My Weekend with the Mormon History Association
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ing dinner. "That’s Steve May- to history sites, I updated his NEWS field," one person explained. "He notions about BYU: an under- has his own history." She told me ground press, new dress stan- that the anti-Mormon Tanners dards, a woman student body MY WEEKEND WITH THE had written an entire pamphlet president. Definitely post-50s. about Steve: "Unmasking a On the return bus trip I didn’t MORMON HISTORY Mormon Spy." The next day I see anything out the window--I cornered Steve. True, he said. For was talking to Harold ASSOCIATION about five years he infiltrated the Christensen, a retired Purdue anti-Mon’oon organization by sociologist. He once did a ByBJ Fogg posing as an ex-Mormon, longitudinal study that com- representing no one but himself. pared BYU students from the 30s Then he got caught. Of course, with those from the 70s. The I’VE NEVER liked Mormon his- LDS to RLDS, hobbyist to scho- the Tanners and company were results showed increasing con- tory. Probably the result of early- lar, every appendage seems a furious; they retaliated by writing servatism. "Why do you still morning seminary trauma. The welcomed addition to the body. a not-very-accurate pamphlet. come to MHA?" I pried. The like- only memories that remain are While the LDS dominate, they An honor, I’d say. minded people and the intellec- Tom Trails tunes and sleepy girls appreciate diversity. One mem- When I met Wayne Mort of tual stimulation, he said. in pink curlers; I’ve repressed ev- ber told me that the RLDS are the New York, I met my first non- In such an atmosphere, con- erything else. The difference be- leaven in the loaf; without them member Mormon history hobby- versation is the main event. One tween Martin Harris and John the conference would fall flat. ist. A high school French teacher night as a group of us rambled on Whitmer? Got me. The MHA conference also and an Episcopalian, Wayne well past bedtime, Richard How- Despite my ignorance and in- gave me access to a library that gives lectures to both LDS mis- ard, the church historian for the difference, on Thursday, 30 May, walked and talked and asked me sionaries and nonmembers on Reorganized church, told me an I flew to the Mormon History what I thought. Instead of just Mormon history. On the bus tour interesting bit of trivia: some Association annual meeting in reading history books, I met the Claremont, Ca. The MHA invited people who wrote them. Instead PECULIAR PEOPLE me to talk about the history of of turning gray pages, I saw the Student Review--a surprise--and whites of the writers’ eyes. To be BYU offered to pay the bill--even honest, I was surprised by how LDS GROWTH IN THE 19805 a bigger surprise. So I went. It~ many names I recognized. Some- S. America Monday now, I’m back in Provo, how over the years I’d read many 23% and it seems as if I’ve been away of these scholars; these were the Europe-British Isles Mexico-Cent. America folks who had unsettled and 4% a year. No, the weekend wasn’t \ 16% drudgery--far from it. I simply reshaped my Mormon past and present. And they were no longer met so many new people and Asia-Africa-Pacific12% ideas in the last three days that I mere names on a page; they were somehow feel different. Re- my friends. Now when I read newed. Expanded. their works, I can see their faces, For me, two metaphors best hear their voices, and better un- Utah 9% Other U.S.-Canada describe the MHA conference: a derstand their ideas. 36% family reunion and a living li- The best thing about the MHA brary. I noticed the family reun- weekend is not listening to ion aspect right off, as 200 to 300 scholarly papers; it’s what hap- ACCORDING TO the 1991-1992 Church Almanac, the Church grew people gathered to share events pens outside the sessions, in the from 4.3 million members in 1980 to 6.8 million in 1989. Using of the past year, personal as well halls, on the bus. The sessions values in the 1983 almanac to estimate the geographic distribution of as professional--quite unlike sometimes seemed an excuse for 1980 (dates for membership figures by region are not reported, but other academic conferences I’ve calling the MHA family together. the sum across regions approximates the total given for 1980) and the attended, where snobbery wafted At mealtimes I often found mys- reported membership in each region for 1989, it is possible to through the halls and intellectual elf sitting w-ith fascinating family estimate the share of growth in each region. Utah accounts for only 9 cold shoulders nudged me