From our friends at the Joseph Smith Papers Project:

Call for Papers

“Joseph Smith’s Expanding Visions and the Practical Realities of Establishing Nauvoo.” 

(September 1839-April 1842)

On 11 October 2019, the Joseph Smith Papers Project will host its third annual conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. As with past years, the 2019 conference will be held to celebrate the release of recent volumes–Documents 7, Documents 8, and Documents 9. These volumes reproduce high-quality transcriptions of Joseph Smith’s papers from September 1839 through April 1842. As noted in the call for papers:

This period was a time of rapid innovation for Joseph Smith and the church: the Relief Society was established, the doctrine of baptism for the dead was introduced, plans were made for both a temple and the Nauvoo House, Latter-day Saints participated in Freemasonry, and the apostles served a mission in England. These ambitious developments, however, occurred while church leaders and members faced the practical realities of settling and living in Nauvoo: financing new settlements, incorporating Nauvoo and creating the city charter, forming the Nauvoo Legion, dealing with debt and poverty, adjusting the responsibilities of church leaders, responding to abiding tensions with Missouri, and attempting to obtain redress from the Missouri persecutions of the 1830s.

We invite scholars of all career stages and backgrounds to submit paper proposals that address these broad themes or other topics covered in volumes seven, eight, and nine of the Documents series. Scholars are invited (but not required) to consider what kinds of histories and narratives emerge from this period, recognizing that the ambitious theological and administrative developments in Nauvoo took place while Joseph Smith, church leaders, and the Saints were preoccupied with the responsibility of ensuring the survival of their community. In brief, this conference seeks to better understand how Joseph Smith’s lofty visions and the pragmatic realities of establishing Nauvoo shaped each other.

Paper proposals should consist of a brief abstract (no more than 500 words) and a current CV; both should be sent to Chase Kirkham (chkirk@churchofjesuschrist.org) by March 29, 2019.

For additional information, see the Call for Papers at josephsmithpapers.org.