Fall 1983
The Fall 1983 issue offers a blend of personal reflections, historical insights, and social topics within Mormonism. Davis Bitton shares a memoir of his decade in the "Camelot" era of LDS history. Marybeth Raynes and Erin Parsons provide an overview of LDS leaders' statements about single members, with Jeffrey Ogden Johnson discussing single men's roles and Lavina Fielding Anderson focusing on single women’s contributions. Susan B. Taber addresses men’s perspectives on motherhood. Personal narratives include Clifton H. Jolley’s moral tale about selling a Chevrolet and Lawrence Foster’s reflections on his journey with Mormon history. Fiction by Helen Walker Jones and poetry by Joyce Ellen Davis add literary depth. Tim B. Heaton and Sandra Calkins explore contraceptive use among Mormons from 1965-1975. Stephen W. Stathis surveys current literature, Larry C. Porter covers recent awards from the Mormon History Association, and Dennis Rowley examines the historical Ezra Booth letters preserved in archives.
Between 1972 and 1982 I was part of the team of historians located in the Church Office Building under the direction of Leonard J. Arrington. It was a golden decade—a brief period of excitement and…
Being married is one of the most important ideas within Mormon culture, emphasized almost to the exclusion of other states of being. Much like the moon that is visible only when reflecting the sun’s light,…
The Doctrine and Covenants contains extremely specific instructions concerning marriage for men:
In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees;
Dialogue 16.3 (Autumn 1983): 68–69
I would like to discuss teh social experience of historical Latter-day Saint single women in the context of five questions: (1) Does she have an acceptable reason for being single? (2) Can she provide for her own economic security? (3) What place does she occupy in her family of origin? (4) Can she contribute to her community in a way that she will be rewarded for? (5) What was the emotinoal life of a single women in past generations?
Latter-day Saint women are not lacking counsel on their proper roles which are, of course, found exclusively within the Church and family. Such writings, appropriately authored by men, carefully detail how women are uniquely suited…
Dialogue 16.3 (Fall 1984): 108–113
For some families, delaying birth control until after the arrival of the first or second child is undoubtedly consistent with a desire to begin a family soon after marriage. In other cases, however, failure to practice birth control during the first and/or second birth intervals may be based on a belief that to do so would be contrary to Church teachings.
In those Idaho summers, Maggie drove a tractor and sat on her hands in the movies, hiding her callouses from the fresh-faced college boys she dated. She worried about her peeling nose and ate nothing…
This is the saddest story I have ever told. Not because The Chevrolet is gone, but because it probably is not. This much is known. During the Christmas season of 1973, Gene and Charlotte England…
For nearly a decade, the greater part of my waking hours has been spent in the study of Mormon history. In writing a dissertation at the University of Chicago and then a book dealing in…
As Mormonism embarked upon the 1980s, it appeared, at least outwardly, that the Church might be well advised to prepare for a new era of journalistic sensationalism and criticism. To combat this anticipated struggle, a…
