Type of site | Mormon history and related studies single-author weblog |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Created by | Ardis E. Parshall |
URL | Keepapitchinin.org |
Launched | 2008 |
Current status | Active |
Keepapitchinin [1] is an American history blog written by American independent historian Ardis Parshall (born 1959 [2] ) who specializes in Mormon history. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] The site was founded in 2008, namesaked for a humorous newspaper published sporadically between 1867 and 1871 pseudonymously written by George J. Taylor, Joseph C. Rich, and Heber John Richards (the fathers of whom served at the time as LDS apostles). [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]
For the two decades 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]
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." [17] Historian Matthew Grow stated "perhaps the best biographical writing on international Mormons resides on Ardis Parshall’s blog Keepapitchinin." [18]
Polygamy was practiced by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890 by between 20 and 30 percent of Latter-day Saint families.
The Mountain Meadows Massacre was a series of attacks during the Utah War that resulted in the mass murder of at least 120 members of the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train. The massacre occurred in the southern Utah Territory at Mountain Meadows, and was perpetrated by settlers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints involved with the Utah Territorial Militia who recruited and were aided by some Southern Paiute Native Americans. The wagon train, made up mostly of families from Arkansas, was bound for California, traveling on the Old Spanish Trail that passed through the Territory.
George Albert Smith was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. He served in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and as a member of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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.
The Mormon blogosphere is a segment of the blogosphere focused on issues related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The history of the Latter Day Saint movement includes numerous instances of violence. 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 Settlers. 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.
Ronald Davis Bitton was a charter member and president of the Mormon History Association, professor of history at the University of Utah, and official Assistant Church Historian in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints working with Leonard J. Arrington.
Richard Eyring "Rick" Turley Jr. is an American historian and genealogist. He previously served as both an Assistant Church Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as managing director of the church's public affairs department.
Josephine Spencer was an American writer, journalist, and political activist from Utah. She was an important figure in the Mormon home literature movement of the late 19th century who published more than one hundred poems, fifty short stories, and five serialized novels.
In 1857, at the time of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, Brigham Young, was serving as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as Governor of Utah Territory. He was replaced as governor the following year by Alfred Cumming. Evidence as to whether or not Young ordered the attack on the migrant column is conflicted. Historians still debate the autonomy and precise roles of local Cedar City LDS Church officials in ordering the massacre and Young's concealing of evidence in its aftermath. Young's use of inflammatory and violent language in response to a federal expedition to the territory added to the tense atmosphere at the time of the attack. After the massacre, Young stated in public forums that God had taken vengeance on the Baker–Fancher party. It is unclear whether Young held this view because of a possible belief that this specific group posed a threat to colonists or that they were responsible for past crimes against Mormons. According to historian William P. MacKinnon, "After the war, Buchanan implied that face-to-face communications with Brigham Young might have averted the Utah War, and Young argued that a north–south telegraph line in Utah could have prevented the Mountain Meadows Massacre."
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.
Mormonism: A Historical Encyclopedia is an encyclopedia designed for a general readership about topics relating to the History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 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. Most of the encyclopedia's articles were written by historical researchers expert in the specific area covered, while the tone employed is one of objectiveness, yet respect for the beliefs of Mormonism and its culture. It is published by ABC-CLIO, a Santa Barbara, California-based publisher of reference works, as well as of the history journal, Journal of the West.
Mormon studies is the interdisciplinary academic study of the beliefs, practices, history and culture of individuals and denominations belonging to the Latter Day Saint movement, a religious movement associated with the Book of Mormon, though not all churches and members of the Latter Day Saint movement identify with the terms Mormon or Mormonism. Denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by far the largest, as well as the Community of Christ (CoC) and other smaller groups, include some categorized under the umbrella term Mormon fundamentalism.
Joseph Coulson Rich was an American, politician, judge, and early settler of the Idaho Territory.
W. Paul Reeve is an American historian and Simmons Professor of Mormon Studies and History in the History Department at the University of Utah. He became chair of the History Department on 1 July 2022.
Julia Ann Ivins McDonaldPace, who wrote under the name Julia McDonald, was a scholar, medical student and writer who was born in Utah Territory in 1859. She was a members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was part of the Mormon Home literature movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She is best known as the author of the novel A Ship of Hagoth (1896), which was adapted in two stage plays and the 1931 motion picture Corianton: A Story of Unholy Love.