Buried in the comments of another post is some delightful discussion of the making of Danish beer by the early immigrants to Sanpete County (and no doubt other places). I’ve copied the comments here so that they can be more easily found later.

Enjoy! (The discussion I mean, not the beer …)

Then counselor in the First Presidency, David O. McKay gave an extraordinary talk at a BYU assembly on January 29, 1935. The full text is posted here; below are excerpts and a summary.

Building on the text that “Zion shall flourish and the glory of the Lord shall be upon her,” Elder McKay invites listeners to consider a picture of the Zion the Latter-day Saints intend to build.

If we have in mind the physical Zion, then we must strive for more fertile acres; bring from the mountains gold and silver in abundance; found factories to furnish more employment; extend in length and width our concrete public highways; build banks to protect, or to dissipate, as has been the case recently, the wealth we accumulate; transform our vast coal fields into electricity that will furnish light, heat and power to every family; improve the means of communication until with radio in our pockets we may communicate with friends and loved ones from any point at any given moment.

In case you wonder whether he was inspired by pop culture, know that Dick Tracy’s two-way wrist radio didn’t appear in the comic strip until 13 January 1946, nine years after this BYU address.

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Little White Lab Rat has been forced by ill health to eat as close to a no-fat diet as possible for the past few months. It’s a case of the mouse trap with its potential to snap my neck being less painfully dangerous than the cheese with which the trap is baited.

I call it my “Know Nothing Diet” based on a conversation I have with myself at least three times a day:

I: Can I have something tasty for breakfast/lunch/dinner?

Myself: No, nothing.

No fat means no dairy (pale blue water peddled by lying capitalists as skim “milk” doesn’t count), virtually no meat, no egg yolks (whoever invented the eggwhite omelet probably thinks it’s a good idea to fry the feathers and throw away the chicken, too), no nuts, no avocados, no olives, no salad dressing, no oils used in foods or for frying, and a very careful reading of labels to ferret out the sneaky marketers who set their serving sizes to unrealistically minuscule fractions of teaspoons in order to take advantage of the law that says you can label something as “nonfat” as long as it doesn’t contain above a certain amount of fat-per-serving.

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Lesson 32: “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth”

Job 1-2; 13; 19; 27; 42

Purpose: To help class members develop strength to face adversity by trusting the Lord, building their testimonies of him, and maintaining personal integrity.

Preparation: Print “Theodicy” on a piece of paper so that it is large enough to be seen throughout the room.

LESSON DEVELOPMENT

Attention Activity:

[Clip “theodicy” sign to board.]

Scholars of religion have specialized terms to refer to various aspects of the scriptures. One of those terms, theodicy, refers to “divine justice,” or the “justice of God.” We have seen a great many examples of divine justice in our discussions of the Old Testament this year. In the very beginning of time, Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden because they had disobeyed God’s instructions with respect to the fruit of the tree, and his divine justice required that he keep his word that they should surely die. Later, we see that Abraham, who was faithful throughout his life to every instruction from God received the justice of the rewards God had promised him for his obedience.

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Lesson 35: God Reveals His Secrets to His Prophets

While not strictly a gospel lesson taught in the auxiliaries of the church, this lesson comes from an Old Testament study published by Sidney B. Sperry, then “Head of Department, Bible and Modern Scriptures, Brigham Young University,” The Message of the Twelve Prophets (Independence, Missouri: Press of Zion’s Printing and Publishing Company, 1941), and is therefore no doubt representative of Old Testament teaching at BYU during the 1930s and ‘40s.

AMOS – PROPHET OF SOCIAL JUSTICE

EARLY LIFE AND TIMES OF THE PROPHET. – The name of the prophet means “burden-bearer” or “burdened”. The reader is cautioned against confusing the name of Amos with that of Amoz, the father of Isaiah the prophet. The early life of Amos, and for aught we know, most of his life, was spent at Tekoa, a small town located on a hill at the edge of the Judean plateau six miles south of Bethlehem. The writer spent considerable time at this place and a more desolate site for a town or village can scarcely be imaged. It is necessary to walk the six miles from Bethlehem or ride one of the poor donkeys that can be hired for a small sum from Arab owners. Little remains of the buildings that were constructed at various times on the site of the town. (more…)

For background, see here
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… and still more funnies from the church magazines of 1948:

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Sales manager: “Miss Lee, wire Matt Brown that I’ll meet him Friday in Oconomowoc.”

