Matthew J. Grow (born 1977) is an American historian specializing in

Mormon history Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

. Grow authored a biography of

Thomas L. Kane Thomas Leiper Kane (January 27, 1822 – December 26, 1883) was an American attorney, abolitionist, philanthropist, and military officer who was influential in the western migration of the Latter-day Saint movement and served as a Union Army colon ...

, ''Liberty to the Downtrodden'' (2009), and co-authored a biography of

Parley P. Pratt Parley Parker Pratt Sr. (April 12, 1807 – May 13, 1857) was an early leader of the Latter Day Saint movement whose writings became a significant early nineteenth-century exposition of the Latter Day Saint faith. Named in 1835 as one of the first ...

(2011), with

Terryl Givens Terryl Lynn Givens is a senior research fellow at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute of Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University (BYU). Until 2019, he was a professor of literature and religion at the University of Richmond, where he held the ...

. He formerly directed the Center for Communal Studies housed at the

University of Southern Indiana The University of Southern Indiana (USI) is a public university just outside of Evansville, Indiana. Founded in 1965, USI enrolls 9,750 dual credit, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in more than 130 areas of study. USI offers program ...

. As of 2012, Grow was the director of publications for the

Church History Department The Church History Department (CHD) manages the historical and publishing activities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). This includes the Church History Museum, Church Historian’s Press, and various research and colle ...

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church) and was among scholars preparing for publication of the ''

Joseph Smith Papers ''The Joseph Smith Papers'' (or Joseph Smith Papers Project) is a project researching, collecting, and publishing all manuscripts and documents created by, or under the direction of, Joseph Smith (1805-1844), the founder of the Latter Day Saint ...

.'' In 2016, the

Church Historian's Press The Church Historian's Press is an imprint dedicated to publishing scholarly works about the origin, history, and growth of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is owned by the LDS Church and operated under the direct ...

released the book '' The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women's History'', which was edited by Grow,

Jill Mulvay Derr Jill Mulvay Derr (born September 8, 1948) was a senior research historian in the Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 2005 to 2011. She previously served as Managing Director of the Joseph F ...

Carol Cornwall Madsen Carol Cornwall Madsen (born 1930) is an emeritus professor of history at Brigham Young University (BYU) where she was a research historian with the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History. She also served as associate director of BYU's ...

, and Kate Holbrook. He also edited the book ''The Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846,'' for the Church Historian's Press imprint of Deseret Book, 2016. Grow also wrote the article "The Whore of Babylon and the Abomination of Abominations: Nineteenth-Century Catholic and Mormon Mutual Perceptions and Religious Identity". In 2018, the LDS Church published Volume 1 of a new history of the church, entitled ''Saints'' with the first volume named ''The Standard of Truth''. Grow was listed first among four general editors for the volume. In 2020, with the release of ''Saints'' Vol 2, ''No Unhallowed Hand'' Grow was again list first among the four general editors. Grow has a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

. During his graduate training, Grow did a summer seminar course in Latter-day Saint history that was directed by

Richard L. Bushman Richard Lyman Bushman (June 20, 1931) is an American historian and Gouverneur Morris Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, having previously taught at Brigham Young University, Harvard University, Boston University, and the Univ ...

.R. Scott Lloyd "New generation of historians presenting a better view of Mormonism to the world, speaker says", ''Deseret News'', June 6, 2015
/ref> Grow also serves as the historian for the

Jared Pratt Family Association The Pratt family is made up of the descendants of the Mormon pioneer brothers, Parley Parker Pratt and his brother Orson Pratt, whose father was Jared Pratt (1769–1839). It has many members in Utah, and other parts of the U.S. There are man ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grow, Matthew 1977 births 21st-century American historians American male non-fiction writers American Latter Day Saint writers Brigham Young University alumni Historians of Utah Historians of the Latter Day Saint movement Latter Day Saints from Indiana Latter Day Saints from Utah Living people Mormon studies scholars University of Notre Dame alumni University of Southern Indiana faculty Writers from Salt Lake City 21st-century American male writers