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The Secret Mormon Meetings of 1922 University of Nevada, Reno THE SECRET MORMON MEETINGS OF 1922 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History By Shannon Caldwell Montez C. Elizabeth Raymond, Ph.D. / Thesis Advisor December 2019 Copyright by Shannon Caldwell Montez 2019 All Rights Reserved UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA RENO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL We recommend that the thesis prepared under our supervision by SHANNON CALDWELL MONTEZ entitled The Secret Mormon Meetings of 1922 be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS C. Elizabeth Raymond, Ph.D., Advisor Cameron B. Strang, Ph.D., Committee Member Greta E. de Jong, Ph.D., Committee Member Erin E. Stiles, Ph.D., Graduate School Representative David W. Zeh, Ph.D., Dean, Graduate School December 2019 i Abstract B. H. Roberts presented information to the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in January of 1922 that fundamentally challenged the entire premise of their religious beliefs. New research shows that in addition to church leadership, this information was also presented during the neXt few months to a select group of highly educated Mormon men and women outside of church hierarchy. This group represented many aspects of Mormon belief, different areas of eXpertise, and varying approaches to dealing with challenging information. Their stories create a beautiful tapestry of Mormon life in the transition years from polygamy, frontier life, and resistance to statehood, assimilation, and respectability. A study of the people involved illuminates an important, overlooked, underappreciated, and eXciting period of Mormon history. The information Roberts presented to both leadership and this group of Mormon intelligentsia remained hidden, denied, and ignored (but not forgotten) for over siXty years. It was discovered and published as Studies of the Book of Mormon in 1985. While focus has been placed on the documents themselves and on Roberts as either a top leader who lost his faith or as a “devil’s advocate” who was unconcerned about the contents of his studies, the impact of this information on the people who knew about them at that time has never been eXplored. In fact, it is often portrayed that no one but Roberts knew about the contents of his studies. This research demonstrates that dozens of people knew about the information contained in Roberts’s studies and that even when hidden and unaddressed, they had a large impact on Mormon culture and belief. ii Acknowledgments It takes a lot of encouragement for someone like me to do something like this. Thanks and gratitude are offered to many people for their help, advice, and encouragement. First, to Dr. Raymond for continually guiding, refocusing, and encouraging me, helping me to sort through my random thoughts to finally land on a fairly cohesive set of ideas. Thanks to Jeff Thompson and several other employees at the Church History Library (and other archives) who did all that was within their power to assist me in my quest for documents. Thanks to Susan Arrington Madsen for her efforts to discover what happened to her father’s papers and for spending an afternoon telling me about her wonderful dad. Thanks to Gene Sessions for his openness and willingness to discuss his biography of James Moyle. Thanks to D. Michael Quinn, Ph.D., for his eXample and his advice. Thank you to Dr. Raymond, Dr. Strang, Dr. de Jong, Dr. Hobson, Dr. Dworkin, Dr. Watson, Dr. Boehm, Dr. Stiles, Dr. Dorman, and Dr. Hildreth for eXpanding my mind and showing me the importance of understanding and eXploring our history. To the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the poison and the cure. To Anna and Diane for the moral support, feedback, and friendship. To my parents, Ray and Danita Caldwell, for giving me the love and room to grow. For my siblings, Mike, Steve, Andrea, Layne, and Jeff for such a full and wonderful life. For my children, Shelby, Matthew, Franklin, and Sophia, for every single day. Finally, infinite and eternal love and thanks to my husband Dave for showing up and helping out in every possible way; for loving, encouraging, and for being the string to my kite and helping me fly. iii Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 1 THE DOCUMENTS: B. H. ROBERTS’S STUDIES ........................................................................................ 3 UNDERSTANDING CHURCH LEADERSHIP ................................................................................................ 6 THE ENVIRONMENT OF 1920S MORMONISM ....................................................................... 12 LEADERSHIP MEETINGS ........................................................................................................ 16 THE MOYLE MEETINGS ......................................................................................................... 29 BIOGRAPHIES OF ATTENDEES- .............................................................................................. 41 BRIGHAM HENRY ROBERTS (1857-1933) ........................................................................................ 41 ANTHONY WOODWARD IVINS (1854- 1934) .................................................................................... 48 DR. JAMES EDWARD TALMAGE (1862-1933) ................................................................................... 56 JANNE MATTSON SJODAHL (1853-1939) ......................................................................................... 65 JAMES HENRY MOYLE (1858-1846) ............................................................................................... 72 ALICE DINWOODEY MOYLE (1865-1960) ........................................................................................ 84 DR. FRANKLIN STEWART HARRIS (1884-1960) ................................................................................. 85 DR. FREDERICK JAMES PACK (1875-1938) ....................................................................................... 93 DR. MARGARET CURTIS SHIPP ROBERTS (1849-1926) ..................................................................... 100 MERRY MAY BOOTH TALMAGE (1868-1944) ................................................................................. 104 DR. RICHARD ROSWELL LYMAN (1870-1963) ................................................................................. 106 AMY BROWN LYMAN (1872-1959) .............................................................................................. 113 DR. ANDREW AFFLECK KERR (1885-1929) ..................................................................................... 120 DR. GEORGE WILLIAM MIDDLETON (1866-1938) ........................................................................... 124 DR. CHARLES LUDVIG OLSEN (1856-1923) .................................................................................... 130 COLONEL WILLARD YOUNG (1852-1936) ...................................................................................... 134 PROF. GEORGE OSCAR RUSSELL (1890-1962) ................................................................................ 136 THE NEXT GENERATION ...................................................................................................... 140 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 149 APPENDIX A (MEETING ATTENDEES) ............................................................................................... 158 APPENDIX B (JOURNALS/LETTERS) .................................................................................................. 160 APPENDIX C (1879 BOOK OF MORMON FOOTNOTES) ........................................................................ 168 1 Introduction When the B. H. Roberts papers were published in 1985 by University of Illinois Press as Studies of the Book of Mormon, they caused quite a stir in Mormon circles.1 Debate swirled about whether or not 1920s church leader and top intellectual Brigham Henry Roberts (who went by the initials B. H.) felt the highly critical issues he discussed in his papers were more than potential arguments that could be made against the Book of Mormon, and whether or not he lost his belief in the church’s foundational teXt and self-described “keystone” of the religion.2 While much has been said and speculated about the papers in retrospect, there has been very little focus on how anyone other than Roberts may have processed the information. The fact that meetings discussing his papers were held in January 1922 with all of the top leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is rarely disclosed, and the fact that Roberts held meetings with anyone outside of church leadership had not been discovered or discussed. It can now be shown that in addition to the meetings with church leadership, a series of meetings were held in the private home of James and Alice Moyle in April, May, and June of 1922. Those in attendance were the most highly educated and faithful Mormons in Utah with special scientific and intellectual eXpertise. A close eXamination of this select group 1 While use of the term “Mormon” has recently been discouraged by church officials, this paper will freely use that term. Not only is it much less cumbersome than “member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” it is in keeping with the normal usage and conteXt of the historical
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