ESSAYS IN MORMON HISTORIOGRAPHY

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints underwent its most crucial and dramatic development during the nineteenth century. The first era of Mormon history which comprised the years of Joseph Smith's career between 1830 and 1844 provided the doctrinal foundations of the Mormon faith and also the pattern for all subsequent Mormon-Gentile conflict. Soon after establishing his church the Mormon prophet led his followers from their original location in western New York to communities in Ohio and Missouri. Violent clashes between the Saints and their neighbors in Missouri and a variety of troubles in Ohio led to the migration of Mormons to Illinois. Smith in 1839 founded a city called Nauvoo and as its religious and secular leader played a prominent role in the history of the region until an anti-Mormon mob killed him in 1844.;The Smith and Young periods provided the major initial themes in Mormon historiography. Students of the new American religion pondered questions related to the origin and nature of Mormonism, the causes of Mormon-Gentile conflict, and the survival, growth, and continued success of the Saints. Because of controversies surrounding the birth of Mormonism and conflict between the Saints and their neighbors, many nineteenth century authors produced literature on Mormonism of a highly polemical nature. Gentile writers generally divided into anti-Mormons who hated and feared Smith's movement and wished to discredit it and more neutral observers who, impressed by its strength, sought to explain it. These two groups, along with Mormons who defended their faith and a number of apostates who wrote from a variety of positions, provided the major divisions of historical literature on Mormonism during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.;Several factors influenced a change of direction in Mormon studies during the twentieth century. The receding of controversy and the passage of time cooled passions engendered by the feuds of the Smith and Young eras. An improvement in the reputation of the Saints also facilitated the abandonment of polemical influences. Scholars in graduate centers both in Utah and other states began to apply the canons of professional research to the Mormon past. Historians and social scientists, less concerned about matters of private faith focused their attention on the Mormons as an identifiable cultural minority and investigated their secular institutions rather than their theological beliefs. A number of authors with a variety of backgrounds contributed to the channeling of Mormon studies into new directions. Both the Mormon story itself and developments in Mormon historiography provide invaluable lessons for all students of human affairs.;Brigham Young replaced Smith at the head of his church and led the unpopular Mormons to the Rocky Mountains where he established Salt Lake City and other settlements throughout the intermountain West. Dominating the social, political, and economic history of Utah territory between 1850 and 1896, the Mormons continued to struggle against Gentile adversaries who were determined to destroy their two most distinctive principles, polygamy and theocracy. By the end of the century these conflicts resulted in the church's abandonment of its controversial ideals. The attainment of statehood in 1896 marked the beginning of a new era in Mormon history characterized by accommodation of differences and reconciliation between the Latter-day Saints and the Gentile nation.