Digital Commons Network^™

The Partisan Press Of Illinois: Motivation, Rhetoric, And Aggression In Hancock County Newspapers, 1839-1844, Elizabeth Prete Bryner

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Much has been written about the pohtical origins of the Mormon conflicts in Nauvoo, Illinois, between 1839 and 1844, but relatively little scholarship has analyzed the role of the partisan press in that conflict. George Gayler and other historians claim that· Mormon political activity ... must be singled out as the chief source of irritation between [ the Mormons] and the Illinois citizens." However, Gayler limits his investigation of the press mostly to the anti-Mormon newspapers, the Nauvoo Expositor and the Warsaw Signal. Governor Thomas Fords History cf Illinois describes the sordid political battle between the Whigs and the …

How The Defiance Of The Mormon People Was Expressed By The Attitudes Of Federal Officials In Utah, Preston Hammerschmidt

Student Scholarship

The second half of the 1800s was one of the most important eras in all of American history. It is filled with bloodshed, great political movement, heroic actions, and sorrow. The Civil War was fought due to many factors including the ending of slavery and states’ rights. The Republican Party of 1856 ran on the ending of the "Twin Relics of Barbarianism." These relics are the issues of slavery and polygamy. The party looked to push a more radical agenda and end both of these "relics." The question of polygamy in the late 1800s parallels the issue of slavery in …

Stovall, Vickie Lynn (Smith) - Collector (Mss 732), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 732. Genealogical research, narratives, clippings, photographs, and local history pertaining to the Bennett, Hunt, Taylor and associated families of Kentucky, primarily Butler, McLean, Muhlenberg and Daviess counties.

Brief Of Scholars Of Mormon History & Law As Amici Curiae In Support Of Neither Party, Anna-Rose Mathieson, Ben Feuer, Nathan B. Oman

Nathan B. Oman

No abstract provided.

Perry Collection (Mss 676), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 676. Letters, papers, photographs and scrapbooks of the Perry family, principally Gideon Babcock Perry, rector of Grace Episcopal Church, Hopkinsville, Kentucky and his children, Reverend Henry G. Perry, Chicago, Illinois, and Emily B. Perry, Hopkinsville.

Limitation, Liberation, And The Latter-Day Saints: The Establishment Of Mormon Womanhood In The Woman’S Exponent, 1872-1890, Meaghan Harrington

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Navigating the establishment of Mormon womanhood from 1872-1890 in the Exponent shows how Mormon women related to their outer world, their inner world, and themselves. This thesis analyzes the thoughts, feelings, and desires of a complex sociocultural grouping, and asks the reader to question their own attitudes towards gender and culture. The rhetoric of Mormon womanhood in the Exponent and the culture from which it stemmed have implications for understanding both “the rights of the women of Zion, and the rights of the women of all nations.”

Representations Of Nineteenth Century Mormonism In A Mormon Maid: A Cinematic Analysis, Elisabeth Weagel

Journal of Religion & Film

During the first quarter of the 20th century there was a trend in Hollywood to make films about Mormons. Practices such as polygamy created just the kind of sensationalism that attracted filmmakers (even Thomas Edison contributed with his 1902 film A Trip to Salt Lake). Many of these were B-pictures, but the 1917 film A Mormon Maid stands out because it was produced by a major production company (Paramount) and was backed by top director Cecil B. DeMille. It is often given passing reference, but very little genuine scholarship has been done on the film. A hundred years …

Defining Communal Identity In The Ottoman Empire: Hagop Gagosian And The Mormon Armenians, 1890–1910, Courtney Cook

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

From Housewives To Protesters: The Story Of Mormons For The Equal Rights Amendment, Kelli N. Morrill

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

On November 17, 1980, twenty Mormon women and one man were arrested on criminal trespassing charges after chaining themselves to the Bellevue, Washington LDS Temple gate. The news media extensively covered the event due to the shocking photos of middle-aged housewives, covered in large chains, holding protest signs and being escorted to police cars. These women were part of the group Mormons for the Equal Rights Amendment (MERA) and were protesting the LDS Church’s opposition to the ERA. The LDS Church actively opposed the ERA and played an important role in influencing the vote in key states leading to its …

Brief Of Scholars Of Mormon History & Law As Amici Curiae In Support Of Neither Party, Anna-Rose Mathieson, Ben Feuer, Nathan B. Oman

Briefs

No abstract provided.