Miss Lee: “Yes, sir. But how do you spell Ocon – that town?”

S.M.: “Good gracious! Don’t tell me you can’t spell such a simple name. it’s capital O-c-o- — Capital O-c-k – Tell him I’ll meet him in St. Paul.”

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The 58th Annual Utah State History Conference will be held September 9-11, 2010, chiefly at the D&RG Railroad Depot (300 South 450 West, Salt Lake City), with a special session to be held at the Utah State Capitol (350 North State Street). The full program can be viewed at the state history website. All sessions (except a Pony Express tour to be given in conjunction with the meeting) are free to the public.

Sessions that appear to have special interest for Mormon Studies beyond solely Utah interest include these:

Thursday, September 9, 2010, Utah State Capitol, Hall of Governors, First Floor

9:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.

Paul Reeve, “To Blot Out the Territory: Congressman James M. Ashley’s 1869 Attempt to Eliminate Utah and Reconstruct the West”

10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon

Thomas Alexander, “Origins and Development of Utah’s Constitution: The 1895 Constitution as a Reflection of Utah’s Territorial Experience”

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We have one month to finalize proposals for presenting at next year’s Mormon History Association conference in St. George, Utah. The conference is always a lot more fun when you’re participating in some way beyond sitting in the audience – take a deep breath and dare to propose a paper or organize a panel.

Theme:

“From Cotton to Cosmopolitan: Local, National, and Global Transformations in Mormon History”

Conference date and place:

May 26-29, 2011
Dixie Center, St. George, Utah

Deadline for Proposals: Friday, October 1, 2011

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From Joseph F. Smith –

The reason for these words of admonition and counsel to the Saints will appear from the following extract taken from a letter of one of the stake presidents, dated August 9th, 1902:

“In the —– Ward of this stake there was a sister who has been confined to her bed in sickness for nearly six years, and recently her father, who is a prominent and a very good man in that community, was persuaded to believe that his daughter was bewitched, and through the persuasions of friends in Logan and Salt Lake consulted a woman in Salt Lake City, who informed him that his daughter was bewitched, and assumed to describe the persons who had placed the spell upon her. The description seemed to agree exactly with that of a brother and sister residing in the ward, both of whom are considered among the best people of the Church in that community. This brother seemed to doubt the statements of the woman, and in order to satisfy him perfectly she proposed to show him their faces in her ‘glass’ or ‘peep stone,’ which she did with the desired result. He was convinced, and on returning home explained matters in detail to his family and friends, and the sensation spread steadily until now the ward is greatly agitated and the story is being told and to some extent believed in other wards in this stake as well as in —–.

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Newspapers throughout the United States repeatedly called 27-year-old Ruth Farnsworth “the prettiest girl on Guam.” They may have been right; the only photograph I have found, a grainy, irreproducible  print, shows a young woman with curly hair (reddish, I’m told) piled high on her head, high cheekbones, and full lips, gazing frankly at the camera. She probably looked up from her counter with that same frank gaze as three men entered her souvenir shop on the island of Guam on the evening of Saturday, December 11, 1948.

Ruth was only 5’4″, but the evidence shows she fought like a tiger when the men attacked her. Bobby pins were strewn around the shop; her watch and other jewelry were pulled off in the struggle; the cement floor was scratched where she kicked and wrestled; and part of a fingernail left on the floor showed she had clawed fiercely in her attempt to escape. But she was overpowered and abducted, as John “Red” Arnold, the shop owner, discovered at 8:30 when he drove by and saw the door left wide open but the shop lights out. He immediately called the U.S. Military Police, responsible for law enforcement on the Pacific island that was still under military control following its recapture from Japan during the recent war.

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(See here for background)

From 1959  (this is the only BHWY entry I could not find in real form, so we have to settle for a print from a microfilm. *sigh*) –

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They did it again.

