Ronald W. Walker and Doris R. Dant
BYU Studies
Mormon Studies
From living in a dugout called the Castle of Spiders, or eating so many weeds that their skin took on a green cast, to losing four children in just a few weeks to diphtheria, nearly everything imaginable happened to the Mormon settlers of the Utah Territory. This book collects the details of the lives of the Mormon pioneers, explaining what they ate and wore, where they lived, how they worshipped, and, most importantly, how they endured the trials and tribulations of early Utah life. Hundreds of vignettes provide revealing looks into the everyday lives of these rugged settlers, lives that had their moments of joy and celebration as well as struggle. "Old and young would gather for dancing; everybody came early and left about the midnight hour. The bedrooms opening from the hall were generally filled with babies snugly tucked away, while the mothers enjoyed the dance. The huge fireplaces at either end of the hall were piled high with dry cedar fagots, the flames from which leaped and danced up the chimneys. Candles held in place by three nails driven into wooden brackets were ranged high along the walls. Tickets were paid for in any kind of produce that the fiddlers could be induced to accept. Usually a couple of two-bushel sacks could be seen near the door, into which the dancers deposited their contributions." Distributed for BYU Studies.

Nearly Everything Imaginable: The Everyday Life of Utah's Mormon Pioneers (Studies in Latter-Day Saint History)

History

Americas

BYU Studies / Brigham Young Univ Press

William Clayton joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1838, becoming an important figure in church history. Friend and scribe to Joseph Smith, Clayton recorded the revelation on plural marriage, wrote the first history of the Nauvoo Temple, and penned the powerful hymn “Come, Come Ye Saints.” One of the original settlers of Salt Lake City, Clayton participated in a variety of religious, economic, and civil activities throughout his life. He experienced nearly all the joys and struggles possible for a church member of his day, and yet, following his own hymnal advice, “no toil nor labor” did he fear.

No Toil Nor Labor Fear: The Story of William Clayton

Biographies & Memoirs

Allen, James B.

Historical

Emmeline B. Wells served as a public figure for the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints for fifty years at the end of the nineteenth century. She edited the Woman’s Exponent, represented LDS women in national women’s organizations, defended her religion in the nation’s capitol, and worked to mitigate anti-Mormon sentiments. In 1910, at age eighty-two, she became Relief Society General President. Wells was a leading figure in LDS politics and women’s suffrage, helping to close the gap of misunderstanding between church members and the general public. Soon after her death in 1921, she was honored with a marble bust in the Utah’s capital building, the simple inscription aptly reading only “A Fine Soul Who Served Us.”

An Advocate for Women: The Public Life of Emmeline B Wells, 1870-1920 (Biographies in Latter-day Saint History)

Madsen, Carol Cornwall

Community & Culture

BYU StudiesMormon StudiesDuring years of research for their 2008 book Massacre at  Mountain Meadows: An American Tragedy, authors Ronald W. Walker, Richard E.  Turley Jr., Glen M. Leonard, and their colleagues discovered a great deal of  information about the 1857 massacre, leading to a clearer understanding of the  tragedy. No one can speak responsibly about the details of this event without  consulting these newly discovered documents. Mountain Meadows Massacre presents  two of the valuable and revealing collections the authors uncovered.The  first collection was gathered in the 1890s by Andrew Jenson (1850-1937), a  full-time employee in the LDS church historian’s office. The second collection  was compiled a decade later by David H. Morris (1858-1937), an attorney and  judge in St. George, Utah. Images of the original documents are accompanied by  typed transcriptions, which reproduce original spelling, punctuation,  strikethroughs, and inserted words or characters. Introductory text explains how  each document collection was initially created, how the LDS Church came to  possess them, and where they were archived. Brief biographical sketches  introduce the individuals who were interviewed, gave affidavits, or wrote  letters that appear in the document collections.Distributed for BYU  Studies.

Mountain Meadows Massacre: The Andrew Jenson and David H Morris Collections

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

BYU Studies
Mormon Studies
During years of research for their 2008 book Massacre at Mountain Meadows: An American Tragedy, authors Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley Jr., Glen M. Leonard, and their colleagues discovered a great deal of information about the 1857 massacre, leading to a clearer understanding of the tragedy. No one can speak responsibly about the details of this event without consulting these newly discovered documents. Mountain Meadows Massacre presents two of the valuable and revealing collections the authors uncovered. The first collection was gathered in the 1890s by Andrew Jenson (1850-1937), a full-time employee in the LDS church historian’s office. The second collection was compiled a decade later by David H. Morris (1858-1937), an attorney and judge in St. George, Utah. Images of the original documents are accompanied by typed transcriptions, which reproduce original spelling, punctuation, strikethroughs, and inserted words or characters. Introductory text explains how each document collection was initially created, how the LDS Church came to possess them, and where they were archived. Brief biographical sketches introduce the individuals who were interviewed, gave affidavits, or wrote letters that appear in the document collections. Distributed for BYU Studies. Winner of the Mormon History Association Steven F. Christensen Best Documentary Award.

