Fanny Alger and Joseph Smith's Pre-Nauvoo Reputation

289 Pages·2011·8.23 MB·English

J
OURNAL OF
M H
ORMON ISTORY
FALL 2009
COVER:Anunidentitifiedmissionaryconductsaguidedtourinthe
Mormon Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair. She is standing in
frontofthe“LifeofChrist”whilebehindthegroupistheChurchhis-
tory mural, which includes, from left to right: Church organized;
1836:First“Mormon”Temple,Kirtland,Ohio;1838:“Mormons”ex-
pelledfromMissouri;1839–1845:Nauvoo,largestcity[sic]inIllinois;
1844: Martyrdom of Prophet Joseph Smith; 1846: Exodus from
Nauvoo; 1847: Brigham Young in Great Salt Lake Valley; and 1856:
EuropeanimmigrantspullhandcartsacrossplainstoUtah.Alsonote
the Christus statue in the background. Courtesy Bill Cotter and
http://www.worldsfairphotos.com
Mission Statement of the Mormon History Association
TheMormonHistoryAssociationisanindependentorganizationdedi-
catedtothestudyandunderstandingofallaspectsofMormonhistory.We
welcome all who are interested in the Mormon past, irrespective of reli-
gious affiliation, academic training, or world location. We promote our
goals through scholarly research, conferences, awards, and publications.
ArticlesappearinginthisjournalareabstractedandindexedinHistori-
cal AbstractsandAmerica: History and Life,published by ABC-CLIO.
©2009 Mormon History Association
ISSN 0194–7342
Copies of articles in this journal may be made for teaching and re-
searchpurposesfreeofchargeandwithoutsecuringpermission,aspermit-
tedbySections107and108oftheU.S.CopyrightLaw.Forallotherpur-
poses,permissionmustbeobtainedfromtheauthor.TheMormonHistory
Associationassumesnoresponsibilityforcontributors’statementsoffact
or opinion.
ii
Staff of the Journal of Mormon History
Editor: Martha Taysom
Copy editor: Lavina Fielding Anderson
Editorial Staff: Elizabeth Ann Anderson, Barry C. Cleveland, Linda Wilcox DeSimone,
John S. Dinger, Sherman Feher, Zachary R. Jones, Scarlett M. Lindsay,
Linda Lindstrom, H. Michael Marquardt, Stephen R. Moss, Rene Romig,
Jerilyn Wakefield
Editorial Manager: Patricia Lyn Scott
Book Review Editor: Boyd Jay Petersen
Business Manager: James N. Lund
Compositor:Brent Corcoran
Art Director:Thayne Whiting
Board of Editors
Polly Aird, Seattle, Washington
Samuel Brown, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City
Hollis R. Johnson, Bloomington, Indiana
Keith A. Erekson, El Paso, Texas
Jennifer L. Lund,Salt Lake City
Christopher A. Newton, Terre Haute, Indiana
Jonathan A. Stapley, Bellevue, Washington
John C. Thomas, BYU—Idaho, Rexburg, Idaho
TheJournalofMormonHistoryispublishedfourtimesayearbytheMormonHistory
Association,10West100South,Suite610,SaltLakeCity,UT84101{MHA_SLC@MSN.
com},(801)521–6565.Itisdistributedtomembersuponpaymentofannualdues:regular
membership: $55; joint/spouse membership: $65; student membership: $25; institu-
tionalmembership:$75;sustainingmembership:$125;patronmembership:$250;donor
membership:$500.ForsubscriptionsoutsidetheUnitedStates,pleaseadd$20forpost-
age,inU.S.currency,VISA,orMastercard.Singlecopies$15.Pricesonbackissuesvary;
contactPatriciaLynScottandLindaThatcher,executivedirectors,attheaddressabove.
Alsoafullydigitizedcopyofallbackissuesupthrough2007isavailableonDVDfor$40
plus $2 for postage ($15 for international postage). Contact the MHA office.
TheJournalofMormonHistoryexiststofosterscholarlyresearchandpublicationin
thefieldofMormonhistory.ManuscriptsdealingwithallaspectsofMormonhistoryare
welcome,includingtwentieth-centuryhistoryandcontemporaryhistory,regionalandlo-
calhistory,folklore,historiography,women’shistory,andethnic/minorityhistory.First
consideration will be given to those that make a strong contribution to knowledge
throughnewinterpretationsand/ornewinformation.TheBoardofEditorswillalsocon-
siderthepaper’sgeneralinterest,accuracy,levelofinterpretation,andliteraryquality.
TheJournaldoes not consider reprpints or simultaneous submissions.
