Seeing Things: Technologies of Vision and the Making of Mormonism

267 Pages·2023·20.267 MB·English

by  Mason Kamana Allred

Seeing
Things
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Seeing
Things
· · ·
Technologies of Vision
and the
Making of Mormonism
· · ·
M a s o n K a m a n a A l l r e d
The University of North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill
© 2023 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Set in Arno, Scala Sans, Golden, Irby, and Lightburn
by codeMantra
Manufactured in the United States of America
A version of chapter 1 originally appeared as Mason Kamana Allred,
“Circulating Specters: Mormon Reading Networks, Vision, and Optical
Media,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 85, no. 2 (2017):
527–48. Published with permission of Oxford University Press.
A version of chapter 2 originally appeared as Mason Kamana Allred, “Panoramic
Vision: Consolidating the Early Mormon Gaze,” Material Religion 16, no.
5 (2020): 639–64. Published with permission of Taylor and Francis.
Cover illustration by Jack Soren.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Allred, Mason Kamana, author.
Title: Seeing things : technologies of vision and the making of Mormonism /
Mason Kamana Allred.
Description: Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2023] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2022027348 | isbn 9781469672571 (cloth : alk. paper) |
isbn 9781469672588 (paperback : alk. paper) | isbn 9781469672595 (ebook)
Subjects: lcsh: Technology—Religious aspects—Mormon Church. |
Communication—Religious aspects—Mormon Church. | Mass media—Religious
aspects—Mormon Church. | Mormon Church—History. | Visions—History.
Classification: lcc bx8643.t38 a45 2023 | ddc 246/.95893—dc23/eng/20220809
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022027348
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 CIRCULATING SPECTERS 23
2 PANORAMIC VISIONS 45
3 SENSITIVE MACHINES 73
4 CINEMATIC TRAFFIC 103
5 MICROMANAGING DEATH 133
6 BROADCASTING STANDARDS 155
Conclusion 183
Notes 191
Bibliography 211
Index 245
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Illustrations
Joseph Smith Addressing the Nauvoo Legion (1845) 52
A Correct Account of the Murder of Generals Joseph and Hyrum
Smith, interior and exterior of Carthage Jail (1845) 54
“Mormon Panorama Fourteen /
Interior of Carthage Jail” (ca. 1878) 70
“Mormon Panorama Fifteen /
Exterior of Carthage Jail” (ca. 1878) 70
“Mormon Panorama Sixteen /
The Nauvoo Temple” (ca. 1878) 71
“Mormon Panorama Seventeen /
Burning of the Temple” (ca. 1878) 71
A Bachelor’s Dream, no. 1 (ca. 1900) 78
A Bachelor’s Dream, no. 2 (ca. 1900) 78
A Bachelor’s Dream, no. 3 (ca. 1900) 79
Still from One Hundred Years of Mormonism (1913) 104
Pages from Broken Hearts and Broken Lives:
Trapped by the Mormons (1922) 113
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Acknowledgments
I remember being told as a child that spirits were all around us. I felt amazed
and paranoid, then somewhat ashamed when I never saw them. As a prac-
ticing Latter-day Saint, these kinds of ideas, along with the images, smells,
and sounds of American Mormonism powerfully suffused my youth. Yet, as
an adult, analyzing the ways Mormonism’s interactions with the dead and
visionary media practices shaped the church’s own development often felt
quite foreign. At every turn I was surprised by the appearance of strange
specters from its technological past. Capturing these flashes of history and
integrating them into a coherent study would have been impossible to pull
off on my own. In fact, this book required a multitude of insights, sugges-
tions, guidance, and support from living and dead sources. Aside from the
fascinating archival discoveries, I was stimulated, inspired, and encouraged
by numerous individuals who graciously helped usher this work along.
Much of the book began taking shape while I was employed as a histo-
rian and editor at the Joseph Smith Papers (JSP) project. I benefited from
funding there and access to the Church History Library’s immense archive.
Special thanks go to my colleagues Chris Blythe and Jordan Watkins, for
reading several drafts of early chapters and pointing me toward ever more
sources. The book found its initial sparks in the lively conversations of the
JSP project’s notorious walking group, whose members covered as much
intellectual ground—discussing historiography and developments within
religious studies and Mormon studies—as they did physical ground strolling
around Salt Lake City.
I am gratefully indebted to Jenny Reeder for introducing me to Elfie Hun-
tington’s work and reading early versions of several chapters. Thank you also
to Kate Holbrook and Lisa Olsen Tait for their guidance and patience with
ix