aside. members: the president of Des- percent of the growth even though it contained over a quarter of the membership at the beginning of the decade. By 1989, fewer than one In contrast, the MHA members eret Book, a dean from Weber embraced me into their family. State University, a nonmember out of five Mormons lived in Utah. Europe and the British Isles have From the first "Hi, I don’t think Mormon history scholar from added only a small share to the membership. Even though there has I’ve met you yet," to the parting Georgia Tech, a columnist for the been dramatic success ~n some Asian countries, Asia, Africa, and the "See you next year in St. George," Deseret News. Yet sometimes peo- Pacific collectively added only about 12 percent of the growth. Expan- I felt welcome, easily integrated, ple without official titles proved sion outside the Wasatch Front is evident as is rapid growth in eagerly adopted. to be the most intriguing. Mexico, Central, and South America. Over half of the growth oc- curred outside the United States and Canada. If these regional growth And I found that the MHA Consider Steve Mayfield. I first noticed Steve when he patterns continue into the future, within fifteen years over half of the family is as diverse as it is wel- membership will reside in Latin America. coming: from atheist to devout, seemed to be dancing alone dur- SEPTEMBER 1991 PAGE 64 RLDS apostles answer their own Utah. Those Mormons she said more people my age could have barring death or a honeymoon, phones. Bureaucracy busters. (my ancestors, I said) had a dif- had the same experience. I’ll attend next year’s MHA con- Later, an LDS historian added his ferent view of marriage than That final morning, as I was ference in St. George---even if I institutional tidbit to our discus- Mormons today. The idea was to leaving on the airport shuttle, don’t get a paper together. sion: While living in the same get sealed to a mate that would Ron Walker, the incoming MHA Wouldn’t miss it. ward as Bruce McConkie and an- be worthy of the celestial king- president asked, "You will be pre- I still don’t have a compelling other apostle, he remembers dom. If the mate wasn’t worthy, senting another paper for us interest in Mormon history, but I Elder McConkie insisting on the expedient thing was to di- again next year, won’t you?" now know that Mormon histori- being called "Bruce," though the vorce and remarry--or at least "I’d like to," I said. And yes, ans are fascinating folk. ~ historian never dared call the get sealed to---a celestial com- other apostle by his first name. panion. Apparently Brigham Between sessions the next day Young rarely denied women’s di- AWARDS I remember talking with two vorce requests, quite different other scholars. "How’s your book from today’s "stick together" and MORMON HISTORY ASSOCIATION doing?" one asked the other. "work it out" standard. Awarded at the 1991 Annual Meeting "Quite well. In a second print- I listened to two papers on the ing now." 1960s. Jeff Johnson explained NON-MHA AWARDS "How about your new book?" the Church’s response to the civil Grace Forte Arrington Award for Historical Excellence LAVINA FIELDING ANDERSON "Not done. I’m rooming with rights movement and the erosion William Grover and Winnifred Foster Reese History Award my editor, and she’s really bug- of traditional values. In reaction for Best Thesis or Dissertation IRENE BATES ging me about it. Trust me: Don’t to the changing times, he said, "Transformation of Charisma in Mormon Church: ever room with your editor." the Church became increasingly A History of the Office of Presiding Patriarch, 1833-1979" The continual chatter that conservative, emphasizing man- University of California, Los Angeles started before breakfast and con- agement and control, a mode MHA AWARDS tinued past midnight sparked my we’ve never quite left behind. I Editor’s Award for Journal of Mormon History intellectual and social curiosity. CAROL CORNWALL MADSEN suppose much like BYU’s no- " ’Feme Cobert’: Journey of a Metaphor" What does it mean to be a com- beard standard that grew out of Journal of Mormon History, 17 munity? How does Mormonism the 60s rebellion and became in- T. Edgar Lyon Best Articles Awards buck mainstream America stitutionalized. Biography today? What kind of article An RLDS scholar, Roger NEWELL G. BRINGHURST might the Ensign editor in atten- "Fawn M. Brodie: Her Biographies as Autobiograph es" Launius, recounted the dynam- Pacific Historical R~view, May 1990 dance write on the MHA confer- ics of the RLDS reformation dur- Documentary/bibliography ence after rubbing shoulders ing the 60s.