Discourses of Eliza R. Snow

Mabel Knell, age five, joined the Primary in her small southern Utah town when it was organized on 6 December 1880. Eliza R. Snow and Zina Young visited nearly all of the southern settlements, including Pinto, near Pine Valley. The minutes record that Eliza asked the children if they wanted to be organized, and she helped them appoint a presidency. Then she showed them a gold watch that Joseph Smith gave her back in Nauvoo in 1842. (1)

Mabel remembered something else significant, not recorded in the minutes: a young boy in Pinto was very sick and had been carried to the meeting. He requested a special prayer for his health. “Sister Snow told the children to arise to their feet, close their eyes, and repeat after her the prayer, one sentence at a time. She prayed for the sick boy. When they got through praying he got up, walked home, and got into a wagon without help. He was well from that time.” (2) Eliza certainly cared for the individual–especially this young boy; she also cared for the community, teaching the Primary association how to unitedly pray for one of their members–to draw upon the powers of heaven even in their young ages.

This was just one of Eliza R. Snow’s nearly 1200 discourses, recorded in minute books and in personal writings. The Church History Department is proud to present “The Discourses of Eliza R. Snow,” a website with the Church Historian’s Press. As second general Relief Society president, Snow became a prolific speaker, traveling to nearly every settlement in the Utah Territory. Her marriages to both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young gave her an intimate perspective of the early events of the Restoration. She enlarged the stakes of the church with her visits to the hinterlands, teaching, organizing, and connecting with women, youth, and children. And she returned to Salt Lake City with a more expansive view of the institution she served.

The Discourses of Eliza R. Snow will be a great resources for both scholars and a general audience. The ability to trace a significant female preacher, to understand current events in local areas with specificity to women, and to follow the circuitous trajectory of her theological teachings is unprecedented. Her explanation on personal ministry is personal and intimate. And her efforts to provide order to the various women’s organizations, to teach them about their temple blessings, and their family relationships are indeed poignant.

President Snow spoke with authority in several ways. She was the secretary of the Nauvoo Relief Society and had a clear understanding of the purpose of the women’s organization as set by Joseph Smith. She was assigned by Brigham Young in 1868 to assist the bishops in organizing ward Relief Societies and to instruct the sisters. Snow taught the proper manner in which to organize and she encouraged women to speak publicly–to have a voice. She was a firm supporter of plural marriage, female empowerment with women responsible for their own salvation, and in encouraging women’s education and civic participation.

While only fifty discourses from 1868-1869 are currently available, batches of 100 discourses will be uploaded quarterly. Snow appeared publicly until a few months before her death in late 1887, often speaking three times a day in different locations even in her 80s. Later batches will include speeches in the form of poetry given to the Polysophical Institute and the Literary and Musical Associations in the 1850s, a speech given to her students in Nauvoo in 1843, and a fiery Pioneer Day diatribe on 24 July 1849. Snow spoke to Relief Societies, Young Ladies and Primary Associations, Cooperative Retrenchment groups, grain committees and silk associations, public meetings, anniversary celebrations, and general ward groups.

An interactive map shows the range of Snow’s travels and links to the discourses. A helpful reference section includes explanation of historical context, Snow’s chronology, and links to her publications. Where available, photographs of the places in which she spoke are available, bringing her discourse alive in a material way.

This new addition to the Church Historian’s Press website joins other endeavors, including the diaries of Emmeline B. Wells, the journals of George Q. Cannon and George F. Richards, and online versions of First Fifty Years of Relief Society and At the Pulpit. Also new is the ability to search across all church history sites.

(1). Pinto Ward Records, Primary Minute Book, 1880-1890, 6 Dec 1880, 3, BYU.

(2). Mabel Knell, “Our Primary,” The Juvenile Instructor 28, no. 9 (1 May 1893): 301.

Job Ad: 12-Month Contract Research Historian, Church History Department (LDS)

Research Historian, Publications Division, (Contract worker)–Church History Department

UNITED STATES |  UT-Salt Lake City

ID 261442, Type: Temporary Full-Time

POSTING INFO

Posting Dates: 07/13/2020 – 07/31/2020

Job Family: Library, Research&Preservation

Department: Church History Department

WORTHINESS QUALIFICATION

Must be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and currently temple worthy.

POSTING NOTICE/MORE INFO.

Please Note: All positions are subject to close without notice. 

Find out more about the many benefits of Church Employment at http://careers.churchofjesuschrist.org.
 

PURPOSES

The Church History Department announces an opening for a Research Historian with the Joseph Smith Papers project. The successful candidate will assist the Publications Division with historical and textual research. This is an exciting and outstanding opportunity for someone interested in pursuing a career in history. We are looking for a motivated, upbeat, and skilled individual to join our team.

This is a full-time position starting in September 2020 and expected to last 12 months.

Please attach a vita, a short writing sample demonstrating ability in using primary sources to form a cogent argument, and a list of three references to your application.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Duties will include research related to document analysis (textual and documentary intention, production, transmission, and reception) and contextual annotation of documents (identifications and explanations). Research will involve work in primary and secondary sources for nineteenth- and twentieth-century America and Latter-day Saint history. Work will include assistance to historians working on publication projects.

