots premiered, BYU invited Alex Haley to its summer 1977 commencement exercises to award him an honorary doctorate degree in the humanities. On that occasion, Haley praised the Church’s genealogy library and said that if he had known about it before writing his book, he would have booked a flight to Salt Lake City right away, as it was the best in the world. On that trip to Utah, Haley also met with N. Eldon Tanner and Marion G. Romney, two members of the First Presidency of the Church. President Tanner credited Haley with inspiring people to go back even further in their genealogy research: “We’ve been trying for years to get people to go back to the fourth and fifth generations; you come along with one book and they do it.” Haley was apparently pleased to hear that and smiled.[3]
Haley shaking the hand of President N. Eldon Tanner. Photo credit: Deseret News Archive.
Three years later, the Church held its second World Conference on Records, a genealogy and family history symposium. A family history fervor had swept the United States in part because of the popularity of television series and book and interest had increased since the first conference in 1969.[4] As one of the preeminent speakers, Haley spoke to the Church News in advance of the conference. He was glad to see that his book had inspired families throughout the world to have family reunions and hoped to work with the Church to encourage more families to follow suit. He thought that such reunions could contribute to world peace.[5]
As a religious institution with a sacred prerogative to do family history research, the LDS Church was in step with popular genealogy movements in the twentieth century United States. Partnering with Alex Haley and the high-profile Roots book and TV series was mutually beneficial and represented a unique bridge between the Church and Black family history at time when Black Latter-day Saints could not perform ordinances for their ancestors in temples. This is just a start and the potential to discover more illuminating details in this story remains.
[1] About 100 million people watched the series finale and about 85 percent of American households tuned in. Matthew F. Delmont, Making Roots: A Nation Captivated (Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2016), 175 and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Foreword, Reconsidering Roots: Race, Politics, and Memory, ed Erica L. Ball and Kellie Carter Jackson (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2017), xi.
[2] See, for example, Francesca Morgan, “‘My Furthest-Back Person’: Black Genealogy Before and After Roots,” Reconsidering Roots, 63-80 and Delmont, Making Roots, 153-180.
[3] Gerry Avant, “Faith Kept Him Going, ‘Roots’ Author Says,” Church News, 27 August 1977.
[4] “World Conference on Records,” Church News, 2 August 1969.
[5] Jim Boardman, “Author Encourages Histories, Reunions,” Church News, 9 August 1980.
Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “The burden of proof is on the claim of there BEING Nephites. From a scholarly point of view, the burden of proof is on the…”
Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “But that's not what I was saying about the nature of evidence of an unknown civilization. I am talking about linguistics, not ruins. …”
Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “Large civilizations leave behind evidence of their existence. For instance, I just read that scholars estimate the kingdom of Judah to have been around 110,000…”
Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “I have always understood the key to issues with Nephite archeology to be language. Besides the fact that there is vastly more to Mesoamerican…”
Steven Borup on In Memoriam: James B.: “Bro Allen was the lead coordinator in 1980 for the BYU Washington, DC Seminar and added valuable insights into American history as we also toured…”
David G. on In Memoriam: James B.: “Jim was a legend who impacted so many through his scholarship and kind mentoring. He'll be missed.”
Recent Comments
Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “The burden of proof is on the claim of there BEING Nephites. From a scholarly point of view, the burden of proof is on the…”
Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “But that's not what I was saying about the nature of evidence of an unknown civilization. I am talking about linguistics, not ruins. …”
Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “Large civilizations leave behind evidence of their existence. For instance, I just read that scholars estimate the kingdom of Judah to have been around 110,000…”
Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “I have always understood the key to issues with Nephite archeology to be language. Besides the fact that there is vastly more to Mesoamerican…”
Steven Borup on In Memoriam: James B.: “Bro Allen was the lead coordinator in 1980 for the BYU Washington, DC Seminar and added valuable insights into American history as we also toured…”
David G. on In Memoriam: James B.: “Jim was a legend who impacted so many through his scholarship and kind mentoring. He'll be missed.”