Keepapitchinin

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Keepapitchinin, the Mormon History blog
Type of site
Mormon history and related studies single-author weblog
Available inEnglish
Created byArdis E. Parshall
URL Keepapitchinin.org
Launched2008
Current statusActive

Keepapitchinin [1] is a history blog written by American historian Ardis E. Parshall, [2] ) who specializes in Mormon history. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] The site was founded in 2008, whose namesake comes from a humorous newspaper published sporadically between 1867 and 1871 and was pseudonymously written by George J. Taylor, Joseph C. Rich, and Heber John Richards (the fathers of whom each served at the time as apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. [8] [9] [10] Parshall received an award in 2010 for her Keepapitchinin essay "Beards" from the Association of Mormon Letters [11] and was awarded by the Bloggernacle as 2010 Best Blogger and 2008, 2009, 2012, and 2013 Best Solo Blog. [12] Parshall's article "'Pursue, Retake & Punish’: The 1857 Santa Clara Ambush" [13] [14] received the 2005 Dale L. Morgan Award of the Utah State Historical Society. [15]

Contents

From 1993 until 2013, Parshall provided extensive professional research, editorial and administrative assistance to fellow independent historian William P. MacKinnon in delving through Utah-based records archives, especially in reference to the U.S. military expedition known in the mid-19th century the "Mormon Rebellion" and locally within the then State of Deseret as "Johnston's Army." [16] In addition to assisting MacKinnon, Parshall has supplied her research to Matthew Grow [17] , W. Paul Reeve [18] , Nathan Oman [19] , and Steven C. Harper [20] .

According to a 2019 Salt Lake City Tribune article, over the years Keepapitchinin's content "has appeared, unattributed, in newsletters, magazines, blogs, books and other volumes. Several 'stolen posts' were abbreviated versions of papers Parshall presented at professional meetings, including the Mormon History Association." [21] Historian Matthew Grow stated "perhaps the best biographical writing on international Mormons resides on Ardis Parshall’s blog Keepapitchinin." [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Mormon</i> (word) Word used for concepts relating to Latter-Day Saints

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain Meadows Massacre</span> 1857 massacre of California-bound emigrants by Nauvoo Legion militiamen

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)</span> Governing body of LDS Church

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Mormon fiction is generally fiction by or about members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who are also referred to as Latter-day Saints or Mormons. Its history is commonly divided into four sections as first organized by Eugene England: foundations, home literature, the "lost" generation, and faithful realism. During the first fifty years of the church's existence, 1830–1880, fiction was not popular, though Parley P. Pratt wrote a fictional Dialogue between Joseph Smith and the Devil. With the emergence of the novel and short stories as popular reading material, Orson F. Whitney called on fellow members to write inspirational stories. During this "home literature" movement, church-published magazines published many didactic stories and Nephi Anderson wrote the novel Added Upon. The generation of writers after the home literature movement produced fiction that was recognized nationally but was seen as rebelling against home literature's outward moralization. Vardis Fisher's Children of God and Maurine Whipple's The Giant Joshua were prominent novels from this time period. In the 1970s and 1980s, authors started writing realistic fiction as faithful members of the LDS Church. Acclaimed examples include Levi S. Peterson's The Backslider and Linda Sillitoe's Sideways to the Sun. Home literature experienced a resurgence in popularity in the 1980s and 1990s when church-owned Deseret Book started to publish more fiction, including Gerald Lund's historical fiction series The Work and the Glory and Jack Weyland's novels.

The Mormon Reformation was a period of renewed emphasis on spirituality within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a centrally-directed movement, which called for a spiritual reawakening among church members. It took place during 1856 and 1857 and was under the direction of church president Brigham Young. During the Reformation, Young sent his counselor, Jedediah M. Grant, and other church leaders to preach to the people throughout Utah Territory and surrounding Latter-day Saint communities with the goal of inspiring them to reject sin and turn towards spiritual things. During this time, some of the most conservative or reactionary elements of LDS Church doctrine came to dominate public discussion. As part of the Reformation, almost all "active" or involved LDS Church members were rebaptized as a symbol of their commitment. The Reformation is considered in three phases: a structural reform phase, a phase of intense demand for a demonstration of spiritual reform, and a final phase during which an emphasis was placed on love and reconstruction.

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The history of the Latter Day Saint movement includes numerous instances of violence committed both by and against adherents. Mormons faced significant persecution in the early 19th century, including instances of forced displacement and mob violence in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. Notably, the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, was shot and killed alongside his brother, Hyrum Smith, in Carthage, Illinois in 1844, while Smith was in jail awaiting trial on charges of treason and inciting a riot.

The Mountain Meadows Massacre was caused in part by events relating to the Utah War, an armed confrontation in Utah Territory between the United States Army and Mormon pioneers. In the summer of 1857, however, Mormons experienced a wave of war hysteria, expecting an all-out invasion of apocalyptic significance. From July to September 1857, Mormon leaders prepared Mormons for a seven-year siege predicted by Brigham Young. Mormons were to stockpile grain, and were prevented from selling grain to emigrants for use as cattle feed. As far-off Mormon colonies retreated, Parowan and Cedar City became isolated and vulnerable outposts. Brigham Young sought to enlist the help of Indian tribes in fighting the "Americans", encouraging them to steal cattle from emigrant trains, and to join Mormons in fighting the approaching army.

