Mormon Studies Commons^™

The Legend Of The Bear Lake Monster, Melissa Anderson Asay

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

The Bear Lake Monster is a legend that has persisted for centuries. This monster is rooted in Shoshone oral traditions and hold the potential to be based off of fossils found in the Shoshone territory. This living legend was later amplified by Mormon settlers. One settler in particular, Joseph C. Rich, played a significant role in shaping its narrative. Though he eventually admitted to fabricating sightings to encourage settlement, belief in the creature remains alive today. The serpent’s presence in local lore has undeniably influenced the Bear Lake region, shaping both its identity and tourism industry. This legend serves as …

"Dark And Loathsome": The Construction And Persistence Of Racial Theology In The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Margaret Phillips

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints banned Black men from holding the priesthood until 1978, a policy many mistake for the whole of the faith's engagement with race. This thesis argues that the priesthood ban was only a symptom of a far deeper theology of race, one built into Mormonism's broader theology from its founding. Two intertwined beliefs anchor this theology: the default whiteness of the human body and soul, and twin curse narratives that mark Black and Indigenous peoples alike as bearers of a divine curse— dark skin read as the visible penalty for their ancestors' sin. …

On The Varieties Of Religious Experience In Latter-Day Saint Temples, 1836–1940, Jared Gage Bennett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

From 1836 to the present, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have constructed and undertaken rituals in buildings called temples. In the first temple in Kirtland, Ohio, its 1836 dedication was the scene of visions and speaking in tongues, much like those the apostles had at Pentecost in Acts 2. The second temple in Nauvoo, however, had none of these, and the third set of temples built in Utah, with the first completed in 1877, again saw a number of religious experiences but of a radically different form: mainly the appearance of the spirits of …

Bedeviled Beauty: My Journey Through White American Theater Institutions, J'Aila C. Price

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Game console: Oculus Quest

World: American Theater Institutions

Player: Minority

Place: United States

Level: “Ain’t no way.”

This thesis explores the contrast between the Westernized philosophies ingrained in my education and my identity as a Black female artist. It sheds light on the difficulties of pursuing higher education in the arts and the gaps that arise from limited exposure to culturally diverse Black resources, revealing the systemic issues in Western performance education. The paper also discusses the insights gained from my journey as a Black female artist, focusing on my thesis performance of Blood at the Root, which is …

"I Know The Dream Mine Is True": Mormons, Mining, And The Making Of "Bad Religion" In Early Twentieth-Century Utah, Christine V. Shell

American Studies ETDs

In 1894, folksy Mormon farmer-turned-prophet John H. Koyle, Jr, dreamed that an angel from the Book of Mormon showed him where and how to mine for golden ore and Book of Mormon treasures. Shortly afterwards, Koyle and a handful of friends established the “Dream Mine” at the revealed location, and as word spread additional workers joined the cause—for this was a mine destined to save the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members from financial and spiritual ruin during the long-foretold apocalyptic “Last Days.”

Koyle’s followers took delight and solace from their participation in the Dream Mine’s …

Constructing A Religious Paradox: The Nauvoo Temple, 1841-1846, Justin R. Bates

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

While still in poverty and fleeing heavy persecution in 1841, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints committed themselves to an unexpected architectural endeavor. They decided to construct a temple to their God in their newly christened frontier city of Nauvoo, Illinois. What motivated these poor, homeless, persecuted Christians to start construction on such an ambitious project? Though they were being driven from the state, were about to lose the Temple, and had just lost their alleged prophet, they still chose to finish it. Despite significant financial and social challenges, the Latter-day Saints chose to build the …

Womans Exponent Transcription File For Download, Lula Greene Richards, Emmeline B. Wells, Annie Wells Cannon, Harold B. Lee Library

The Woman’s Exponent Transcription

No abstract provided.

Clark Memorandum: Spring 2022, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Byu Law School Alumni Association, J. Reuben Clark Law Society

The Clark Memorandum

• General Joseph Smith and His Candidacy for the Presidency of the United States
• Leadership Lessons from the Life of Dallin H. Oaks
• Flunking the Founding
• Seven Lessons from the Life of Rex Lee

Postcolonialism And The Missionary Experience In The Book Of Mormon, Diana Witt

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

In their irreverent 2011 musical, The Book of Mormon, writer-composers Matt Stone, Trey Parker, and Robert Lopez satirize the work of Mormon missionaries. This paper analyzes the musical's book and lyrics, its cultural context and reception, and postcolonial scholarship. The paper argues that while The Book of Mormon operates as a postcolonialist text by critiquing cultural hegemony, it also reinforces stereotypes and practices present in colonization like othering and cultural colonialism.

