Telling the Story of Mormon History William G. Hartley Editor Proceedings of the 2002 Symposium of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History at Brigham Young University Contents INTRODUCTION v HISTORIANS AND INTERPRETING THE STORY The Story of A Disciples Life: 1 Preparing the Biography of Elder Neal A. Maxwell Bruce C. Hafen George Q. Cannon and the Faithful Narrative of Mormon History 9 Davis Bitton Telling the Untold Story: Emmeline B. Wells as Historian 17 Carol Cornwall Madsen Humor on the Trail of Mormon History 23 Melvin L. Bashore Writing Ward Histories: Mormon Wards as Communities 27 Jessie L. Embry Improving the Telling of Native American and 31 Mormon Contacts in Frontier Utah Robert H . Briggs Handling Sensitivities in LOS History: A Panel Discussion 41 John W Welch (moderator), Richard C. Bennett, Doris R. Dant, and Steven Sorensen HISTORIANS' THEORIES AND METHODS The Mormon Positivismu.ftreit: Modern vs. Postmodern 49 Approaches to Telling the Story of Mormonism Alan Goff Many Mansions: 65 The Postmodern Critique and a New Faithful History Stephen C. Taysom Telling the Story of Mormon History: 75 The James Moyle Oral History Program Matthew K. Heiss Education in Pioneer Utah: A Quantitative Approach 81 Tally S. Payne lll SEEKING THE STORY OF THE INTERNATIONAL CHURCH African Converts without Baptism: 97 A Unique and Inspiring Chapter in Church History E. Dale LeBaron The Historiography of Latter-day Saints in the Pacific 101 Grant Underwood Selected Bibliography: Historiography of the Church in Eastern Europe 119 Kahlile B. Mehr HISTORIC SITES AND PERIOD LIFE STYLES Historic Sites as Institutional Memory 121 Steven L. Olsen Nineteenth-Century Latter-day Saint Immigration: 125 Lessons from Sea Trek 2001 for Telling the Story Better William G. Hardey HISTORY IN THE CLASSROOM An Extraordinary Influence: Church History in the Classroom Setting 135 Susan Easton Black T. Edgar Lyon: Teaching LOS History by Faith and by Fact 141 Thomas E. Lyon Jr. AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES 149 IV Nineteenth-Century Latter-day Saint Immigration: Lessons from Sea Trek 2001 for Telling the Story Better William G. Hartley Francis Parkman's history of the Oregon Trail While designed to commemorate-not repli­ is a classic because he went out on the trail and cate or recreate-the nineteenth-century immi­ wrote from firsthand experience. Likewise, grant experience, Sea Trek did provide a chance to Samuel Eliot Morrison's study of Christopher cross the ocean on a square-rigger similar to ones Columbus is outstanding because of Morrison's that carried those immigrants. sea experiences. 1 Stanley Kimball is the expert on the Mormon Trail because he has walked it, The Era of Latter-day Saint Immigration by Sail camped on it, flown over it, ridden on it, and Latter-day Saint immigration by sail spans a searched for its swales and ruts. Parkman, clearly defined time period from 1840 to 1868, Morrison, and Kimball stand in the front ranks of after which Church companies used steamships. historians who have demonstrated that, although Conway Sonne has shown that during that period much history is written from sources in libraries approximately 50,000 Latter-day Saint immigrants and archives, some histories are best written by traveled on at least 173 different sailing ships dur­ those who have "been there" and "done that." ing more than three hundred voyages. Coming Knowing that hands-on experience can enhance from the British Isles, Scandinavia, and western histories, and being engaged in research about Europe, they sailed primarily from Liverpool to nineteenth-century Latter-day Saint immigration, New Orleans (until 1855) or New York (until I grabbed the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that 1868). Sonne calculated that the average voyage Sea Trek 2001 provided me to cross the Atlantic on length to New Orleans was fifty-four days and to a tall sailing ship-a hands-on workshop to expe­ New York, thirty-eight days. 3 Of ships used dur­ rience something of what those immigrants ing the 1840s the average size Latter-day Saint experienced. My fifty-nine days with Sea Trek company on board was 157; in the 1850s, 266; gave me several insights that can help us tell the and in the 1860s, 424. The largest company, 976 immigration story better. passengers, sailed in 1864 on the Monarch of the Before sailing, I had published articles about Sea. 4 That was the largest ship used by the Saints, Latter-day Saint immigrant voyages on the sailing 5 ships International Olympus, Monarch of the Sea, measuring 223 feet long and 44 feet wide. Amazingly, that ship was shorter than one of the and Yorkshire.2 For a book I am writing about Latter-day Saint emigration in 1861, I had done three Sea Trek ships that crossed the Atlantic. extensive research reading library and archive Sea Trek 2001: An Overview records-diary, letter, and