STEPPIN' INTO SUMMER WITH SIGNATURE
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This year your summer plans probably include less traveling, but will they include more reading? Hopefully the answer is yes. In the world of Mormon studies, there is a lot to choose from right now. Check out your local LDS bookseller to browse the latest offerings. There are numerous new releases from a variety of publishers.
Signature's upcoming releases are as important and appealing as ever. Mike Hicks's Spencer Kimball's Record Collection will be out in a month or so. Matthew L. Harris and Newell G. Bringhurst's edited compilation, The LDS Gospel Topics Essays: A Scholarly Engagement, follows early in the fall, as does our first exclusive ebook release, The Complete Ezra Taft Benson FBI File. Click on these titles to read more about them and see the cover designs.
The Mormon History Association conference, although not an in-person event this year, was nevertheless an online success and served as precedent for future digital events. As always, the conference featured a variety of papers, panels, and even included its award ceremony. The annual Salt Lake Sunstone Symposium takes place in a similar format beginning late July. Check out the link at the bottom to see a preliminary program.
Things are moving despite the challenges. Keep on reading because we will keep on publishing.
Signature President, Director, Honored at MHA Conference
The Mormon History Association annual awards for 2020 were presented by Ben Park during the digital conference held in early June. Signature Books was recognized once again! We are proud to report that Signature director Gary James Bergera received the award for Best Documentary for his three-volume work, Confessions of a Mormon Historian: The Diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971–1997. These diaries chronicle Arrington's years as the official historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, director of its history division, and later director of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute at BYU. They continue into his retirement and conclude two years prior to his death. "One of the fascinating things that Arrington’s journals document is the rising of historiographical consciousness," writes Jonathan Stapley in a book review. "With countless subjects we see the scholars whose publications we have all read (and some whose work just didn’t apparently make the cut) just begin. It is remarkable to see the Church Historian fascinated, for example, by elements of church liturgy of which he was unaware, and which many of us have simply taken for granted in our work. This should give us all an opportunity to empathize with not only previous scholars, but anyone who is coming to topics for the first time." See Stapley's full review here.
Bergera then took off his recipient hat and put on his presenter's hat to award Signature co-founder and president, George D. Smith, with MHA's Special Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Mormon History. In presenting the award, Bergera reflected on his years of professional association with Smith. "I have observed George in a variety of settings and interactions. As a contributor to scholarly history, George is a consummate researcher and writer: thorough and meticulous. As a patron, he is conscientious and cautious, interested in ideas, themes, trends, in history both close-up and à la longue durée." Bergera also spoke of Smith's qualities at a more personal level. "As a mentor, he is patient and encouraging. And as a friend, he is generous and forgiving. His many contributions to Mormon history, both public and private, will continue to impact the lives of readers and historians for many, many years to come."
To watch the full award ceremony, click here.
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Signature Books Launches YouTube Channel
At a time when COVID-19 keeps crowds from gathering, author signings and in-person conferences are on hold. But since authors continue to write, publishers to publish, and bookstores to sell, the need to get the word out remains, and that may be the most fun aspect of publishing.
Social media, now more than ever, is the go-to place for publicizing and marketing content, and Signature has launched a new YouTube channel to meet that need. We will be posting videos of author readings and panel discussions. It will be the next best thing to being there in person—just hold on to your book and get it signed later!
So far we have posted three videos of Dayna Patterson reading poems from her new book, If Mother Braids a Waterfall. Click here to view the channel, and click on the individual videos to watch them. Also, please subscribe to the channel to be alerted of new content as it is posted.
Next week we will post videos of Lavina Fielding Anderson reading from her new book, Mercy without End. Subscribe today!
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Latest Uploads at Archive.org
Are you a historian, buff, or avid reader wanting access to important primary documents and other significant sources in Mormon history? If so, check out our free offerings at archive.org by clicking here. These are quality, searchable PDFs that you can download and access anytime!
You will find our Significant Diary Series, Lavina Fielding Anderson's Lucy's Book, Maxine Hanks's Women in Authority, Lisle Brown's Nauvoo Sealings, Adoptions, and Anointings, the complete run of dozens of old Mormon newspapers, and more.
The most recent additions to the archive, posted in June, are Dan Vogel's eight-volume History of Joseph Smith and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which in print was limited to 200 copies, and H. Michael Marquardt's Early Patriarchal Blessings and Later Patriarchal Blessings.
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Signature Celebrates its 40th Anniversary—A Little Early
Signature Books was founded in 1981, which means next year marks its fortieth anniversary. To celebrate, we have produced a 2021 commemorative calendar which highlights significant dates in Restoration history. The calendars are free and available now at several bookstores in the Salt Lake and Provo area. Check out the ad below to see which stores carry it. You may want to call ahead because some of these stores are still closed to indoor shopping, but they will happily run the calendar out to you.
Remember to support these and other independent booksellers during this difficult time and always.
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Lavina Fielding Anderson
paperback: $18.95
ebook: $9.99
Available now!
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Michael Hicks
paperback: $17.95
ebook: $9.99
Coming this summer!
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EVENTS
Sunstone Summer Symposium, July 29–August 1, 2020
Due to COVID-19, this is a digital event only. To see the preliminary schedule and registration information, click here.
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