The Research Historian will work under the direction of senior Historians/Writers.

QUALIFICATIONS

The ideal candidate will possess the following knowledge, skills, and abilities:

Completion of Bachelor’s degree in history, religious studies, or other related field, preference will be given to those with master’s degrees and/or in doctoral programs in history, religious studies, or related field.

Knowledge of and training in historical research

Demonstration of excellent research and writing skills

Ability to work in a scholarly and professional environment

Strong organizational, time management, and verbal communication skills

Organized, with an ability to prioritize time-sensitive assignments

Creative and flexible

Ability to work in a team, as well as independently

Guestpost–Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith’s Translation Projects

Mark Ashurst-McGee is a friend of the JI and the Senior Research and Review Editor with the Joseph Smith Papers. He holds a Ph.D. in American History from Arizona State University and has published broadly on Joseph Smith and early Latter-day Saint history. He co-edited, along with Michael Hubbard MacKay and Brian M. Hauglid, Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith’s Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity, which was recently published by the University of Utah Press.

This collaborative volume is the first to provide in-depth analysis of all of Joseph Smith’s translation projects. The compiled chapters explore Smith’s translation projects in focused detail and in broad contexts, as well as in comparison and conversation with one another. The various contributors approach Smith’s sacred texts historically, textually, linguistically, and literarily to offer a multidisciplinary view. Scrupulous examination of the production and content of Smith’s translations opens new avenues for understanding the foundations of Mormonism, provides insight on aspects of early American religious culture, and helps conceptualize the production and transmission of sacred texts.

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Review: MacKay’s Prophetic Authority

I’ve known Michael MacKay for a while now. Sometimes our research interests have followed adjacent lanes. He is smart, and willing to approach topics that have challenged some of our best thinkers, and he has done so in innovative ways. His work is always notable. Mike’s recently published Prophetic Authority, more than any his previous work, hits on topics that have captivated me—Latter-day Saint constructs of authority, priesthood, and ecclesiology. As one would expect with the best work on any topics, I found myself sometimes disagreeing emphatically, then, and more often, concurring with its insightful and piercing presentation.

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University of Utah Press MHA Code

From the editors of Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith’s Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity:

In conjunction with this year’s annual conference of the Mormon History Association, the University of Utah Press is offering a 20%-off advance sale on the soon-to-be released

Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith’s Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity (available 26 June 2020). This sale also includes free domestic shipping. 

The offer is available through the book’s University of Utah Press webpage:

https://uofupress.lib.utah.edu/producing-ancient-scripture/ 

At checkout, use this promotion code: MHA2020 The promotion code will be valid through the months of June and July.

Now Available from the Church History Library: The Children’s Friend

If you’re interested in what was taught to Latter-day Saint children from 1902-1970, you can now do so!

LINK TO CHL

CFP: Mormon Social Science Association

Review: Essays on American Indian & Mormon History

This is an abbreviated version of a longer review that will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Mormon History (thanks to the editors of the journal for permission to post this in advance of the journal’s version). If you missed it, see here for editor Brenden Rensink’s JI guestpost on the book.

P. Jane Hafen and Brenden W. Rensink, eds. Essays on American Indian & Mormon History. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2019. xxxiv + 372 pp. Notes, bibliography, contributors, index. Hardback: $45.00. eBook: $40.00.

            P. Jane Hafen (Taos Pueblo) and Brenden W. Rensink have compiled eleven substantive essays that explore themes in the history of American Indians and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hafen is professor emerita of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, while Rensink is Associate Director of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies and Associate Professor of History at Brigham Young University. Most of the essays in the collection were written in conjunction with a seminar hosted by the Redd Center in 2016. The editors’ introduction states that the collection seeks to identify “ways [that] Indigenous thought”—centered around issues such as Indigenous sovereignty, land and resources, colonialism, and decolonization—“interacts with Mormon histories, Mormon arts, and contemporary Mormon practices” (xii-xiii). The introduction notes that previous scholarship has, with few exceptions, focused primarily on white Latter-day Saint views of Native peoples, whereas the featured essays instead reverse the equation by placing Natives at the center of the telling of Latter-day Saint history.

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Guest Post: Introducing “Essays on American Indian and Mormon History”

Brenden W. Rensink[1]

In 2019, P. Jane Hafen and I published an anthology of essays with the University of Utah Press entitled Essays on American Indian and Mormon History. I am happy to take a few moments here to explain the how this volume came to be and the principles that guided our editorial approach.

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Mormonism, White Supremacy, Joanna Brooks, and Telling Stories

Joanna Brooks, Mormonism and White Supremacy: American Religion and the Problem of Racial Innocence (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020)

I

Like her earlier volume edited with Gina Colvin, Decolonizing Mormonism (University of Utah, 2018), Joanna Brooks’s new Mormonism and White Supremacy is an exhortation as much as it is an academic work. Both both books ask us to consider where the lines between academic analysis and moral analysis exactly lie. Brooks discards the traditional pretense of academic objectivity, the stentorian presumption of omniscience that echoes through the pages of most university-published tomes.