Vance, Edward Richard, 1833-1902 (Mss 612), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 612. Correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs and family papers of Richard Vance, a Warren County, Kentucky native and U.S. Army officer. After his Civil War service, Vance spent his career at several posts in the South and on the frontier until his retirement in 1892.

Upton, Larry Thurman, B. 1940 (Mss 553), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 553. Letters from Stella Minton to her daughter, Elizabeth Allen “Betty” Minton, about family matters, local happenings in Bowling Green and Warren County, church affairs in the local Mormon congregation, quilting, gardening, and cooking. Includes research notes by Larry Thurman Upton for his book Memory is a Wonderful Thing that goes over the history of the Upton family. In addition the collection contains information about the beginning of stock car racing at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Rood, Bryan, B. 1948 (Sc 1184), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1184. Letter from Bryant Rood to his girlfriend describing his experiences in the Vietnam War.

Minton, Stella (Phelps), 1892-1986, Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (click on "Additional Files") for Manuscripts Small Collection 2773. Commemorative material about Butler County, Kentucky native Stella (Phleps) Minton, which includes remembrances by relatives and excerpts from Stella’s letters to her daughter, Elizabeth “Betty” Allen (Minton) Upton. Much of this material was included in a book titled Memory is a Wonderful Thing: The Life and Letters of Stella Minton by Larry Upton and Judy McDonald and presented at the Upton Family Reunion, Phoenix, Arizona, 27-28 September 2013. Includes commemorative bookmark from the reunion.

Dean, Sophia Leona, 1855-1948 (Sc 788), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 788. Letters, 1934-1941 (7), cards (2), and photos (5), chiefly from Mormon missionaries to Sophia Leona Dean, Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Joseph F. Smith And The First World War: Eventual Support And Latter-Day Saint Chaplains, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

A discussion of the calling of three Latter-day Saint (Mormon) U.S. Army chaplains who served during World War I and support for the war from President Joseph F. Smith, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Captivity, Adoption, Marriage And Identity: Native American Children In Mormon Homes, 1847-1900., Michael Kay Bennion

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Indigenes of North America's Great Basin developed a way of life based on the available resources the Basin provided. Their culture and customs provided a stable means of understanding and interacting with nature and men. Their myths elaborated on expectations, hopes, and fears, in real and metaphorical ways, as evidenced by stories of the trickster Coyote. As Great Basin bands contacted Europeans, they adjusted their resource gathering based on new technologies, such as horses and guns, as well as their myths to cope with change. This process entailed some adjustment in their perceptions of the world around them and …

Ferguson, Nora (Young), 1882-1969 (Mss 379), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 379. Personal and family correspondence, papers, and genealogical research materials of Nora (Young) Ferguson, a native of Richardsville, Warren County, Kentucky. Includes original land, estate and guardianship records, and other early county records which Mrs. Ferguson was permitted to remove from the Warren County Courthouse for microfilming prior to its renovation in 1957. Click on "Additional Files" below to see receipts from the Warren County "Poor House."

Reclaimed From A Contracting Zion: The Evolving Significance Of St. Thomas, Nevada, Aaron James Mcarthur

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Historians tend to treat Mormon history separately from the larger patterns of western American and U. S. history. The history of St. Thomas, Nevada, the remains of which are within the boundaries of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, show that this segregated treatment is inadequate. St. Thomas was established in 1865 by Mormon missionaries after the Mormon leader Brigham Young sent them to the Moapa Valley in what is now southern Nevada to grow cotton. The town, like a few other Mormon sites in the region, was abandoned by the LDS Church, taken up by other people, and assigned …

Volkerding Family Papers (Mss 385), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 385. Letters written chiefly by Herman Frederick Wilhelm Volkerding, of Louisville, Kentucky, to his wife Mary Elizabeth (Hauber) Volkerding while traveling as a salesman for the John T. Barbee distillers. Volkerding pines for home and describes the scenery, hotels, amusements and rail travel in the western United States.