reminiscent accounts by or about sail-immigrants and Church emigra­ To commemorate the European Saints' tion records and ledger books-and visiting immigration, the Sea Trek Foundation6 chartered docks in Liverpool and New York City. But, being eight tall sailing ships and recruited paying pas­ a Stan Kimball Mormon Trail protege, I knew I sengers (about $150 per day) to fill them. The needed to go to sea, even if by ocean liner or ships were training ships used by various coun­ freighter, to better understand what it meant for tries and companies to teach the basics of sail navi­ Saints to cross the Atlantic. So when I learned gating. Three ships were Norwegian; one, Russian; that Sea Trek had chartered sailing ships to com­ one, German; and three, Dutch.? These ships, memorate that era of sail and was asked to be a like their nineteenth-century counterparts, had teaching historian on board one of those ships, tall masts and yards and systems. of square-rigged I went without hesitation. and other sails, and were built primarily to be 125 126 Telling the Story ofMormon History Symposium wind-powered. Crews, with help from the pas­ Sea Trek's second stage was "The Crossing." sengers (we were officially trainees), unfurled and Three of the eight ships (Statsraad Lehmkuhl furled the sails and repositioned the yards by Christian Radich, and Europa) left from Ports­ hand and rope. Trainees, not crew members, mouth to cross the Atlantic. For wind purposes, steered with the on-deck captain's wheel and our route made a big U-shape, taking us due compass much like crews on old sailing ships did. south to the Canary Islands (only one or two To meet modern safety standards, Sea Trek's ships Latter-day Saint ships took this route in the had steel hulls, radar, radios, electricity, naviga­ nineteenth century), west with the trade winds tional computers, modern kitchens, simple bath­ that carried Columbus to the New World, and room facilities, and technology to make drinking northwest to Bermuda and New York City. Our water from the sea. "grand entry" into New York harbor, concert, and Sea Trek 2001 had two main purposes. First, fireworks, all designed to be a media event in the in European ports it generated publicity and media capital of the world, turned into a barely awareness of the historic Mormon migration by noticed arrival and no festivities. This hurt Sea sail. Sea Trek sought to prime those countries for Trek, not only in terms of its PR mission, but the 2002 Winter Olympics by showing their financially because events were canceled and sales individual connections, through immigration, to of souvenirs, soundtrack CDs, and clothing far-off Utah. Sea Trek attracted good television, never happened, because of the 9/11 tragedy, radio, and print media coverage through the which happened while the three ships were in stately arrival and departure of the ships, dock dis­ mid-ocean, five days beyond the Canary Islands. plays, dockside concerts, genealogy tents, digni­ taries' dinners, presentations of statues, a powerful Insights and Lessons from Sea Trek Sea Trek-commissioned cantata in respected Before leaving for the voyage, I listed several music halls, and spectacular dockside fireworks. "realities" those immigrants experienced that I For example, some 200,000 Swedes watched Sea wanted to encounter, at least partially, during my Trek's dockside activities at Gothenburg. When voyage. For example, I wanted to sail into and our ships sailed into and out of Hull, England, an out of the particular ports of Hamburg and Hull. estimated 10,000 onlookers lined the shores to I wanted to see how passengers, strangers at first, wave and watch, and some 50,000 toured the gelled into a company; how a Mormon company docked ships. interacted with a non-Mormon ship crew; and how Second, Sea Trek provided an opportunity weeks isolated at sea, always rocking, impacted for people to travel on tall sailing ships in order to people who were not used to sea travel physically, experience something of what their immigrant mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Sea Trek ancestors did. About 1,700 people became Sea corroborated and reinforced many aspects of the Trek passengers for one or two days or more. immigrant voyages as I understood them from Twenty-two of us made the entire fifty-nine-day written records. But I gained several new insights journey between August 6 and October 4, 2001. Sea Trek had two stages. The first, called that were not explicit in immigrants' records. "The Gathering," lasted seventeen days and Ship Sizes and Riggings Are Historical involved six ships and seven European ports­ Clues to Travel Conditions. Our generation Esbjerg and Copenhagen, Denmark; Gothenburg, cannot appreciate the fragility of some ventures Sweden; Oslo, Norway; Hamburg, Germany; described in diaries without knowing the ship's and Hull and Portsmouth, England.