So your sweet young daughter or your tender-hearted grandson goes out to the mailbox one day and brings in the newly published Church magazine for children. She or he takes off the wrapper, and sees this cover –

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The source of these questions and answers can be found in the first installment of this series. It bears repeating for newcomers that the person(s) answering these questions is/are not identified, and that the answers given here are not necessarily current teaching. The chief value of these columns today is in seeing what issues were on the minds of ordinary Church members 60 years ago, and in noting what has changed since then, or what issues we consider modern concerns were being discussed that long ago.

Q. Are hiking and camping trips by Boy Scouts on the Sabbath Day approved by the Church? – M.O.L., Farmington.

A. Hiking and camping trips by Boy Scouts and other Latter-day Saint groups on the Sabbath Day are contrary to the teachings of the Church and not approved by the national program of Boy Scouting. Scouts should not travel to or return from camps on Sunday, and when they are in camp on this day all activity should conform to the teachings of the Gospel. Church services should be held, and the proper Sabbath spirit observed. There should be no hikes, games, or sports which are not in keeping with the Sabbath. Bishops and MIA officers who are responsible for ward activity should endeavor to abide by these rules.

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BCC’s sidebar links to this report of a clinical study providing scientific evidence for something most of us have heard before: drinking water — plain, pure water — before meals helps you eat less, probably by filling your stomach and helping you feel fuller faster, or at least by reducing the amount of sugary sodas you might otherwise drink. The study says that in their trials, people 55-75 years of age who drank two cups of water before meals ate 75-90% fewer calories, and lost 5 pounds more during the study period than a control group who did not drink water before meals.

Well, this proves that just about anything can be made into a Mormon history post.

Our ancestors promoted the drinking of water — not to lose weight, but as a healthful alternative to drinks condemned by the Word of Wisdom. They even wrote songs to promote the drinking of water. Here are two such songs, the first dating to 1875 and the second to 1887.

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On 20 May 1848, Samuel Whitney Richards and his brother, Franklin Dewey Richards, arrived at Winter Quarters, Nebraska after nearly two years spent on missions in England and Scotland. Franklin and his wife, Jane Snyder, were able to join Uncle Willard Richards’s company about to leave for Utah Territory. However, Samuel and his wife, Mary Haskin Parker, could not come up with money for a “fit-out.”

Instead, Samuel rented a thirty-acre farm about four miles from Hunsaker’s Ferry on the Nishnabotna River in what is now Fremont County, Iowa. At that time, though, the farm was in Atchison County, Missouri. This was the location of the Austin Post Office which served Winter Quarters between 1846 and 1848.

During 1848, Oliver Cowdery made his decision to return to full fellowship in the Church. He was rebaptized in Kanesville and began making plans to go west. In January 1849, he and his wife, Elizabeth Whitmer, set out from Kanesville to visit her brother, David Whitmer, in Richmond, Missouri. Bitter cold, stormy, weather and almost impassable conditions compelled them to stop at a farm house along the way. There, they discovered Samuel and Mary Richards. It was almost two weeks before Oliver and Elizabeth could continue on their journey, and the two couples held many gospel discussions while sitting by the warmth of the fireplace.

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Lesson 34: “I Will Betroth Thee unto Me in Righteousness”

In what seems to me an unusual tack for Mormon lesson manuals, the current Sunday lesson examines Hosea’s representation of God and Israel as a man and his adulterous wife. The manual seems conscious of the unusual-to-us use of this unflattering metaphor by devoting significant space to explaining that this isn’t literal, folks, but only a literary device (although the manual’s label of “comparison” actually makes it sound more literal, not less). Then the manual goes on to make its chief point, that it is never too late for us to repent and return to God.

That chief point is the same in this 1944 lesson, which also covers Hosea’s life and the conditions of Israel during his active period.

Hosea – Prophet of Love

Facts and Suppositions Concerning the Prophet. – The superscription (1:1) of his book informs us that Hosea was the son of Beeri. (more…)

For background, see here
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Announcing the publication of W. Paul Reeve and Ardis E. Parshall, eds., Mormonism: A Historical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-Clio, 2010. 426 p. ISBN: 978-1-59884-107-7.

An announcement like this comes with a lot of emotion: Relief that the work is done, pleasure that it’s out there (hey, look! my name is in print!), anxiety (did I misspell that name? what will people say? what if nobody says anything?), and steeling for the inevitable criticism (you forgot to include this! you’re nothing but a goody-two-shoes apologist!). But for today, at least, the chief emotion is gratitude, to Paul for inviting me to work on this with him, and to all the contributors – many of them bloggers, including a few whom you won’t recognize, since they blog under pseudonyms but use their real names in the book. I’ve posted a list of the articles and contributors for you to look for familiar friends.

