Mormon Studies’ Growth in the Past Ten Years: Institution Building

I didn’t know what Mormon Studies was in December 2009. Sure, I had just taken a course on American Christianity at BYU, but it hadn’t caused me to think much about the academic study of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or any of the other branches that connect to Joseph Smith’s religious ideas. Now, a decade later, it strikes me that the field has risen considerably in the eyes of the academy and in the estimation of non-academic Latter-day Saints.

I believe the strength of Mormon Studies publications and the venues in which they appear is one of the most important developments of the past ten years. We’ve passed the point where a press will take on a Mormon Studies project just for book sales. Books on Mormonism are now published regularly by university press catalogues, and not just traditional Mormon Studies powerhouses like the University of Illinois Press, the University of Utah Press, or the University of North Carolina Press, but with Harvard University Press, Liveright/Norton, Oxford University Press, University of Nebraska Press, and the University of Chicago Press.

Continue Reading

An Archival Discovery—or a Mark on History

Archival research is sometimes compared to the effort of putting together a jigsaw puzzle—a puzzle where you have to find the pieces, you have no photo reference of the actual puzzle, and there are zero edge pieces and certainly no corner pieces. There are obviously parts of the comparison that don’t work, but it is apt for those needing a crash course in archival understanding.

I spend my fair share of time in an archives (it helps to be employed in one). I have a master’s degree in library science with an archival concentration and I just finished a dissertation on the history of the nineteenth-century archives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In other words, I spend a lot of time thinking about archives and their creation and use by today’s scholars. I jokingly tell people that I’m more comfortable with dead people and their records than I am with living people (the joke, of course, is that I’m not joking).

Continue Reading

Paid Internship: Audiovisual Cataloging Intern

LINK

Posting Dates: 12/10/2019 – 12/24/2019

Job Family: Human Resources

Department: Church History Department

PURPOSES

This position will assist the Church History Library in processing, cataloging, arranging, housing, and indexing Church History Library archival collections in order to assist the Church History Department in its purpose to help God’s children keep and make sacred covenants. Successful applicants will work at the direction of Church History Specialists to create bibliographic records that will assist internal and external researchers in locating and using archival collections.

Continue Reading

Previewing 2020: Looking Ahead to Forthcoming Books in Mormon History/Studies

Every year I look forward to seeing which books will be published (you can read my recap of the best books and articles of 2019 HERE). The list isn’t comprehensive—many books don’t have listings on press websites quite yet. Nevertheless, I hope that I’ve highlighted many of the books Mormon historians are anxiously waiting to have their hands on in the next twelve months (and that you’ll send me information on books I’ve missed!). All quotations are from the Press’s website (when available) and all links are to the publisher’s website (where available).

Continue Reading

What’s in a name? Putting “Jack Mormon” in the Timeline of History

Historians exist in a world of naming (Mormon Historians doubly so!).¹ But, what’s in a name? Historian John O’Malley offers two reflections on this question, one a little naïve and another a little wiser. The first:  

“Sometimes very little. A rose still smells as sweet. Even designations for historical phenomena like ‘the Middle Ages’ that were once loaded with prejudices lose them through repeated usage. They become the equivalent of dead metaphors, where the image loses its punch. Is it not further true that all such historical constructs are imperfect, not much more than pointers to what can never be fully grasped by them, impositions on a fluid reality that they can never adequately capture? What difference does it make, then, what we call the Catholic side of the early modern period? Should we not stop worrying about labels, mere terms of convenience, and get on with the real business of history?”² 

Continue Reading

CFP: 2020 MHA Poster Session

Visions, Restoration, and Movements

Mormon History Association 55th Annual Conference

CALL FOR POSTER SESSION PROPOSALS

UPDATED Submission Deadline: February 18, 2020

The Mormon History Association (MHA) is accepting submissions for a poster session, to be held in the Riverside Convention Center Exhibit Hall during the 55th annual conference in Rochester/Palmyra, New York, June 4-7, 2020. We welcome proposals that address the conference theme, “Visions, Restoration, and Movements,” but all proposals will receive equal consideration. Please visit https://mormonhistoryassociation.org/2020-conference 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.

Continue Reading

Better Days 2020: Call for Volunteer Ambassadors

Better Days 2020 is looking for volunteer ambassadors to help share suffrage history at community events throughout Utah in the next year.

2020 will mark the 150^th anniversary of Utah women’s first votes, the 100^th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, and the 55^th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. Better Days 2020 is a non-profit founded to commemorate these voting rights anniversaries in Utah. They’re working statewide to raise the profile of women in Utah’s history through education, public art, and events.

You can get involved by giving presentations, sharing information at a booth or table, or volunteering at events. To become a volunteer ambassador, check out the online training and sign up here to indicate your interest and availability. Better Days 2020 will send you a t-shirt and other materials when you schedule your first event!

Find more details about becoming a Better Days ambassador here. If have any questions or know of any groups interested in hosting a presentation on Utah’s suffrage history, please contact Katherine Kitterman, Better Days 2020 historical director, at katherine (at) betterdays2020 (dot) org.

2019 In Retrospect: An Overview of Recent Articles and Books in Mormon History

Another year, another excellent year for Mormon history and Mormon studies publications! Traditional categories, like biography and primary source collections, continue to see strong publications and newer methodological innovations written within interdisciplinary fields are showcasing their value to the field. While there’s no way to include every single publication, these are the thirty or so that I believe will be most important to the field in the future. What did I get wrong? What did I miss? Let me know in the comments!

Continue Reading

JWHA CFP 2020 (St. George, UT)

Our friends at the John Whitmer Historical Association have published their call for their 2020 conference. You can see the original post HERE.

As pioneers and Zioneers left Nauvoo due to crushing conflict, Restoration groups in newly-created outposts struggled to build communities of worship.  Did they create  economic stability and refinement, or did they experience strife with competing neighbors?  Perhaps the outpost provided a visionary oasis with new doctrine and  ritual.  How did saints returning to Nauvoo try to negotiate a peaceful existence?   

Continue Reading

George F. Richards’ journals

The Church Historian’s Press has released a new George F. Richards (GFR) digital history project that includes transcripts of his journals. This appears similar to the George Q. Cannon diaries CHP project. Currently the website holds transcripts of the first two volumes of GFR’s journals, spanning August 1880 to March 1892. GFR’s journals have been on a short list of documents that I have been interested in for a long time, and I am consequently very excited.

Continue Reading