August 2007 has seen the passing of two fine Mormon historians
Author: Ardis E. Parshall
Ardis loved her time here with Times and Seasons, and invites you to visit her at Keepapitchinin.
Twisted
Baseball cards and Pokemon cards are the modern descendants of the 18th and 19th century trade card
Roll Call: Non-U.S. Readers of T&S
Comments expressing love for President Faust have been left by readers in India and the Netherlands Antilles.
James E. Faust, 1920-2007
President James E. Faust, second counselor to President Gordon B. Hinckley, has passed away at age 87.
Tickled by the Fringes
For more than 200 years, my father’s family has lived in western New York, centered between Canandaigua and Palmyra. Whenever anyone publishes a description of Joseph Smith’s neighborhood and the neighbors who knew him or hired him or harassed him, I scour the writing for familiar names.
My Love Letter to Boy Scouts
I heard today from a great-grandchild (one of 30) of the little girl in the story below
To the Mountains of Ephraim
This is a talk I gave in Sacrament Meeting today.
The Opening Up of Africa
An editorial by this title appeared in the Deseret News late in 1877.
“Corianton”: Genealogy of a Mormon Phenomenon
This is the paper I read at the recent Mormon History Association meeting. I post it now in connection with T&S’s Mormon Writers Series commemoration of the 30th anniversary of President Spencer W. Kimball’s call for a renaissance in Mormon cultural arts
“New Pioneers … On the March!”
What does today’s Deseret Morning News editorial have in common with my 1941 copper medal bearing the legend “Our Standard Bearer†over the likeness of President Heber J. Grant?
Les Arabes
They weren’t like us. “Watch out for les Arabes,†I learned as a missionary in the south of France.
A flower? A hanky?
So what was it? What did your ward pass out to its mothers/all women on Mother’s/Every-Woman-Over-18 Day?
A Bundle of Bandlos
Have You Read All These Books?
I’ll bet all of us with sizable book collections have heard this question from time to time.
Wanted: Mormon Folk Songs
I love Mormon folk songs.
“The Mormons” on PBS
We have never suffered a shortage of outside experts who would explain us to ourselves and the world.
Justice for Peggy
It may not have been the worst thing I ever did, but I regretted it the longest.
Ronald Davis Bitton, 1930-2007 (Updated)
“He had dedicated his life – his time, his energy, his talents – to the greatest cause of all, the work of God on earth.†The evaluation with which Davis Bitton closed his award-winning biography of George Q. Cannon tells us what Davis considered to be the highest and best use of a lifetime, and it serves equally well as Davis’s own epitaph.
A Ward Family
How comfortable would you be if someone important – your prospective father-in-law, or that trophy client you’ve been courting – showed up at your door and asked to go to church with you?
Needling Grandma
Patriarchal Blessings
FYI. A change in policy effective this month:
Ora Johnson Dalton: Willing to Assist Him
Of all the women whose stories have been told in these pages, Ora Johnson Dalton would probably be the most astonished to learn that her life could be honored as a model of faith.
Brigham Invites a Kiss
I love Brigham Young. I really do. He was a great man by just about every measure. My appreciation for his finer qualities, however, doesn’t blind me to his weak spots.
Forget polygamists, Mitt descends from a DESERTER!!!!
With all the recent attention to Mitt Romney’s polygamous ancestors, I’m surprised no one has yet commented on the really colorful and interesting ancestor, a decorated Prussian soldier who emigrated to the U.S., marched with the Utah Expedition against the Mormons in 1857, then deserted the army and sought asylum in Salt Lake City, eloping with his Iron Cross.
Julie’s Papers (2 of 2)
After transcribing Julie’s papers, which surprisingly took only a few weeks since they were so interesting that I became fanatical about transcribing during the day and polishing a translation at night, I gave a presentation to the Archives staff about their newest collection.
Julie’s Papers (1 of 2) [Updated]
In the Age of Too Much Information, we may forget the unrelenting forces of fire, vermin, carelessness, ignorance, vandalism, damp, and neglect that have destroyed so much of the written evidence of history.
Julie Desaules Desaules: Heart of Her Extended Family
Thousands of French Protestants fled to Switzerland during the religious wars of the 16th century. One such family settled in the village of Saules, in Neuchatel.
“Echoes of Lives Wrecked”
[Disclaimer: This post is in tribute to BYU’s excellent but short-lived page on the history of Mormon polygamy.
Will They Remember Me?
I ordinarily don’t post or even link to my Salt Lake Tribune column here on T&S. This one is a little different, though, because it’s about an extraordinary young Mormon man, and the Tribune being the Tribune, I couldn’t include all the Mormon elements I might have liked to.
Without Purse or Scrip
Arriving in Salt Lake City in 1898, a young preacher named James Hart tested the generosity of the people among whom he had landed.