Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Innovation And Entrepreneurial Spirit: Leonard J. Arrington And The Impact Of New Mormon History, John H. Brumbaugh

Arrington Student Writing Award Winners

Writing Mormon history has never been as easy as putting ink on paper. The historian Linda Sillitoe explained, “History is crucial in Mormonism.” David Bohn elaborated on the former observation, “Every attempt to undermine the historical authenticity of the foundational events of the Mormon past constitutes an assault on Latter-day Saint self-understanding.” Thus the reconstruction of Mormon history occurs in a spiritually-charged arena. At the center of the conflict within the Mormon historiography stands a farm boy from Idaho, Leonard J. Arrington. This man carried the study of Mormonism into new areas of scholarly acceptance. His entrepreneurial spirit led to …

Knowing The Man In History, Genevieve Draper

Arrington Student Writing Award Winners

The sixteenth annual Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History Lecture was dedicated to knowing the man in the history. In researching and recording history, Arrington contributed to our honestly understanding the past. In keeping his own diary, Arrington contributed to the understanding of what is now history to us. Many of the anecdotes revealed in the lecture, such as the story of his original prize hens and rooster, what he paid for them and his eventual return, record a time little likely to occur again. The common practices of the day become surprising customs to future generations.

Leonard Arrington’s diaries are …