Mountain Meadows Massacre: The Andrew Jenson and David H Morris Collections (BYU Studies)

BYU Studies
Mormon Studies
With stories that include spiritualist séances, conspiracy, and an important church trial, Wayward Saints chronicles the 1870s challenge of a group of British Mormon intellectuals to Brigham Young’s leadership and authority. William S. Godbe and his associates protested Young’s demanding community and resented what they perceived to be Young’s intrusion into matters of personal choice. Excommunicated from the church, they established the “New Movement,” which eventually failed. Both a study in intellectual history and an investigation of religious dissent, Wayward Saints explores nineteenth century American spiritualism as well as the ideas and intellectual structure of first- and second-generation Mormonism. Distributed for BYU Studies.

Wayward Saints: The Social and Religious Protests of the Godbeites against Brigham Young

Walker, Ronald W.

Edited by Jill Mulvay Derr and Karen Lynn Davidson BYU Studies
Mormon Studies/Poetry Eliza R. Snow first published her poetry pseudonymously in an Ohio newspaper in 1825, when she was twenty-one. Her last poem was published in 1887, when she was eighty-three. In the intervening sixty-two years she wrote more than 500 poems. Her early work covered such various topics as the fight for Greek independence, the plight of the American Indian, and the deaths of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Her themes changed when she joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1835, as her poetry began to reflect her new experiences, including poems about Nauvoo, the trek of the Mormon pioneers to the valley of the Great Salt Lake, and the religious community building that ensued. No public event in the community was complete without her contribution, and some of her poems became the texts for Mormon hymns. When she died on December 5, 1887, the New York Times noted the passing of “the Mormon Poetess . . . one of the central figures of the Mormon galaxy.” Snow’s poems, varied in style and subject matter, reflect both Mormon and quintessentially American experiences of the nineteenth century. This volume, Eliza R. Snow: The Complete Poetry, presents each poem with contextual information, making it as much a biographical, historical, and theological collection as a literary one, and offering readers the opportunity to enjoy all of the lyrical and powerful poems of this iconic Mormon figure. Distributed for BYU Studies. Eliza R. Snow was living in Ohio in 1826 and had already published her poetry in the Western Courier and the Ohio Star when she was asked by the editors of the Western Courier to commemorate the passing of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams on the same day, July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. An excerpt from her poem demonstrates her engagement with the issues, and the styles, of her time.
Adams and Jefferson "Now to their ashes honor--pleace be with them, And choirs of angels sing them to their rest." What bold presumption for my untaught muse! Oh! for a muse by heaven inspired, to sing In strains appropriate, the mournful theme! What shock has nature felt, that should produce Such strange vibration--such responsive sounds? Hark! 'tis the death-bell--mark its solemn tone, Columbia mourns, she mourns her patriot sons! Methinks some sacred genii hover'd o'er Their hoary heads, and life's protracted thread Drew to its utmost length, that they might hail Columbia's Jubilee. Oh, how unlike The pathos of that day, big with event-- The storm thick gath'ring, and the threat'ning clouds Bursting, from proud Britannia's isle impell'd Against Columbia's shore!--then those we mourn, With patriotic and heroic zeal, Dar'd Albion's pow'r--proclaimed their country free.

Eliza R Snow: The Complete Poetry (Documents in Latter-day Saint History)

First published in Kanesville, Iowa, in 1849, The Frontier Guardian was used by church leaders to help Mormons there focus on the ultimate westward goal. Yet the newspaper was much more than an ecclesiastical forum. Local, national, and international news was included along with information about the westward trek. The Frontier Guardian is a window into this way-station for westward emigration, illuminating the religious, social, economic, and political aspects of this frontier community.
Book includes a searchable DVD of all issues of all of the newspspers, complete with scholarly annotations.

The Best of the Frontier Guardian (Documents in Latter-day Saint History)

St. Louis was a major trailhead along the Mississippi River that attracted thousands of MOrmons in the 1850s, where they set up shops, practiced their trades, and formed congregations.  It was there that Erastus Snow published the St. Louis Luminary, a weekly newspaper featuring epistles from church leaders, doctrinal treatises in defense of Mormon practices--especially plural marriage--and news and letters from the Salt Lake Valley.Book includes a searchable DVD of all issues of all the newspapers, complete with scholarly annotations.

The Best of the St. Louis Luminary (Documents in Latter-Day Saint History)

This is the story of a man who defended the Mormons. The man who was responsible for calling 500 Mormon who were with the early Saints leaving persecution behind to find a place to rest away from the mobs, these men when approached by Kane agreed to become a Battallion that made the longest march in the history of the United States. Leaving their families on the plainsin Iowa and making the longest military march in the United States Hisitory. Other great moments in this Colonel's life will keep you glued to the pages of this book.

Colonel Thomas L Kane and the Mormons 1846-1883 (Biographies in Latter-Day Saint History)

Religion & Spirituality

Whitaker, David J

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