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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Making The Desert Blossom: Public Works In Washington County, Utah, Michael Lyle Shamo
Making The Desert Blossom: Public Works In Washington County, Utah, Michael Lyle Shamo
Theses and Dissertations
The following thesis is a study of how communities of Washington County, Utah developed within one of the most inhospitable deserts of the American West. A trend of reliance on public works programs during economic depressions, not only put people to work, but also provided an influx of outside aid to develop an infrastructure for future economic stability and growth. Each of these public works was carefully planned by leaders who not only saw the immediate impact these projects would have, but also future benefits they would confer. These communities also became dependent on acquiring outside investment capital from the …
Violence Across The Land: Vigilantism And Extralegal Justice In The Utah Territory, Scott K. Thomas
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 …
The Home Of Truth: The Metaphysical World Of Marie Ogden, Stanley J. Thayne
The Home Of Truth: The Metaphysical World Of Marie Ogden, Stanley J. Thayne
Theses and Dissertations
Marie Ogden's Home of Truth colony—a religious community that was located in southern Utah during the 1930s and 40s—was part of a segment of the American religious landscape that has largely been overlooked. As such, her movement points to a significant gap in the historiography of American religion. In addition to documenting the history of this obscure community, I situate Marie Ogden as part of what I call the early new age of American religion, an underdeveloped part of the broader categories of metaphysical religion or Western esotericism. This thesis also points to several other overlooked figures from the same …
Memoirs Of The Persecuted: Persecution, Memory, And The West As A Mormon Refuge, David W. Grua
Memoirs Of The Persecuted: Persecution, Memory, And The West As A Mormon Refuge, David W. Grua
Theses and Dissertations
The memory of past violence in Missouri and Illinois during the 1830s and 1840s shaped how members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Latter-day Saints or Mormons) saw themselves, their persecutors, and the states and the nation where the violence occurred. This thesis explores the role of collective memory of violence in forming Mormon identities and images of place from 1838, when governor Lilburn W. Boggs expelled the Latter-day Saints from Missouri, to 1858, with the conclusion of the Utah War. I argue that Latter-day Saint authors during these two decades used the memory of persecution to …
Land Grabbers, Toadstool Worshippers, And The Sagebrush Rebellion In Utah, 1979-1981, Jedediah S. Rogers
Land Grabbers, Toadstool Worshippers, And The Sagebrush Rebellion In Utah, 1979-1981, Jedediah S. Rogers
Theses and Dissertations
In 1979, a handful of Nevada state officials sparked a movement to transfer the large unappropriated domain to the western states. For two years what became known as the Sagebrush Rebellion swept across the American West like brushfire, engaging westerners of all stripes in a heated dispute over the question of the public lands. In Utah, as elsewhere in the West, public officials, rural ranchers, miners, developers, academics, environmentalists, and concerned citizens joined the debate and staked sides. This episode underscored western relationships between people and nature and featured contests over competing ideologies in the West. But it probably did …
The "Unidentified Pioneers": An Analysis Of Staffordshire Mormons, 1837 To 1870, Stephen G. Arrowsmith
The "Unidentified Pioneers": An Analysis Of Staffordshire Mormons, 1837 To 1870, Stephen G. Arrowsmith
Theses and Dissertations
The evidence presented in this thesis advocates an increased level of scholarly interest in English working-class Mormon converts. To illustrate who these people were, and what their roles were as part of Mormon story, this regional study introduces and makes available over twelve hundred Staffordshire Mormons, and asks questions of the collected statistical information. The conservative Staffordshire Mormons clearly assisted the establishment, and continuation, off a Zion in the American West. Much of the data confirms previous scholarship; however, those with “differing visions” of Mormonism (for example, the RLDS Church) attracted Staffordshire converts in larger numbers than previously suggested. The …
John C. Freemont's Expeditions Into Utah: An Historical Analysis Of The Explorer's Contributions And Significance To The Region, Alexander L. Baugh
John C. Freemont's Expeditions Into Utah: An Historical Analysis Of The Explorer's Contributions And Significance To The Region, Alexander L. Baugh
Theses and Dissertations
John Charles Fremont conducted five expeditions to the West during a period of twelve years (1842-1854). On four occasions, during three of these expeditions (1843-1844, 1845, and 1854), the explorer entered the Utah region. His explorations in northern Utah in 1843 focused primarily on the scientific analysis and survey of the Great Salt Lake. In 1844, Fremont again entered the Utah area and made scientific observations and calculations about the region, including accurately defining the geographic region known as the Great Basin, the name given it by Fremont. In 1845, Fremont proceeded through Utah while enroute to California and spent …