03 July 2008

Help with My Mormonism Paper?

I'm writing this in hopes that some brilliant people who read my blog will have some ideas of where I can find articles to back up/answer some of points in my paper,

"A Peculiar People: How Mormonism Both Fits and Denies Classification in Lambert’s Religion in American Politics."

I think my main problem is that I know things I've learned from a life as a Mormon, but I don't know where to quote them from. The secondary problem is that sources from here in Germany are limited. Some things I can find online, most not. So, here are the things I need some help finding sources for:

-I know that Mormons have historically also been Democrats and (correct me if I'm wrong) it was because Republicans renounced slavery and polygamy as the two worst evils. Have Mormons changed parties another time?

-In the 1840s, a lot of Catholic Irish immigrants came to America. How did this affect the Mormons? Do we have any documents about this? Was there as much preaching in Ireland as in England?

-Where can I find a full copy of the text of Boggs's Missouri Executive Order 44 (Extermination Order)? (I can find the image, but can't read it.)

-What was the church's reaction to the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925?

-I know about the shift from The Uniform System for Teaching the Gospel to Preach My Gospel. Have there been other shifts in preaching methods?

-What did Mormons think about the dropping of the atomic bomb? (I would look on Desnews, but their archives only go to 1988 online.)

-Did Mormons see a special need to spread the gospel to communists during the Cold War?

-I need a lot of information about the Civil Rights Movement from the Mormon view. I know that the Church was against the ERA (although I still need Church documentation thereof), but better rights for blacks? Did they feel a need for that?

-When Jimmy Carter had "National Family Week" in 1979, he upset the evangelists because he also invited alternative families, including gays. Were Mormons also invited? What did Mormons think about it?

-There are a lot of different statistics for levels of education and income for Mormons on the internet, are there statistics somewhere a little more . . . respectable? I know there's a reference book at the library in Salt Lake, but I don't recall what it's called.

-Where can I find all the proclamations and letters that the Church has sent out? Is there actually a place?

-In what years did the Church adopt a website, email, satellite technology, etc.?

Anyone who helps me out will get a free copy of my paper sent to them when I'm done. If they want it. Ha ha.

3 comments:

  1. My brother-in-law just wrote his thesis on some aspect of Mormon history. I'm sure he can suggest some sources, particularly the Boggs thing. His name is Dan and his email address is daniel.lawson@umit.maine.edu.
    You should drop him a line.

    ReplyDelete
  2. There was actually just a post about a week ago on the mormon blog ByCommonConsent.com about the Church's opposition to the ERA and the official reasons they gave for it. The post includes an insert that was published in the Ensign explaining the Church's position. http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2008/06/historical-footnote-the-churchs-contemporaneous-explanation-for-its-opposition-to-the-equal-rights-amendment/

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment is probably WAY outdated because from other posts I see you're way into writing your essay (and possibly finished), but the reference librarians at the church archives are really great about answering questions for you. They even go through their collection and look things up for you. I know that specifically they have access to the yearly church almanac, which would answer some of the questions you had, but they'd be able to help with a lot of the other things as well. You can email them at churchhistorylibrary@ldschurch.org.

    ReplyDelete