A friend of mine mentioned to me last week that he hoped that the John V. Long documents would be sold for a million dollars…and then prove to contain nothing of worth, just to prove the conspiracy theorists wrong. The discovery of two original and unpublished Eliza R. Snow poems in the collection may not shed light on Long’s mysterious death, but they do begin to confirm the tangible historical value of the collection. ABC4.com reports that the two poems were found in the scrapbook of Sarah Long, wife of John V. Long.
Like many of Snow’s poems, these treat spiritual topics. It will be interesting to see how these new poems compare with the rest of Snow’s nearly 500 poems, which are being edited for publication by Jill Mulvay Derr and Karen Lynn Davidson. I have been informed by a reliable source that Derr will be stepping down from her position in the Family and Church History Department, in part to continue work on the Snow papers. She will be replaced by Max Evans, formerly of the National Archives. Davidson continues her work as an editor for the Joseph Smith Papers, History Series.
I’ve heard from an expert on the poems of Eliza Snow that the two poems in the Long collection (which she has seen) are NOT unknown. Both are available in other sources. I’m not sure if they have been published or not. The fact that they are different iterations is an advance in understanding the textual history of the poems, but we shouldn’t be jumping up and down with excitement just yet.
I think we should be cautious in approaching this new collection. Why should we blindly accept the word of the guy who’s trying to sell the collection? (advise worth remembering both on a used car lot as well as a manuscript dealers shop). Let’s first understand the documents for what they are. And then let’s get them in a repository where they can be studied and looked at by anyone interested. To put a price on history is a pet peeve of mine that I probably shouldn’t get into right now.
Comment by Rob — November 11, 2007 @ 5:51 pm
Rob: I agree that until we can really get into the collection, we won’t know for sure what’s there or not. I wish that your unidentified friend would make her expert opinions known in the media, because in the mean time, all we have to go on are Sanders’ statements.
Comment by David Grua — November 11, 2007 @ 7:49 pm
[…] on Eliza R. Snow poems: I’ve been informed by a reliable source that the two new poems are not […]
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