To that end this book will probably be most comprehensible to Latter-day Saint audiences, and Brooks probably intends that. Her book moves quickly through the history of the tradition and assumes some familiarity on the reader’s part with phrases like “First Presidency” and “John Taylor.” Brooks inserts herself into the narrative, a product as well as an analyst of the community she writes about. Indeed, in a real sense this book is a plea to that community. Brooks’s first lines testify to that: “This book seeks to instigate soul-searching,” she declares, “academic, institutional, and personal.” (1)

She writes as an anguished Mormon. She wants her fellow Saints to mourn with those that mourn. She believes that though her tradition has enabled such pain, its Christian roots also equip it to be particularly convicted by the reality of pain and particularly prepared to pursue its alleviation. Brooks not only describes what Christian theology is—she also declares what Christian theology should be quite straightforwardly. A “robust Christian conceptualization of sin would hold that it is a deadly but structuring condition of mortality, just as racism is a deadly but structuring condition of life in the United States.” (5)

Is this unusual for a book about history published by Oxford University Press? In some ways. As American academia institutionalized and professionalized, gradually academics, like journalists, came to see themselves as neutral arbiters, and though every introductory graduate course in the humanities solemnly counsels graduate students that objectivity is impossible, most books (at least in the discipline of history) tend to avoid personalizing the narrative. There is, though, a range of newer scholarship pressing back against this, forcing us to consider ourselves as authors and to perceive the public and political implications of our work. This is probably a good thing.

II

Though Brooks’s prose has a light touch a fair amount of theory drifts through the book. This means while it seems to be written for a Mormon audience it will also be most easily digested by those with at least some familiarity with academic theory about race. That choice may be dangerous, given Brooks’s intentions. But this is still a compelling story about the enactment of a grim tautology. Early Mormons were mostly white people who took for granted their whiteness—an identity then as now with uncertain borders that white Mormons among many others have contributed to defining and clarifying as, for the most part, themselves. Because they were white they believed the church they founded also to be white—if only implicitly.

It is important to recognize that while many Americans imagine “racism” in terms of making conscious choices that reflect disdain for people of other backgrounds, a more useful conceptualization of the term acknowledges that is as much or more about assumption, conditioning, structure and possibility as it is about individual animus or aggressive hate. Therefore, white Mormons simply by default assumed the church’s structures and cosmology to coincide with the racial distinctions they understood to exist on earth. Hence as they created their church they also created, to some extent, what whiteness meant.

And hence, white Mormons like many other white Christians imputed those distinctions onto the hierarchies of eternity, lending the racial structures they believed to exist the weight of divine sanction. As white Mormons teased out their theologies—of sealing, of divinization, of temple worship and priesthood—they nearly always stumbled over people they understood to be not white. These people were to them theoretical problems, needing theological explanation and a place to be slotted into their unfolding maps of heaven. That process defined what it meant to be white in the context of this religion, but it also gave white supremacy on earth divine sanction and justification. By the twentieth century when questioned about its existence within their church, Mormons could simply point to God.

Brooks focuses here primarily upon “whiteness” and “blackness” as categories of identity in white Mormons’ imagination. There are, of course, any number of other racial identities that might play a part in this story. There are also many, many elements co-constitutive with racial identity that Brooks does not touch upon; in particular I think of the co-formation of race and class, as the economic aspects of identity are often overlooked in academic work on Mormonism and race, or religion and race more generally. But Brooks stays focused on the simple fact of white supremacy itself, and how Mormons came to reify it, and that relentlessness gives the book the moral power of a jeremiad.

III

Structurally and conceptually, this book reminds me of Colleen McDannell’s recent Sister Saints (Oxford, 2018). Like that book, this one retells a familiar history from a new angle. We are acquainted with most of Brooks’ characters: they are high church leaders, intellectuals, and activists. She has not really uncovered any stories that historians did not already know. But she has told them in a new way, viewed them through the lens of theory, and showed us new shadows that these people cast, or new light that they threw.

So, like McDannell, her book points to the possibility of stories told from other perspectives—and indeed, Brooks exhorts her Latter-day Saint readers to perceive that possibility, to be aware of other stories, and to do what they can to elevate them. Her introduction and conclusion call upon her Latter-day Saint readers to plumb their tradition in order to confront the challenge. Indeed, one comes away from Brooks’s book with the impression that though this tradition has caused such pain, the Christian resources it has within it might enable believers to be particularly attuned to suffering, particularly equipped for repentance, and particularly capable of imagining what a just and Zion society might look like.

Though Brooks’s subjects often act in ways most Americans today would find distressing, Brooks warns us not to be distracted. She does not “wish to impugn the character of individuals. Rather my goal is to assess how systems of inequality take shape through everyday conduct and choices, policies, laws, and theologies, so that we have a better sense of how to dismantle them.” (17)

Stories point us past themselves toward systems. Individuals make decisions circumscribed by institutions. The real task ahead is not simply to rage at the stories that we have been told or to condemn those who enact injustice. The real task ahead is to write new stories and raise new generations, and hence to build new systems. That task is what this book helps us—Mormons and academics alike—to imagine.

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