Signature News: September 2022, Brigham Young Diaries, edited by George D. Smith, wins best documentary history award

Sep 30

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Vol. 3 | No. 5

September 2022

BRIGHAM YOUNG DIARIES,
EDITED BY GEORGE D. SMITH, WINS
BEST DOCUMENTARY HISTORY AWARD

At the fiftieth-anniversary conference of the John Whitmer Historical Association, held this September, JWHA announced at its award ceremony that Signature’s 2021 publication, Brigham Young, Colonizer of the American West: Diaries and Office Journals, 1832–1871, was the recipient of its Whittemore Best Documentary History Book Award. Edited by Signature Books founder George D. Smith, this two-volume work now makes readily available to readers the transcription and superb annotation of Brigham Young's diaries. Both the publisher and editor are honored by this award, prompting George Smith to share the following statement:

"The publication of the diaries and journals of Brigham Young was the culmination of many years of research and work, and the efforts of numerous people. During the preparation of the book, the LDS church, as well as private parties, made available electronic records of Brigham Young’s office journals, which necessitated a reexamination of many of the chapters.

"Gary Bergera was integral to acquiring the records necessary to produce this book. He located existing transcriptions, scans, and other records, as well as pointed me in important directions.

"Brigham Young grew up in New England during the second Great Awakening, one of eleven siblings. As a young man, he was a traveling Methodist circuit rider, visiting far-flung rural families.

"In 1832, Young met with LDS missionaries and was baptized into the church on April 14, 1832. Shortly afterwards church founder Joseph Smith called Young as an apostle, and he was sent on a mission to England. Later Young helped Smith to lead the Mormons to the Mississippi River where they eventually settled in Nauvoo, Illinois. (Years later, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, later the Community of Christ, would be founded in the American Midwest.) After Smith’s assassination in 1844, Illinois governor Thomas Ford advised Young to leave the area to avoid further conflict with the state and federal governments. Young led the Mormons across the Mississippi River towards the Rocky Mountains. He entered what would become Salt Lake City, Utah, on July 24, 1847. During this time, Young sent a contingent of Mormons to what would become San Francisco, where they arrived in time to witness the surrender of the Mexican Army at Yerba Buena, soon renamed San Francisco. He also supplied troops, the Mormon Battalion, to help the US Army to push Mexican troops below the Rio Grande.

"Young helped to extend the American nation East to West, and North to South, the very embodiment of the divine right to Manifest Destiny. His is a remarkable story of a man who helped to shape the American continent.

"Young was instrumental in the expansion of Mormon polygamy. Joseph Smith had practiced polygamy in secret, along with a few trusted advisors, eventually marrying, by my estimate, thirty-eight wives. Hoping to be nominated for US President, Smith sent Young and others out to bolster his presidential bid, in part, by denying polygamy. Young and the LDS Church practiced polygamy publicly, with Young ultimately marrying fifty-five, maybe fifty-six, wives. One of Young’s successors as church president officially ended the practice of polygamy in order for Utah to achieve statehood; but on a sub rosa basis, the practice persisted into the twentieth century. The LDS Church denied post-Manifesto polygamy for decades until finally and officially acknowledging the practice in 2014, making front-page headlines in the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News.

"Young had a personality well-suited to his career. He was organized, strong-willed, commanding, liked wine, coffee, and, for a time, tobacco. Above all, he was working hard, putting in twelve-plus-hour days as he built the Salt Lake community.

"Young was a dominant leader, meeting his historical moment in ways that determined the American continent and perspective as a coast-to-coast nation. He also influenced some of the political forces we still see.

"I am honored to have been able to edit Young’s diaries and journals into a format that makes them widely available. I am also honored to be the recipient of this year’s Best Documentary Book Award from the John Whitmer Historical Association."

John Whitmer Conference Features Signature Authors

In addition to the award for Best Documentary History, Signature titles received attention in two sessions at the John Whitmer Historical Association Conference. Ron Huggins, author, and Sandra Tanner, one of the subjects of Huggins's new biography Lighthouse: Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Despised and Beloved Critics of Mormonism, both discussed the book and answered questions posed by Signature director Barbara Jones Brown and the audience, then signed copies for enthusiastic attendees afterward.

Todd Compton discussed his new book, In Sacred Loneliness: The Documents, just released in a beautifully designed hardback edition. This volume, coming twenty-five years after his study, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, reproduces the primary sources Compton used to write the narrative in the first volume, including diaries, letters, and legal documents of the women who married Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois, between 1841 and 1843.

Martha Hughes Cannon Travelling Exhibit Underway;
Signature Publishes New Biography of Famous Suffragist

Martha Hughes Cannon was one of the most important figures in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Mormonism. She was the first female state senator elected in the United States, which occurred nearly twenty-five years before women won the right to vote nationally. She was also a doctor, worked tirelessly for women’s rights, and was herself a plural wife. Next week Signature will release a new biography in its Mormon Lives series, Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon: Suffragist, Senator, Plural Wife, by Constance L. Lieber. This publication comes at a time when Cannon is being honored through a traveling exhibit which will culminate in placing a heroic-sized statue of Cannon, sculpted by Ben Hammond and currently on display at the Utah State Capitol, in Statuary Hall in the nation's capitol. A smaller version of the statue is on display with the traveling exhibit.

You can catch the exhibit at the following Utah locations:

October 3–11: Utah Tech University Library, St. George
October 17–20: Old County Courthouse (Washington County Historical Society)
October 26: Utah State Historical Society Conference, Provo Marriott Hotel and Convention Center
November 12–December 10: Hyrum City Museum

Fifth Edition of Classic Study,
Divergent Paths of the Restoration,
Released in Print Edition

Nearly fifty years ago a young researcher named Steven L. Shields published a book that quickly became a classic. Divergent Paths of the Restoration compiled information on each of the known groups that claim Joseph Smith as their founder. That study was expanded in new editions until 1990. Thirty-two years after that fourth edition comes a fifth that is now available as a two-volume set!

Shields looks at every known group, no matter their size and no matter their impact, and contextualizes them within their place in the Restoration movement. This work is for anyone interested in the influence of Joseph Smith over the past 192 years.

Episode 8 of Signature Podcast Features Romney Burke
on Susa Young Gates

Susa Young Gates was unquestionably Brigham Young’s most accomplished child and has long been deserving of a book-length treatment of her life. In 2022 Signature published the first! Written by retired surgeon Romney Burke, Susa Young Gates: Daughter of Mormonism, is a well-researched and well-written account of this important figure in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In Episode 8 of the Signature Books Podcast, Burke sits down with Signature director Barbara Jones Brown to talk about Gates and the writing of her biography. Click here to listen as well as explore others episodes of the Signature Books podcast. You will want to listen to them all!

The Latest in Ebooks

Three of Mormon novelist Virginia Sorensen’s classic works, formerly out of print, are now available as eBooks. Two decades ago Signature secured the copyright to these books penned by the acclaimed author and reprinted them as part of its Signature Mormon Classics series. You can now own A Little Lower than the Angels, Where Nothing is Long Ago, and soon, The Evening and the Morning as ebooks. Stay tuned for Signature's forthcoming biography of Sorensen next year, written by Sunstone editor Stephen Carter.