Spring 1970
This issue delves into the history of Mormons in early Illinois, beginning with an introduction by Stanley Kimball. T. Edgar Lyon then examines the current restoration efforts in Nauvoo, highlighting its historical significance. Robert Bruce Flanders explores the political landscape of the Kingdom of God in Illinois, describing the unique governance and social order established by Mormons. Leonard J. Arrington and Jon Haupt analyze how the Missouri and Illinois Mormons were depicted in antebellum fiction, shedding light on their cultural representation. Richard L. Bushman discusses the role of historians in interpreting the history of Mormon Nauvoo, while Richard P. Howard details the Reorganized Church's search for identity in Illinois between 1852 and 1882. John C. Abbott offers insights into the sources of Mormon history in Illinois from 1832 to 1848, along with a bibliographic note that serves as a resource for further research. The poetry section features "Hagiography" by Leonard Tourney, and the fiction segment includes "The Opening Day" by Douglas Thayer. Plus reviews and more!
The Illinois period of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints commenced eight years after the founding of the Church in Fayette, New York on April 6, 1830, by Joseph Smith. From New York…
Approximately 250 miles southwest of Chicago and 150 miles north of St. Louis lies Nauvoo, Illinois. At this place the Mississippi River rather abruptly pushes itself into Iowa and then returns again to its generally…
The purpose of this paper is to re-examine, in a political frame of reference, the persistent question as to why the Mormons were so ferociously constrained from their attempt to establish at Nauvoo a society…
Our understanding of the American past has been greatly enriched in recent years by studies which have made use of literary sources. Few works, for example, surpass the challenging insights and interpretations of Henry Nash Smith’s Virgin Land (1950), William R. Taylor’s Cavalier and Yankee (1961), Edmund Wilson’s Patriotic Gore (1962), and Leo Marx’s The Machine in the Garden (1964). Such studies have proved to be so useful that some historians now concede that a review of the contemporary fiction is a fruitful, if not an indispensable, preliminary to the search for historical truth in any period.
Were a nineteenth-century Mormon to assess the current scholarly literature on the Mormons in Illinois, or on Mormon history in general for that matter, he would probably be perplexed. While compelled to admit that the…
The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (here after referred to as the RLDS Church) was headquartered in the State of Illinois until 1882. To a greater degree than that of any…
“Sources of Mormon History in Illinois, 1839-48” at Southern Illinois University, is a collection of documents (most of which are on microfilm), which was assembled by Stanley B. Kimball, who also published an annotated catalog…
Doc and my father got up at 4 o’clock to light the fire, heat water on the Coleman stoves for washing and get the breakfast started, then woke the rest of us. Standing outside of…
Dear Sirs:
Boycotts at BYU have reached our ears here. Considering the official and unofficial discrimination at the “Y” in the past it is not unexpected. (Actually one boycott lead er was from a black LDS family in Oakland)….
Several years ago when I first heard that someone was doing research on the life of Brigham Young I was most elated, and somewhat envious. Of all the nineteenth-century Mormon leaders, he seemed to me…
Her songs—those that I remember—
Were of the flight and winter crossing,
The wagons and sick children,
This book has developed out of the author’s lifetime experiences in association with the two major Restoration Churches. Although he has spent most of his adult life as a member of the Reorganized Church of…
This is a unique composition in the true sense of the word—there is not another with which it can be compared. Francis W. Holm, Sr., was reared in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day…
In the history of the West, Brigham Young is a star of the first magnitude, for no man shaped the history of the Great Basin more dramatically nor influenced the ultimate destiny of the Mormons…
God, Man and the Universe is the first volume of a four-volume work entitled Foundations of the Millenial Kingdom of Christ. The author in his preface states, “This study is an effort to analyze the…
“Probably the key issue in my entire mission was whether I should do everything my leaders told me to do. This issue, I believe, will be one of major importance in the years to come.”…
