New Mormon history refers to a style of reporting the history of Mormonism by both

Mormon 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 ...

and non-Mormon scholars which departs from earlier more

polemical Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topics ...

or faith-based styles of history. Rather than presenting material selectively to either prove or disprove Mormonism, the focus of new Mormon history is to present history in a more

humanistic Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

and dispassionate way, and to situate Mormon history in a fuller historical context. Because it is a break from past historical narratives, new Mormon history tends to be revisionist. In many cases, the new Mormon history follows the perspectives and techniques of new history, including

cultural history Cultural history combines the approaches of anthropology and history to examine popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past matter, encompassing the ...

. The Mormon historian

Richard 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 ...

described it as "a quest for identity rather than a quest for authority." New Mormon historians include a wide range of both Mormon and non-Mormon scholars, the most prominent of which include Bushman,

Jan Shipps Jo Ann Barnett Shipps (born 1929), known as Jan Shipps, is an American historian specializing in Mormon history, particularly in the latter half of the 20th century to the present. Shipps is generally regarded as the foremost non-Mormon scholar ...

, D. Michael Quinn,

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 ...

Leonard J. Arrington Leonard James Arrington (July 2, 1917 – February 11, 1999) was an American author, academic and the founder of the Mormon History Association. He is known as the "Dean of Mormon History" and "the Father of Mormon History" because of his man ...

Richard P. Howard Richard P. Howard is an American historian emeritus of Community of Christ, having served as world church historian of that organization (previously named the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) from 1966–1994. He was the ...

Fawn Brodie Fawn McKay Brodie (September 15, 1915 – January 10, 1981) was an American biographer and one of the first female professors of history at UCLA, who is best known for ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History'' (1974), a work of psychobiography, ...

, and

Juanita Brooks Juanita Pulsipher Brooks (January 15, 1898 – August 26, 1989) was an American historian and author, specializing in the American West and Mormon history, including books related to the Mountain Meadows Massacre, to which her grandfather Dudley ...

History

D. Michael Quinn dates new Mormon history as beginning in 1950 with Juanita Brooks' publication of "The Mountain Meadows Massacre" by

Stanford University Press Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It was among the presses officially ...

. He notes, however, that it had been gaining momentum even before that, citing that B. H. Roberts—church historian from 1901 until his death in 1933—"exemplified much of the philosophy later identified with the New Mormon History." Clyde R. Forsberg Jr. credits

, beginning in the 1950s, with having "led the charge" of new Mormon history, with non-Mormon scholars Thomas O'Dea and Whitney O. Cross responding in kind with "less prejudiced and more informed monographs on Mormonism".

Associated groups and publications

In the 1960s, a new generation of Mormon scholars emerged. The publication of '' Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought'', the newly-established Mormon History Association, and the professionalization of LDS and RLDS history departments provided spaces for historians to do new research in Mormon topics. RLDS scholars founded the

John Whitmer Historical Association The John Whitmer Historical Association (JWHA) is an independent, nonprofit organization promoting study, research, and publishing about the history and culture of the Latter Day Saint movement. It is especially focused on the Community of Christ ...

in 1972. In 1974,

Claudia Bushman Claudia Marian Lauper Bushman (born June 11, 1934) is an American historian specializing in domestic women's history, especially as it relates to the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). She helped found, and was ...

and

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (born July 11, 1938) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian specializing in early America and the history of women, and a professor at Harvard University. Her approach to history has been described as a tribute to ...

founded the magazine '' Exponent II''. The first issue of ''BYU Studies'' was published in 1959. Leonard Arrington 1950s

Also in 1972, the LDS Church hired Leonard Arrington as their historian. During Arrington's time as historian, Mormon and non-Mormon historians were allowed to access the

LDS Church Archives The Church History Library (CHL) is a research center and archives building housing materials chronicling the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The library is owned by the Church and opened in 2009 in downt ...