Life In Utah As An Apostate Plural Wife, Markelle Jensen

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

The Saints And The State : The Mormon Troubles In Illinois, James Simeone

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

A compelling history of the 1846 Mormon expulsion from Illinois that exemplifies the limits of American democracy and religious tolerance.

When members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (known as Mormons) settled in Illinois in 1839, they had been persecuted for their beliefs from Ohio to Missouri. Illinoisans viewed themselves as religiously tolerant egalitarians and initially welcomed the Mormons to their state. However, non-Mormon locals who valued competitive individualism perceived the saints‘ western Illinois settlement, Nauvoo, as a theocracy with too much political power. Amid escalating tensions in 1844, anti-Mormon vigilantes assassinated church founder Joseph Smith and …

Mormon Women Connected Suffrage Directly To Joseph Smith’S First Vision And The Restoration Of The Gospel: Reflections From The 1920 Relief Society Magazine, Ahsley Anderson Webb, Jay H. Buckley

Faculty Publications

On a cold Thursday in early February 1920, newly enfranchised women from across the nation huddled together in Chicago for a seven-day-long Golden Jubilee. The anticipated passage of the Nineteenth Amendment needed only three more states for ratification, which occurred a few months later. At the same time, women in Utah reflected back half a century to February 12, 1870, when Utah Territory granted women the right to vote. Female Utahns rejoiced with their sisters throughout the United States who anticipated the fruition of universal suffrage. Susa Young Gates, who attended the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association Convention in Chicago, …

Orson Pratt And The Expansion Of The Doctrine And Covenants, Brian C. Passantino

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a faith that is distinguished by its religious texts. The nickname "Mormon," that has been applied to adherents of the faith, comes from the name of its most cherished canonical book, the Book of Mormon. Aside from the Bible and the Book of Mormon, Latter-day Saints accept two other books of scriptures – the Pearl of Great Price and the Doctrine and Covenants. These four books constitute the authorized scriptures of the faith, or as they refer to them, "the standard works."

My thesis focuses on the book entitled the Doctrine …

“He Denieth None That Come Unto Him” The Mormon-Jewish Relationship During The Holocaust And World War Ii, Erica Lauren Shaw

Online Theses and Dissertations

The Church of Latter-day Saints of Jesus Christ stumbled into fruition and global recognition after decades of oppression and resistance from its contemporaries. Despite its rocky beginnings, the Church’s membership remained largely friendly to anyone who expressed interest in their gospel. Among those whom they shared a positive relationship with were the Jewish people. The research presented here explored the history of that relationship from its doctrinal significance to its greatest test: the Holocaust and World War II.

"The Finest Of Any In The World": Silk Production And The Politicization Of Women In Utah, Hannah Chapman

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Temple Excursions From Tonga To New Zealand: Stories Of Faith, Mark D. Ogletree, Ph.D.

Mormon Pacific Historical Society

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had a presence in Tonga since July of 1891, when Mormon missionaries, Brigham Smoot and Alva Butler arrived in Nuku’alofa on the island of Tongatapu.1 Although the Tongan mission was organized as early as 1916, the Church did not began to grow at a steady rate in Tonga until the 1920s. The first stake in Tonga was created in 1968, and the Nuku’alofa Tonga Temple was dedicated in 1983. However, where did Tongan Latter-day Saints attend the temple between from the 1920s until 1983?

Swiss-American Missionaries For The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints In The Nineteenth Century, Cindy Brightenburg

Swiss American Historical Society Review

In the fa ll of 1888, Gottfried Buehler left his home, wife and small children in Utah for a two-year return to Switzerland. He had been ass igned by his church to serve a miss ion in the land of his birth with the goal to preach the tenets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormon church, and hereafter referred to as "the church") to the people of Switzerland, baptize them into membership , and encourage them to emigrate to the land of Zion, or the Utah Territory. From the mid- to late-nineteenth …

Joseph F. Smith’S Theology Of Temples: Changing Perceptions Of Temples And Temple Worship, Grant Underwood

Mormon Pacific Historical Society

No abstract provided.