ABC-Clio publishes reference books. Mormonism: A Historical Encyclopedia is the first volume (the only volume Paul and I will work on) in a new series on the histories of world religions. That’s a bit of good news, I think, that they think we’re interesting and significant and hot enough to want to start their series with us.

Warning: There is some seriously self-indulgent navel gazing ahead. Proceed with caution.

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Met a Tartar

First Burglar: “Hello, Jim! Why, you look as if you had been in a railway accident since I saw you last. What’s wrong?”

Second Burglar: “I got into a house where the woman was waiting up for her husband, and she thought I was him.”

Made Him Nervous

Missionary (to cannibal): “What makes your chief so talkative?”

Cannibal: “Oh, he ate a couple of barbers this morning.”

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Mormons around the world, in 1914 –

Cape Colony, South Africa
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Dialog for Mother’s Day

Lula Green Richards, Juvenile Instructor, May 1903, 350

Characters: Teacher and five little girls.

Enter five girls in group, left, with motions as if talking. Girl No. 1 carries small telescope; Girl No. 2, small globe; Girl No. 3, book of music; Girl No. 4, doctor’s satchel; Girl No. 5, beautiful doll. Group pauses center. Enter teacher (briskly).

Teacher (brightly): Well, girlies! I’m pleased to meet you all, with your sparkling, happy eyes. What will each one of you do, some day, to better the world in your own good way, and to make it, perhaps, more wise?

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Four photographs, actually.

The monument to Oliver Cowdery, now generally considered a monument to all Three Witnesses, was placed in the pioneer cemetery at Richmond, Ray County, Missouri, on 22 November 1911. (Compare the bucolic setting of the third picture here to its paved and parking lotted surroundings today.) A contingent of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, returning home after singing in New York, Washington, D.C., Richmond, Virginia, and elsewhere, took part in the services. The dedicatory prayer was offered by Elder Heber J. Grant: “We thank thee not only, Heavenly Father, for this spot of ground where the remains of Oliver Cowdery lie, but we thank thee also, because of Father Peter Whitmer, and his wife, and those who were loyal and true to the cause of truth, whose remains lie in this cemetery.”

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George Q. Cannon provided the answers to these questions from correspondents in 1896:

A case is submitted to us of this character: It seems that a child was ordained when he was four days old to the office of an Elder. On the strength of this ordination, when grown up, he connected himself with a quorum of Elders, and has recently applied for a recommendation to another quorum. Objection is made to this recommendation being given on the ground that it may not be proper to recognize that ordination at that early age as binding; and this question is propounded:

First. – Is an ordination to any office of the Priesthood valid before a person has become a member by baptism?

Second. – Must a person so ordained be re-ordained before officiating in any of the duties pertaining to that office or calling?

Third. – Can we as a quorum refuse rightfully to grant a recommendation to such person, he being in all other respects worthy of such recommendation?

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I don’t spend much time thinking about my mission anymore. It was not the best two years of my life, and if I could relive my life in a way to repair the mistakes, I wouldn’t be a different kind of missionary – wouldn’t be more or less observant of the rules, wouldn’t have said this instead of that at some critical point — I wouldn’t have gone on a mission at all. Still, as disastrous as it was, as much as I will live with the consequences of that mistake until my death, if not beyond, there were some bright spots. Yesterday’s Sunday School reference to the prophetess Huldah reminded me of the brightest of those bright spots.

Huldah – or “Holda” in her language – was from Madagascar, although I didn’t know that when I saw the new family in the foyer of the chapel at Marseille, Holda and her husband and four children. They were new to me, but they seemed to know several people who chatted freely with them. During fast and testimony meeting that morning Holda left the chapel for a few minutes to take care of her infant, and her husband, Mamy, chose that moment to stand and bear his testimony. He told us their names – all Malagasy names seem to start with “Ra–” and go on for miles – Ramamonjisoa and Rakitonirainy were two Malagasy names I later became familiar with – but since I haven’t asked Mamy’s permission to tell his story I won’t spell out his full name here. His wife, he told us, was not LDS, but she had agreed to come to Marseille to hear the gospel. He hoped someone in the chapel that day would teach her.