Latter-Day Saints And The Civil War, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

An introduction to "Civil War Saints" published in 2012 by the Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center and Deseret Book, Kenneth L. Alford, editor.

What's In A Name? The Establishment Of Camp Douglas, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D., William P. Mackinnon

Faculty Publications

A discussion of the establishment (1862) of Camp Douglas, Utah Territory -- named by Col. Patrick Edward Connor after U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas.

Utah And The Civil War Press, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

A discussion of how Mormons were treated in the national press during the American Civil War with an emphasis on polygamy, statehood requests, loyalty, and Brigham Young.

This chapter was originally published (and reprinted in "Civil War Saints" with permission):

Kenneth L. Alford, “Utah and the Civil War Press.” Utah Historical Quarterly 80, no. 1 (Winter 2012): 75–92.

Mormon Motivation For Enlisting In The Civil War, Brant Ellsworth, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

A discussion of several Latter-day Saint (Mormon) Union and Confederate soldiers who served in the American Civil War.

Camp Douglas: Keeping A Watchful Eye On The Saints, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

A discussion of the establishment (1862) and early years of Camp Douglas, Utah Territory. Discusses the tense relationship between Brigham Young and Colonel (later Brigadier General) Patrick Edward Connor, U.S. Army commander of Camp Douglas.

‘Good News’ At The Cape Of Good Hope: Early Lds Missionary Activities In South Africa., Jay H. Buckley

Jay H. Buckley

The Walker War Reconsidered, Ryan Elwood Wimmer

Theses and Dissertations

In July of 1853, Chief Wakara's band of Utes clashed in a series of violent confrontations with the Mormon settlers. This conflict is known as the Walker War. Many complex factors contributed to this war. After some earlier violence between Mormons and different bands of Utes between 1847 and 1851, the Mormons continued their quick expansion settling on Ute lands. From 1851 to 1853 Mormon and Ute relations continued to decline as Mormons expanded their settlements occupying Ute hunting grounds. In addition to these land encroachments, new laws were enacted regulating trade between the Spanish and Utes by Brigham Young. …

Violence Across The Land: Vigilantism And Extralegal Justice In The Utah Territory, Scott K. Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

For years historians of the American West have overlooked Utah when dealing with the subject of extrajudicial violence, while researchers of Mormonism have misread the existence of such violence in territorial Utah. The former asserts that Utah was free from extrajudicial proceedings and that such violence was nearly nonexistent within the contours of the Mormon kingdom. The latter maintains that any violence that existed in Utah was directly connected to the religious fanaticism of the Mormon populace in the region. The reality is that much of the extralegal violence in Utah was a result of the frontier, not the religion …

Brief History Of Religion In Northeast Ohio, A, George W. Knepper

Cleveland Memory

This monograph presents a concise but comprehensive look at the history of religion in Northeast Ohio. Starting with the early settlers from New England, Professor Knepper traces the increasingly diverse mixture of faiths that now characterize the life of the sacred in Northeast Ohio. In doing this, Professor Knepper is drawing on a lifetime of study into Ohio's history. Original publication date 2002.

Ordinary Words: Towards A New Understanding Of The 19th Century Mormon Male Diary, Sara Jordan

Arrington Student Writing Award Winners

“It is hard to believe that any group of comparable size, with the possible exception of the Puritans and the Quakers, has been as relentless as the Mormons in writing diaries and autobiographies.” So wrote Davis Bitton, in the Introduction of the 1977 publication Guide to Mormon Diaries and Autobiographies, an index of nearly 3,000 published and unpublished works. Bitton, a close friend and colleague of Mormon History Scholar Leonard Arrington worked with Arrington for decades to create “a research program of [God’s] people’s history.” At the heart of that program was and continues to be the diary. Bitton and …