Scholar draws on numerous sources from the 19th century
By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
04/20/2007 01:48:36 AM MDT
For many Mormons, polygamy is little more than an "embarrassing doctrinal heirloom," one left unexamined and forgotten in the historical attic.
A docent once even suggested as much to historian B. Carmon Hardy after he asked about the lack of exhibits on polygamy at the Museum of Church History and Art, operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
But Hardy would have it otherwise, arguing that the faith's "polygamous passage" and those who lived it deserve a "long overdue heraldic place, a salute to their proud religious audacity . . . ."
Remembering - and understanding 19th century Mormon plural marriage - is the goal of Hardy's just published book, Doing the Works of Abraham: Mormon Polygamy, Its Origins, Practice and Demise.
"I think it is important not because it is something they should live and believe in themselves, but out of regard for the dear, old Saints who gave their lives for it in the 19th century," Hardy said in a telephone interview. "It is quite a heroic story and needs to be told. They deserve not to be forgotten."
Readers will find in the 448-page volume the raw materials of history interspersed with the insightful commentary of a meticulous researcher.
Hardy weaves together accounts from diaries, letters, sermons, newspaper accounts, lawsuits, church records, pamphlets and other primary sources - 120 documents in all - to richly retell the story of how Mormons embraced and then rejected the practice of polygamy. The book covers the period from 1830 to 1910.
Hardy draws on diaries and letters from the 1880s - when persecution and prosecution of polygamist was most intense - to detail pleas from some members to be allowed to give up the practice; in letters and sermons, the answer from church leaders emphasized the necessity of living the tenet.
"The central high role given 19th century polygamy by church leaders have been ignored, so I emphasize that," he said.
The book is the ninth volume in the Kingdom in the West Series: The Mormons and the American Frontier. The series is expected to run to 20 volumes, all relying heavily on primary documents to tell their stories.
Hardy is an emeritus history professor at California State University-Fullerton. His 1992 book Solemn Covenant: The Mormon Polygamous Passage, received a "best book" award from the Mormon History Association.
Reviewers who have read Hardy's new work, which he spent about 10 years crafting, predict it will get similar accolades. Todd Compton, author of In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, said in a book blurb that Hardy's work "should supplant all former books as a history of polygamy."
The book makes a timely debut, given renewed government and media focus on polygamy's continued and controversial practice by fundamentalist Mormons.
Hardy gives them only "summary" attention, a treatment dictated by the time period he frames. That said, he believes the book offers helpful perspective for current events.
"The Mormon treatment of polygamy and what they said about it and the way they viewed it is essential to understanding the rise of fundamentalism," Hardy said.
brooke@sltrib.com
The Salt Lake Tribune
04/20/2007 01:48:36 AM MDT
For many Mormons, polygamy is little more than an "embarrassing doctrinal heirloom," one left unexamined and forgotten in the historical attic.
A docent once even suggested as much to historian B. Carmon Hardy after he asked about the lack of exhibits on polygamy at the Museum of Church History and Art, operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
But Hardy would have it otherwise, arguing that the faith's "polygamous passage" and those who lived it deserve a "long overdue heraldic place, a salute to their proud religious audacity . . . ."
Remembering - and understanding 19th century Mormon plural marriage - is the goal of Hardy's just published book, Doing the Works of Abraham: Mormon Polygamy, Its Origins, Practice and Demise.
"I think it is important not because it is something they should live and believe in themselves, but out of regard for the dear, old Saints who gave their lives for it in the 19th century," Hardy said in a telephone interview. "It is quite a heroic story and needs to be told. They deserve not to be forgotten."
Readers will find in the 448-page volume the raw materials of history interspersed with the insightful commentary of a meticulous researcher.
Hardy weaves together accounts from diaries, letters, sermons, newspaper accounts, lawsuits, church records, pamphlets and other primary sources - 120 documents in all - to richly retell the story of how Mormons embraced and then rejected the practice of polygamy. The book covers the period from 1830 to 1910.
Hardy draws on diaries and letters from the 1880s - when persecution and prosecution of polygamist was most intense - to detail pleas from some members to be allowed to give up the practice; in letters and sermons, the answer from church leaders emphasized the necessity of living the tenet.
"The central high role given 19th century polygamy by church leaders have been ignored, so I emphasize that," he said.
The book is the ninth volume in the Kingdom in the West Series: The Mormons and the American Frontier. The series is expected to run to 20 volumes, all relying heavily on primary documents to tell their stories.
Hardy is an emeritus history professor at California State University-Fullerton. His 1992 book Solemn Covenant: The Mormon Polygamous Passage, received a "best book" award from the Mormon History Association.
Reviewers who have read Hardy's new work, which he spent about 10 years crafting, predict it will get similar accolades. Todd Compton, author of In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, said in a book blurb that Hardy's work "should supplant all former books as a history of polygamy."
The book makes a timely debut, given renewed government and media focus on polygamy's continued and controversial practice by fundamentalist Mormons.
Hardy gives them only "summary" attention, a treatment dictated by the time period he frames. That said, he believes the book offers helpful perspective for current events.
"The Mormon treatment of polygamy and what they said about it and the way they viewed it is essential to understanding the rise of fundamentalism," Hardy said.
brooke@sltrib.com
Source : http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5710894
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