PapersforconsiderationmustbesubmittedtoMarthaTaysom,Editor,Journalof
Mormon History, at [email protected], preferably in Word. Illustrative materials
mustbeattachedinaseparatefile,notembeddedintheWorddocument.TheJournal’s
styleguide,basedontheChicagoManualofStyleandtheLDSStyleGuide,andspecifica-
tionsforphotographsandotherillustrativematerials,areavailableontheMormonHis-
tory Association’s website {www.mhahome.org}.
iii
JOURNAL OF MORMON HISTORY
VOLUME 35, NO. 4
FALL 2009
CONTENTS
ARTICLES
The Mormon Pavilion: Mainstreaming the Saints at the
New York World’s Fair, 1964–65 Nathaniel Smith Kogan 1
Preaching through Playing: Using Sports and
Recreation in Missionary Work, 1911–64
Jessie L. Embry and John H. Brambaugh 53
Ezra Taft Benson’s 1921–23 Mission to England
Gary James Bergera 85
Fanny Alger and Joseph Smith’s Pre-Nauvoo Reputation
Brian C. Hales 112
Educating the Lamanites: A Brief History of the
LDS Indian Student Placement Program Brandon Morgan 191
The Church Enters the Media Age: Joseph F. Merrill
and Gordon B. Hinckley Rob Taber 218
REVIEWS
Dean C. Jessee, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jensen,
eds.,Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839. Vol. 1 of the
Journals series ofThe Joseph Smith Papers.
Series editors: Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin,
and Richard Lyman Bushman. H. Michael Marquardt 233
George D. Smith,Nauvoo Polygamy: “. . . but we called
it celestial marriage” Daniel Walker Howe 240
Susan Easton Black, Shauna C. Anderson, and Ruth Ellen
Maness, [comps.],Legacy of Sacrifice: Missionaries
to Scandinavia, 1872–1894 Kim B. Östman 242
Timothy Beal,Religion in America: A Very Short Introduction.
Shannon P. Flynn 245
iv
CONTENTS v
David L. Clark,Joseph Bates Noble, Polygamy, and the Temple Lot Case
R. Jean Addams 248
Omer (Greg) W. Whitman & James L. Varner,
Neither Saint Nor Scoundrel: Almon Babbitt—Territorial
Secretary of Utah Ronald G. Watt 254
Gary Topping,Leonard J. Arrington: A Historian’s Life
Henry Wolfinger 256
LucknerHuggins,A Son of Ham under the Covenant:
The Untold Reason the People of African Lineage did
not have the Priesthood before 1978, and Marcus H.
Martins,Blacks and the Mormon Priesthood
Newell G. Bringhurst 260
Brian and Petrea Kelly,Illustrated History of the Church
Zachary R. Jones 265
Matthew J. Grow,“Liberty to the Downtrodden”: Thomas L.
Kane, Romantic Reformer Claudia L. Bushman 268
Donald G. Godfrey and Rebecca Martineau-McCarty,
eds.,An Uncommon Common Pioneer: The Journals of
James Henry Martineau, 1928-1918 Noel A. Carmack 273
BOOK NOTICES
Andrea G. Radke-Moss,Bright Epoch: Women and
Coeducation in the American West 281
John R. Llewellyn,Polygamy’s Rape of Rachel Strong 283
FacadeoftheMormonPavilion,designedbyHaroldBurton,Churcharchitect.
Courtesy Bill Cotter and http://www.worldsfairphotos.com.
T M P :
HE ORMON AVILION
M S
AINSTREAMING THE AINTS AT THE
N Y W ’ F 1964–65
EW ORK ORLD S AIR,
Nathaniel Smith Kogan
INASPEECHGIVENAT the New York World’s Fair on the sixty-eighth
anniversaryofUtah’sstatehoodin1964,UtahGovernorGeorge D.
Clyde emphasized that there were strong “ties binding Utah to
New York.” Citing his state’s Mormon history, Clyde noted that
“the journey across the plains and mountains to Utah [began] in
New York State, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints had been organized on April 6, 1830.”1*Avoiding reference
to the hostilities that Mormons faced in New York and other states
inthenineteenthcentury,Clydefocusedonthepresentandthefu-
ture. He had come to New York to help celebrate the LDS
Church’s exhibit at the World’s Fair—an event that promised to fo-
* NATHANIELSMITHKOGAN{[email protected]}isadoctoral
studentattheUniversityofTexasatArlingtonandanupperschoolhistory
teacher at Fort Worth Country Day, where he teaches American govern-
mentandworldhistory.HereceivedhisB.A.inhistoryandarchitectural
historyfromColumbiaCollege(NewYork)andhisM.A.inhistoryfromthe
UniversityofTexasatArlington.HethanksProfessorsElizabethBlackmar
atColumbiaUniversityandRichardFrancavigliaattheUniversityofTexas
asArlingtonfortheirguidance,criticalinsights,andencouragement—allof
which helped this article come to fruition.
1Governor George D. Clyde, “Official Ceremonies,” July 24, 1964,
Maurice Albert Jones, Scrapbooks (ca. 1962–65), Ms 3254, fds. 2–3, LDS
Church History Library, Salt Lake City (hereafter cited as Jones, Scrap-
books).
1
2 The Journal of Mormon History
cusinternationalattentionontheChurch.
