When Historians Gather
By Davis Bitton

JoAn and I have just attended the annual meeting of the Mormon History Association in Killington, Vermont.   Before describing this meeting, let us review the history of historical associations.

As part of the seventeenth-century scientific revolution in Europe, scholars found it advantageous to organize.  The Royal Society of London was the first and greatest, but not the only, of the new organizations.  In the Society’s transactions, articles were published by contributors from near and far.  If you were a scientist, professional or amateur, you would probably want to keep up with the activities of others by studying the latest reports of findings from Scotland, from France, from Poland.  Scientists engaged in similar research could correspond with each other.

Thus was set in motion a process by which the physical sciences organized themselves.  As time went on, separate organizations were established for biologists, astronomers, zoologists, and many others, proliferating in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries until now hundreds of such organizations exist.

The layman may not know that other disciplines also organized themselves, including history.  At first these took the form of antiquarian societies, often regional or local, and their number grew in all European countries.  Then national historical societies appeared and with the professionalization and specialization that characterized the discipline from the end of the nineteenth century through the twentieth, the number of historical societies, like their scientific counterparts multiplied. 

When the Mormon History Association was organized at San Francisco in 1965, it was simply one manifestation of the founding of new historical societies that was occurring nationally and internationally.  But those of us who participated in the organization were excited.  We felt we were doing something that would have lasting importance.

As envisioned by its founders, the Mormon History Association would promote the cause of research, writing, and disseminating Mormon history.  Not sponsored by the LDS Church or by a university, it would welcome all those, church members or not,  who were pursuing historical research in Mormon history or who were just interested in learning.  Meetings would be held and papers presented and critiqued.  The MHA would not, we hoped, become a vehicle for anti-Mormons, but neither would it serve as a proselytizing tool.  Professional standards would be insisted upon.

Leonard Arrington, Eugene Campbell, Richard Poll, S. George Ellsworth–those serving as presidents for the first few years were the deans of Mormon historical studies, respected scholars in their own right.

Historians from the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now Community of Christ) joined in,  participated in giving papers, served as officers in the Association, and even presided as president.  Non-Mormon scholars interested in Mormon history also joined in and made valuable contributions.  Lasting friendships were formed.

Can it be that forty years have passed since the foundation?  Some leading participants have died, many new historians and buffs have joined, and a periodical, Journal of Mormon History, is now published three times a year.

The days when MHA meetings consisted of one session or two or three sequential sessions are over.  I think fondly of those days when you could hear every paper presented, and when the group was small enough to allow forming acquaintanceship with all who attended the meetings.   Just as well pine for the old five and dime store or the corner drug store as for such a simple, intimate association.  Better to enjoy the lively, booming MHA of the present with its multiple concurrent sessions.

At the meeting this year in Vermont, about six hundred people attended.  A bus tour was provided for those who came early.  Another bus tour on Friday afternoon took almost everyone to Royalton, Tunbridge, of course Sharon, the birthplace of Joseph Smith, and other places whose names resonate in the early history of the Smith family.  The verdure seemed to extend forever through the hilly country.  Beautiful, yes, but one can imagine how difficult it might be to make a living from the soil alone. 

I cannot give an adequate description of the richness of the meetings without listing every session and every paper.  Since I did not attend all of these sessions, I can only offer examples, but they may help to provide a sense of the electricity in the air.

Two of the sessions were devoted to music.  One featured songs from the 1844 Bellows Falls hymnal, beautifully performed by Frederic Chrislip and Paul Griswold from Oneanta, New York.

The other focused on hymns penned by Eliza R. Snow.  Intelligent commentary placed her works in a context, recognized their frequent lapses, but also praised those that achieved excellence.  LDS students and academics from the Boston area sang now forgotten songs.  Finally, commenting on the previous speakers were Tona Hangen, of Brandeis University, and the renowned Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, of Harvard University.  What a feast!  Where else, I asked myself, could one have this experience?

An example of the wide variety of presentations was Bryher Pennells, an experienced school teacher from Kent, England.  Having played a significant role in providing materials on Mormon history for the English school system, she gave examples of how the subject is treated there.  One had to wonder how many American students could intelligently respond to the essay questions used there.

Following what has now become the standard procedure, an invited scholar with expertise in American religious history, this time Charles L. Cohen, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, gave an insightful address on the construction of Mormon identity linked to the house of Israel.  At a luncheon meeting our speaker was J. Kevin Graffagnino, director of the Vermont Historical Society.

Awards were bestowed for best book, best article, best paper by a student, best documentary work, and others.  One way of encouraging serious work in Mormon history is to recognize excellence.

An unexpected treat at the Saturday dinner meeting was the appearance of Vermont’s governor and first lady.  The governor greeted us, recognized the importance of Vermont to the rise of Mormonism, and encouraged us to return.  MHA president Donald Q. Cannon delivered the annual presidential address on “Joseph Smith and the Globalization of Mormonism.”

Naturally, since 2005 is the bicentennial of Joseph Smith’s birth, many participants spoke of him.  I attended a session where Mark McConkie and Joseph Fielding McConkie spoke, the former on Joseph’s unusual but effective leadership style (“making correct principles work”), the latter on teachings that were strikingly different from the other religions of the time but that were greeted enthusiastically by the Saints.

At a plenary session, Richard L. Bushman’s paper on “The Inner Joseph Smith” gave an insightful view of the dynamics between the Prophet and his father.  We are all looking forward to the appearance in the fall of Richard’s full-scale biography, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling.      

If other attenders at the convention were like me, they were frustrated by the necessity of choosing between equally enticing talks offered concurrently during the same hour.  Long ago I learned to think of these gatherings as smorgasbords.  You pick and choose.  If one paper does not interest you or rubs you the wrong way, simply choose something else.  Some of the papers have been summarized by Carrie Moore, reporter for the Deseret Morning News.  No doubt many of them will eventually be published.

On Sunday morning, with the MHA convention drawing to its close, buses carried many people to Sharon, the Prophet’s birthplace in 1805.  Others traveled by car.  We enjoyed the grounds, admired the monument that was erected in 1905, and attended a devotional in the chapel.  Featured speaker was LDS Church Historian Elder Marlin K. Jenson.  Appropriate for the setting and for a church authority, Elder Jenson spoke feelingly about the blessings he had experienced in his own life, thanks to teachings and principles restored by Joseph Smith.

If participating in some of the ongoing historical research on Mormon history entices you, you might consider joining the MHA.  Dues are reasonable, and in return you receive the issues of the Journal of Mormon History.  Many who do not find it possible to attend the conventions like to “keep up” with historical scholarship by joining the Association.  Details can be found at the official website–www.mhahome.org.

Another organization doing significant work is the Mormon Historic Sites foundation.  Not content with words alone, this organization has played a central role in the mapping, refurbishing, and restoration of Mormon historic sites, including Palmyra, Kirtland, and in Salt Lake City This is the Place Heritage Park and Deseret Village.  A valuable benefit of membership is receiving the periodical Mormon Historical Studies, every issue of which contains at least one article of great interest. For further information see

Not everyone is interested in history.  But those who enjoy history and the expansion of awareness its study produces have little reason to complain about an insufficiency of articles and books.  In my experience, one of the most satisfying ways of keeping up with the ferment of  ongoing research is to join historical associations, read their journals, and when possible attend their conventions.