![59th Annual Conference of the Mormon History Association [2024]](https://eventleafmedia.blob.core.windows.net/c33893/45020/18fd381b-4d41-4541-abdd-897405142872.jpg)
The 59th Annual Mormon History Association conference will take place on June 13-16th, 2024 in Kirtland, Ohio. The theme, "Conversions, Aversion, and Reversion: Mormon Identity from Ohio to Utah," invites scholars to think about the ways Restorationists constructed their identity in their interaction with people, ideas, time, and space. As the first headquarters of the Mormon tradition, Kirtland presents a unique opportunity to address the people who joined the movement, the early detractors, and those who found themselves on the margins of the emerging faith. In addition to historical methods, this year's theme is meant to be interdisciplinary and generate conversations across disciplinary boundaries to explore the Restoration in its formative years and beyond.
Between 1831 and 1838, Kirtland was home to a growing Latter-day Saint community. Prior to this, the area was the homeland of the Erie, Seneca, Mississauga, and other Indigenous peoples, and later designated as the Connecticut Western Reserve. At the height of religious revival, the region became known for the communitarianism of Shakers, Owenites, and the Harmony Society. Within Mormon history, the site is the center of the first major schism in the Latter-day Saint tradition and a major economic failure. It is representative of contemporary debates over the ownership of sacred sites, the region's religious identity, and the interaction between religion and economics.
In addition to the Western historical method, this year's conference is an opportunity to analyze ways of knowing and telling history, particularly the way decolonial methodologies challenge linear narratives. Indigenous methodologies center land, language, and sovereignty to think about the interactions between past, present, and future. We encourage scholars to think about paradigmatic shifts in Mormon history and Mormon Studies that welcome diverse perspectives and voices.
Kirtland is a sacred space and enables an exploration of Mormon lived religion, the way Mormonism is practiced in the everyday experience of life with an emphasis on ordinary members of the faith. In addition to the institutional expressions of the diverse Restoration religions in the area, we welcome paper topics that include vernacular religion, ritual, meaning-making, pilgrimage, and material culture.
David Howlett is a professor of religion in America at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. He is the author of Kirtland Temple: The Biography of a Shared Mormon Sacred Space.
Dr. Johnson has master's degrees in American Religious History and Theology and a PhD in American History, taught and researched at BYU-Idaho and BYU, and is now acquisitions director at Deseret Book.
Jana Riess is a senior columnist for Religion News Service and the author or co-author of many books, including The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church and the memoir Flunking Sainthood.
A Grace Craddock Nagle Chair of Catholic Studies at NU. His books include, The Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem; Thank You, Saint Jude: Women’s Devotion to the Patron Saint of Hopeless Causes; and Between Heaven and Earth.
Charlotte Hansen Terry is a Ph.D. candidate in U.S. History at the University of California, Davis.
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Celebrate 50 years of Mormon History Scholarship by making a donation!
- Be a current member of the Mormon History Association
- Received an acceptance to present at the annual conference
- Submit a completed application form by March 1st"
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