Participation in the fair marked a landmark moment for the
LDSChurch,asitsexhibit,theMormonPavilion,helpedtheChurch
introduce what many then considered a marginal religion to a na-
tionalaudienceandcreatedthetemplatefornewproselytizingmeth-
ods.TheMormonPavilionpresentedthefaithtofairgoersthrough
architecture,artwork,missionarypresentations,andafilm.Thisarti-
cledescribeshowconceptualizing,designing,andoperatingtheMor-
monPavilionenabledLDSChurchleaderstoforgeanewpublicim-
ageanddevelopnewstrategiesforproselytizing,manyofwhichper-
sistincontemporaryvisitors’centers.
THEWORLD’SFAIR, RELIGION, AND THE1964–65 EVENT
The first World’s Fair—officially the “Great Exhibition of the
WorksofIndustryofAllNations”—openedonMay1,1851,inEng-
land.Thisinitialeventlaidthegroundworkformanyother“Universal
Exhibitions”throughoutthesecondhalfofthenineteenthandinto
thetwentiethcenturies.World’sFairsdevelopedintoshowcases,not
onlyfornewindustrialtechniquesandmaterials,butalsoforcultural
education.Hundredsofdisplays,dioramas,andboothsaimedtoedu-
catefairgoersaboutthevarietyofpeoplethroughouttheworldand
highlightinterestingaspectsofthosedifferentcultures.
FlushingMeadowsinQueensBorough,NewYork,washometo
boththe1939–40andthe1964–65World’sFairs;however,theroleof
religioninthesetwofairswasquitedifferent.TheTempleofReligion
atthe1939–40World’sFairrepresentedonlymainstreamAmerican
religions—Protestantism,Catholicism,andJudaism.2**Theintergroup
relationsmovement—acollaborativeeffortthatoriginatedintheearly
twentieth century with Jewish self-defense organizations but which
laterexpandeditsmissiontohelpeliminateprejudiceandracismin
allforms—helpedthesethreeAmericanfaithscoalesce.However,the
movement’saimsexpandedbeforeandduringWorldWarIIasitem-
phasizedhowtheAxispowerssoughttodestabilizeAmericansociety
byopeningracial,religious,andethnicrifts.3***
This intergroup coalition continued to fight prejudice
** 2Jesse T. Todd, “Imagining the Future of American Religion at the
NewYorkWorld’sFair,1939–40”(Ph.D.diss.,ColumbiaUniversity,1996).
*** 3The groups responsible for spearheading the intergroup relations
movementincludedtheAmericanJewishCommittee,theAmericanJewish
NATHANIELSMITHKOGAN/MORMON PAVILION, 1964–65 3
throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s. Given the continued
prominence of the intergroup movement, the planners of the
1964–65World’sFairhopedtocreateapavilionsimilartotheTem-
ple of Religion at the 1939–40 fair. To replicate the success of the
previous New York World’s Fair, Fair President Robert Moses—a
manwhoseroleasthemasterbuilderofNewYorkCityfundamen-
tallyreshapeditsurbanenvironmentinthetwentiethcentury—com-
missionedastudytodeterminewhathadmadetheTempleofReli-
gionappealing.4****Thestudydiscoveredthattheprojectcametofru-
itionduetothe“support—civil,moralandfinancial—oftwoleading
citizens of that time—the late John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and the late
WilliamChurchOsborne,”whoalsomadethe“contentandopera-
tion . . . acceptable to persons of all denominations.”5+Osborn, a
prominent New York Democrat and member of various philan-
thropic organizations and boards, including the Metropolitan Mu-
seumofArt,wasselectedbyMayorFiorelloLaGuardiatochairthe
committee in charge of raising funds for the $250,000 exhibit.6++
Rockefeller,sonofthefounderofStandardOilandaprolificphilan-
thropistwhodonatedover$537milliontovariouscausesduringthe
courseofhislifetime,generouslycontributed$25,000totheTemple
Congress,andtheAnti-DefamationLeagueofB’naiB’rith.StuartSvonkin,
JewsagainstPrejudice:AmericanJewsandtheFightforCivilLiberties(NewYork:
Columbia University Press, 1997), chap. 1.
**** 4ThemostextensiveworkonRobertMoses’slifeandcareerremains
RobertA.Caro,ThePowerBroker:RobertMosesandtheFallofNewYork(New
York:AlfredA.Knopf,1974).Mosesatonetimeheldtwelveappointedposi-
tionssimultaneouslyand,attheendofhisforty-four-yearcareerin1968,
hadbuilt658playgroundsinNewYorkCity,416milesofparkways,and13
bridges.Forabriefersynopsis,seePaulGoldberger,“RobertMoses,Master
Builder, Is Dead at 92,”New York Times, July 30, 1981, A1+.
+ 5J. Anthony Panuch, Letter to Robert Moses, “Report on Status of
Proposed Religious Exhibit,” October 24, 1960, New York World’s Fair,
1964–65,Box339,P2.5ReligionM-Z,NewYorkPublicLibrary,Humani-
tiesDivision,RareBooksandManuscriptsLibrary(thiscollectionhereaf-
ter cited as New York World’s Fair Collection).
++ 6“400 to Aid Drive for Fair Temple,” New York Times, October 26,
1938, 25.