The Sapporo Japan Temple: Cultural Fusion And Friction In The Development Of An Lds Japanese Identity, Stephen J. Moody, Dainan M. Skeem

Mormon Pacific Historical Society

Although it began as a small, local organization, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints grew into an international organization in a relatively short time frame. Church membership totaled just six individuals when it was established on 6 April 1830. That number had grown to 250,000 when Utah was granted statehood on 4 January 1896, with the vast majority located within the state. In 1947, one hundred years after being expelled from Illinois, membership reached the one million mark with membership still focused primarily within North America.1 In 1974, President Spencer W. Kimball gave a sermon that became a …

Mormon Historical Society Presentation

Mormon Pacific Historical Society

Aloha Everyone,

Our paternal and maternal grandparents, Goo Yee Kew and Choy Soong on the right; Chun Wah Ing and Lee Shee on the left immigrated from China to Hawaii in the early 1900s. Both grandfathers came over separately and established themselves as merchants and then went back for their wives, and returned to Hawaii coincidentally around the same time in February and March 1915 to raise their families here in Hawaii. They did not know each other. I've been able to find their immigration interviews from the Chinese Exclusion Act files which you will be able to look at …

Sacred Temple Experiences And The Nuku`Alofa Tonga Temple

Mormon Pacific Historical Society

Brothers and Sisters, Aloha! This is truly a high moment for me and Carolyn, to once again be among people we love, in the place we love, in these precious islands.

Labor Missionaries And The Laie Hawaii Temple

Mormon Pacific Historical Society

No abstract provided.

Raised In The Shadow Of The Temple: Impact On An Immigrant Family

Mormon Pacific Historical Society

No abstract provided.

Mormon Pacific Historical Society 2019 Conference “Lds Temples In The Pacific: A Centennial Celebration”

Mormon Pacific Historical Society

Brothers and Sisters,

I am Elder Gary Davis of the Church History Library in Salt Lake City, UT. My wife Deborah and I have been laboring in the Hawaiian Islands for the past 28 months as part of the Laie Hawaii Temple History Project. I began serving as a Church Service Missionary at the Church History Library on February 1, 2016. I was recruited to work in the Global Acquisitions section of the Church History Library and assigned to gather the journals, letters, personal histories, photographic images, oral histories, documents of all kinds and the testimonies of early members and …

Hong Kong: A Temple For Every Corner Of The World

Mormon Pacific Historical Society

A Special Case: An Exception to Temple Rationale

There was a sense of urgency for providing a temple in Hong Kong in the 1990s as in no other temple construction. This was because the ninety-nine-year lease that made Hong Kong a British colony was going to expire 30 June 1997.1 The British government would be handing over Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China on 1 July 1997.2 When Hong Kong became part of China, “religious organizations,” according to Elder John K. Carmack, “were to be given the right to acquire property; receive outside financial support, have ownership rights, …

Suva Fiji Temple

Mormon Pacific Historical Society

No abstract provided.

Elder William Mark Waddoups: Called And Served With Aloha, Carol Helekunihi

Mormon Pacific Historical Society

In the Laie, Hawaii Temple dedication from the Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, January, 1920, a report by President Rudgar Clawson, we read, “We thank thee, O Father , this day that the promise made in a dream to thy servant William W. Cluff, by the Prophet Brigham Young, that a day would come that a temple should be erected in this land, is fulfilled before our eyes”. p.4

Temple Work And The Tahitian Saints

Mormon Pacific Historical Society

Slide 1 The title of our presentation is “Temple Work and the Tahitian Saints.” The Culmination of the Lord’s Work anywhere in the world is to Help His Children Make and Keep Temple Covenants!! This presentation will address the milestones which marked the progress of the Lord’s inspired work in accomplishing this objective among the Tahitian Saints. It will be presented in three parts:

Mphs 2019 Conference

Mormon Pacific Historical Society

No abstract provided.

Unto The Isles Of The Sea: Latter-Day Saint Temples In The Pacific, Richard O. Cowan

Mormon Pacific Historical Society

Temple blessings and covenants are at the apex of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so temples have been important to Latter-day Saints in the Pacific. To what extent has temple building in this area reflected the pattern worldwide?