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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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…)