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Lesson 30: “Come to the House of the Lord”

2 Chronicles 29-30; 32; 34

Purpose: To inspire each class member with an appreciation of the blessings that come from temple work and scripture study

Lesson Development

Attention Activity

[Before class, draw familiar chart on the board: line representing the united kingdom ruled by Saul, David and Solomon; branching into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah (with “10 tribes” and “2 tribes” on appropriate lines); note Elijah and Elisha as prophets on Israel’s line, and Isaiah, Jonas, Amos, etc. on Judah’s line. Hang map of this region of the world]

[Situate the class in time and space by rapidly reviewing the chart, noting that whereas our recent lessons have focused on Israel’s 10 tribes to the north and their greatest prophets Elijah and Elisha, we are now shifting focus to Judah’s 2 tribes to the south. Note on map that the two greatest political threats to both kingdoms at this time were Assyria to the northeast in roughly modern day Iran, and Babylon to the southeast in roughly modern day Iraq. The events of today’s discussion fall roughly at 600-700 years before Christ.]

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The current manual combines the mission accomplished by Jonah (not his time in the belly of the fish, but his fulfilling of his mission afterward) with the mission of latter-day Israel (interpreted as the Latter-day Saints) prophesied by Micah. These lessons from 1944 survey the full known stories of Jonah and Micah with emphasis on the same points stressed in the current manual.

Jonah – The Prophet Who Tried to Run from God

Our Knowledge of the Prophet. – We know little of the life of Jonah, but that little is more than we know about some of the other prophets. In the first verse of the book under his name Jonah is said to be “the son of Amittai.” The book of Jonah is not the only Old Testament book in which he is mentioned. In II Kings 14:25 we are told that Jeroboam II, king of Israel,

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For background, see here
previous episode
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Back to 1926 for more, uh, gems of humor from the church magazines:

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He: “Could you take a joke seriously?”

She: “I scarcely know you yet.”

On the Way

Diner: “Where’s that chicken I ordered an hour ago?”

Waitress: “It’ll be here soon, sir. The cook hasn’t killed it yet, but she’s gotten in a couple of nasty blows.”

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This and that, directed to LDS women in the publications of 1906:

The Wage Earner

The working girl’s dress should be modest and appropriate for her work, the material should be serviceable, color quiet and style one that affords freedom of movement. The very thin waist and tightly yoked skirt, and the so-called “fashionable dresses” which immodestly display the figure are not for those claiming to be Latter-day Saints. She whose attire lessens her own dignity and self-respect will not receive dignified, respectful treatment from others.

Shall the Modern Girl Celebrate Her Wedding?

There are many circumstances which would make it seem a duty for the prospective bride of today to have a quiet wedding, with no publicity about it at all. Indeed, now-a-days, with so many diversions, so much other amusement and excitement, it would look like excellent taste, to have as little expense and furor attached to weddings as may be.

But there are still girls who have the primal instincts strong within them; who love to please friends, as well as themselves, and who honestly enjoy all that goes with a suitable wedding festivity. When you meet such a girl, do you not long to tell her some things?

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Yesterday Sean G, J. Stapley, and kevinf had an interesting exchange on J.’s thread Readings in Mormon History at BCC. In part:

kevinf says:

In response to Sean G (lurker123), J, I’m just reading Prince and Wright’s McKay bio, and already in the early chapters, we have President McKay not wanting to publicly say anything about Elder McConkie after the publication of Mormon Doctrine for fear of undermining his authority as a Church leader, in spite of what apparently he and other General Authorities considered to be hundreds of doctrinal errors. To supersede a previous prophet’s doctrinal expositions (or other general authorities) appears to be something that is approached with great reluctance, if approached at all. Instead, we have a much milder response along the lines of “We pay more heed to current prophets than dead ones”. That kind of strikes a middle ground, and might seem to be motivated by a desire to not create anxieties or questions among newer converts, or members with fledgling testimonies.

This reminded me of the occasion in 1894 when Wilford Woodruff introduced perhaps the most significant change made in this dispensation to existing temple ordinance practice and doctrine.

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