Mormon theology has long been thought to be one of the causes of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The victims of the massacre, known as the Baker–Fancher party, were passing through the Utah Territory to California in 1857. For the decade prior the emigrants' arrival, Utah Territory had existed as a theocracy led by Brigham Young. As part of Young's vision of a pre-millennial "Kingdom of God," Young established colonies along the California and Old Spanish Trails, where Mormon officials governed as leaders of church, state, and military. Two of the southernmost establishments were Parowan and Cedar City, led respectively by Stake Presidents William H. Dame and Isaac C. Haight. Haight and Dame were, in addition, the senior regional military leaders of the Mormon militia. During the period just before the massacre, known as the Mormon Reformation, Mormon teachings were dramatic and strident. The religion had undergone a period of intense persecution in the American mid-west.

The pursuit of the perpetrators of the Mountain Meadows massacre, which atrocity occurred September 11, 1857, had to await the conclusion of the American Civil War to begin in earnest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Davis Bitton</span> American historian (1930–2007)

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William P. MacKinnon, an American independent historian. A management consultant, MacKinnon is a historian of the American West, Mormon history, and Utah history who was described by Richard E. Turley in 2018 as "the acknowledged expert" and by Thomas G. Alexander in 2019 as "the most knowledgable authority" on what was known in its time as the American War of the Mormons' Succession, a topic of which MacKinnon began his study as a Yale sophomore history major in 1958. In 2018, MacKinnon presented the 35th Juanita Brooks Lecture at Dixie State University: "Across the Desert in 1858: Thomas L. Kane’s Mediating Mission and the Mormon Women who Made it Possible." As of 2010, MacKinnon lived in Santa Barbara with his wife, Patricia.

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Mormonism: A Historical Encyclopedia (2010) is an encyclopedia designed for a general readership about topics relating to the History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The book was edited by W. Paul Reeve and Ardis E. Parshall. Reeve is a professor of history at the University of Utah and Parshall is an independent historian, newspaper columnist, and freelance researcher.

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Latter-day Dissent: At the Crossroads of Intellectual Inquiry and Ecclesiastical Authority is a 2011 book edited, with an introduction, by Philip Lindholm. It chronicles the stories of prominent LDS intellectuals who faced disciplinary action by the LDS Church. The book features contributions from members of the September Six, including Lynne Kanavel Whitesides, Paul Toscano, Maxine Hanks, Lavina Fielding Anderson, D. Michael Quinn, as well as Janice Merrill Allred, Margaret Merrill Toscano, Thomas W. Murphy, and Donald Jessee. Lindholm's analysis combined with Diarmaid MacCulloch's foreword and the interviews themselves collectively discuss the nature and extent of intellectual freedom and disciplinary action in the LDS Church.

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References

  1. "LDS intellectualism is no joke".
  2. "Keepapitchinin, the Mormon History blog » Women as Temple Witnesses within Living Memory: What I Know, and What I Don't Know".
  3. MacKinnon, William P. (Spring 2007). "'Lonely Bones': Leadership and Utah War Violence". The Journal of Mormon History : 121.
  4. Roberts, David (2008). Devil's gate: Brigham Young and the great Mormon handcart tragedy. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. p. 335. ISBN   978-1-4165-3988-9.
  5. Davidson, Lee (September 18, 2006). "Some say Young must share blame for Utah War". Deseret News. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012.
  6. "Mormon Kickstarter campaign places women at "center stage" in LDS history | Religion News Service". Religionnews.com. 2015-05-28. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
  7. "Mormon women "bloggers": a long tradition | OUPblog". Oxford University Press blog. 2014-07-11. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
  8. Ronald W. Walker (Spring 1974). "The Keep-A-Pitchinin or the Mormon Pioneer was Human". Brigham Young University Studies . 14 (3): 331–344. JSTOR   43040520.
  9. "Should Brigham Young share blame for Utah War?". Deseret News. September 18, 2006. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
  10. "Resources for Young Women leaders". Mormon Times. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
  11. "AML Awards 2010".
  12. "Wheaties/Tareific Results". 27 January 2014.
  13. ""Pursue, Retake & Punish": The 1857 Santa Clara Ambush | Brigham Young | the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints | Free 30-day Trial".
  14. Ardis E. Parshall (2005). "'Pursue, Retake and Punish': The 1857 Santa Clara Ambush]". Utah Historical Quarterly : 64–86.
  15. "July 15-16, 2011 – Ardis Parshall – the MILLER ECCLES Study Group".
  16. William P. MacKinnon (2016). At Sword's Point, Part 2: A Documentary History of the Utah War, 1858–1859. Kingdom in the West: The Mormons and the American Frontier. Vol. 11. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 23. ISBN   9780806156743.
  17. Grow, Matthew (2015). "Biography in Mormon Studies". Journal of Mormon History. 41 (1): 193 via JSTOR.
  18. Reeve, W. Paul (2015). Religion of a different color: race and the Mormon struggle for whiteness. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. ix, 299, 307, 310, 315. ISBN   978-0-19-975407-6.
  19. Oman, Nathan B. (2023-07-01). ""The Blessing That's Anticipated Here Will Be Realized in the Next Life": The Development of Modern Latter-day Saint Marital Sealing Rules". Journal of Mormon History. 49 (3): 103. doi:10.5406/24736031.49.3.04. ISSN   0094-7342.
  20. Harper, Steven Craig (2019). First vision: memory and Mormon origins. New York (N.Y.): Oxford university press. pp. IX, 167. ISBN   978-0-19-932947-2.
  21. "Book 'stole' Mormon historian's work, but publisher offers a settlement to 'make it right'".
  22. Grow, Matthew J. (Jan 2015). "Biography in Mormon Studies" (PDF). Journal of Mormon History. 41 (1): 193. doi:10.5406/jmormhist.41.1.184. JSTOR   10.5406/jmormhist.41.1.184. S2CID   246604569.
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