. Much of the research in the 1970s used these newly-available sources to examine church history, sometimes in great detail. Leonard Arrington influenced important scholars of Mormon history, including Richard Jensen, William Hartley, and Ronald Walker. In 1969, Jewish historian Moses Rischin named the increasing amount of Mormon scholarship "the New Mormon History". The "New Mormon History" movement included the non-Mormons Thomas F. O'Dea, P. A. M. Taylor, Mario De Pillis, Lawrence Foster, the Community of Christ member Robert Flanders, and the Mormon scholar Kalus Hansen. Maureen Ursenbach Beecher was a leading researcher in

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

. In the 1970s women's biographies were published, but not integrated into larger narratives. Other women hired by the Church Historical Department included Jill Mulvay Derr, Carol Cornwall Madsen, and Edyth Romney. Journals dedicated special issues to Mormon women, and the increased interest in Mormon women led to more publications focused on them. Scholars published biographies of Emma Smith, Eliza Snow, Emmeline B. Wells, and Amy Brown Lyman. Some writers looked at Mormon

women's history Women's history is the study of the role that women have played in history and the methods required to do so. It includes the study of the history of the growth of woman's rights throughout recorded history, personal achievement over a period of ...

with the goal of restructuring historical narratives. Mormon feminist articles on Mormon history started with the special Summer 1971 issue of ''Dialogue'' on women's issues and continued in publications like ''Exponent II'' (starting in 1974), and ''Mormon Sisters: Women in Early Utah'' (1976), edited by

. Beecher and Laurel Thatcher Ulrich edited another volume about Mormon women's history in ''Sisters in Sprit: Mormon Women in Historical and Cultural Perspective'' (1987). ''Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism'' (1992) was another milestone in

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

publications, and it encouraged Mormon women to be empowered by their history and "reclaim lost opportunities." Most new Mormon historians were LDS. Their audience was Mormon intellectuals and non-Mormons. They maintained their respect for the Mormon faith, admitted to flaws in people and policies, and avoided taking a defensive stance, a tone which non-Mormon historian

wrote "made them seem more secular than they actually were." Mormon history by non-Mormons at this time had a similar detached tone. New Mormon historians often published with the

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic project ...

in order to publish for an academic audience independent of the church. Charles S. Peterson argued in ''The Great Basin Kingdom Revisited'' that Arrington took an exceptionalist view of Mormon history, which he then taught to other New Mormon historians. This exceptionalist view was that they could believe in both secular history and orthodox Mormon views of the restoration.

New History

New Mormon history is but a reflection of the change in writing history overall that took root in the 20th century. Quinn states that "the New Mormon History includes all of the ingredients of 'new history' in America at large but has one crucial addition: the effort to avoid using history as a religious battering ram." The new historical movement's inclusive definition of the proper matter of historical study has also given it the label ''total history''. The movement was contrasted with the traditional ways of writing history which particularly characterized the 19th century, resisting their focus on politics and " great men"; their insistence on composing historical narrative; their emphasis on administrative documents as key source materials; their concern with individuals' motivations and intentions as explanatory factors for historical events; and their willingness to accept the possibility of historians' objectivity.

Differences from traditional Mormon history

Quinn, referring to Brooks' history of the

Mountain Meadows massacre The Mountain Meadows Massacre (September 7–11, 1857) was a series of attacks during the Utah War that resulted in the mass murder of at least 120 members of the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train. The massacre occurred in the southern U ...

, states that new Mormon history began with her in that she "avoided seven deadly sins of traditional Mormon history." Quinn identifies these "sins" as: * "Shrink ngfrom analyzing a controversial topic" * "Conceal ng sensitive or contradictory" interpretation * "Hesitat ngto follow the evidence to 'revisionist' interpretations that uncounter to 'traditional' assumptions" * "Us ng ne'sevidence to insult the religious beliefs of Mormons" * "Disappoint ngthe scholarly expectations of academics" * "Cater ngto public relations preferences" * "Us ngan 'academic' work to proselytize for religious conversion or defection"

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * {{refend Cultural history History of the Latter Day Saint movement Mormon studies Harold B. Lee Library-related 20th century articles