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Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith manuscript, 1984

Overview of the Collection

Title
Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith manuscript
Dates
1984
Quantity
2 boxes, (1 linear feet)
Collection Number
UUS_COLL MSS 85
Summary
Unedited manuscript of the book.
Repository
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives Division
Special Collections & Archives
Merrill-Cazier Library
Utah State University
Logan, UT
84322-3000
Telephone: 4357978248
Fax: 4357972880
scweb@usu.edu
Access Restrictions

Open to public research.

Languages
English.
Sponsor
Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant, 2007-2008
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Biographical Note

Emma Hale Smith was born in 1804 in Pennsylvania. She was the wife of Joseph Smith Jr. the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whom she married in 1827. Emma was the first president of what eventually became one of the world's largest and oldest women's organizations: the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As Joseph Smith began compiling revelations and teachings that would become the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Emma collected songs for the LDS Church's first hymn book.

Emma did not agree with all the new church doctrines, such as the practice of plural marriage. When Joseph Smith was assassinated in 1844, Emma Smith did not join the church's migration west to Utah. Instead, she married Lewis Bidamon, a nonmember. Emma believed that her son, Joseph Smith III, should lead the religious movement that her husband founded. When this did not happen, Emma left the Church and joined the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Emma Smith died in 1879 in Nauvoo, Illinois.

Historical Note:

In 1984, Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery published Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith a project that took them eight years to complete. The publication of this book earned them praise, respect, and outstanding reviews both inside and outside of Church circles. Their book won several awards, including the Evans Award for Best Biography given by Utah State University, Best Book of the Year by the Mormon History Association, and Best Book of the Year by the John Whitmer History Association. However, leaders of the Church responded to the publication by banning Newell and Avery (both active Latter-day Saints) from speaking in church meetings for one year. This was in response to the book's sympathetic portrayal of Emma and its criticisms of Joseph's actions towards his wife.

Mrs. Newell lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. She served as a coeditor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought during the 1980s. Dr. Avery is a professor of history at Northern Arizona University.

Sources:

Newell, Linda King, and Avery, Valeen Tippetts, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith, Prophet's Wife, Elect Lady, Polygamy's Foe, Doubleday & Company, Inc.,. Garden City, New York, 1984, pp. 394 (available at Special Collections, call # 289.392 Sm55-N)

Ostling, Joan K., and Ostling, Richard N., Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, Harper SanFrancisco, San Francisco, 1999, pp. 252 (available at Special Collections, call # 289.373 Os7)

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Content Description

This two-box collection contains Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery's original, near one-thousand-page, unedited version of Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith. Following the first submission of Mormon Enigma to a publisher, the authors were asked to cut the text to one-third. Thereafter, Newell and Avery continued to research and refine the manuscript during this revision process. The 1984 published version of Mormon Enigma is three-hundred and ninety-four pages long.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.

Permission to publish material from the Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith manuscript must be obtained from the Special Collections and Archives manuscript curator and/or the Special Collections and Archives department head.

Preferred Citation

Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith manuscript, 1984. (COLL MSS 85). Utah State University. Special Collections and Archives Department.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged by version of manuscript and chapter.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Bessie Merrill.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

  • Description: Preface, pp. vii-xx
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 1
  • Description: Chapter 1: Emma: 1620-1825 pp. 1-17
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 2
  • Description: Chapter 2: Joseph: 1796-1825, pp. 18-34
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 3
  • Description: Chapter 3: Moneydigging and Goldplates: 1825-1827, pp. 35-51
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 4
  • Description: Chapter 4: First Sorrow; First Triumph: 1827-1830, pp. 52-71
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 5
  • Description: Chapter 5: The Elect Lady: 1830, pp. 72-88
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 6
  • Description: Chapter 6: A Tar and Feathering: 1930-1832, pp. 89-106
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 7
  • Description: Chapter 7: A Son that Lived: 1832-1834, pp. 107-131
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 8
  • Description: Chapter 8: A House of God: 1834-1836, pp. 132-152
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 9
  • Description: Chapter 9: "Seas of Tribulation": 1836-1838, pp. 153-178
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 10
  • Description: Chapter 10: Strife in Zion: 1938-1839, pp. 179-209
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 11
  • Description: Chapter 11: Sanctuary in a Swamp: 1839, pp. 210-234
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 12
  • Description: Chapter 12: Eye of the Hurricane: 1839-1841
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 13
  • Description: Chapter 13: A New Order of Marriage: 1841-1842, pp. 235-254
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 14
  • Description: Chapter 14: Mormons and Masons: 1842, pp. 273-284
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 15
  • Description: Chapter 15: In Search of Iniquity: 1842, pp. 285-314
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 16
  • Description: Chapter 16: Aid to the Fugitive: 1842, pp. 315-340
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 17
  • Description: Chapter 17: Emma, Eliza and the Stairs: 1842-1843, pp. 341-358
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 18
  • Description: Chapter 18: The Revelation: 1843, pp. 341-358
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 19
  • Description: Chapter 19: The Poisoning: 1843, pp. 405-435
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 20
  • Description: Chapter 20: "Voice of Innocence": 1844, pp. 436-468
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 21
  • Description: Chapter 21: A Final Farewell, June 1844, pp. 469-489
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 22
  • Description: Chapter 22: "My Husband was My Crown": June 1844, pp. 490-512
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 23
  • Description: Chapter 23: The Lady and the Lion: Fall 1844, pp. 513-541
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 24
  • Description: Chapter 24: Inherit the Legacy, 1844-1845, pp. 542-573
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 25
  • Description: Chapter 25: The Sun Casts a Shadow: Winter 1845-1846, pp. 574-597
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 26
  • Description: Chapter 26: War in Nauvoo: 1846, pp. 654-681
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 2, Folder 1
  • Description: Chapter 27: The Major: 1846-1849, pp. 625-653
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 2, Folder 2
  • Description: Chapter 28: Change in Nauvoo: 1846, pp. 598-624
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 2, Folder 3
  • Description: Chapter 29: Emma's Sons, Lewis' Son: 1860-1870, pp. 682-712
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 2, Folder 4
  • Description: Chapter 30: Josephites and Brighamites: 1870-1877, pp. 713-750
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 2, Folder 5
  • Description: Chapter 31: The Last Testimony: 1873-1879, pp. 751-771
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 2, Folder 6
  • Description: Chapter 32: Epilogue, pp. 772-781
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 2, Folder 7
  • Description: Notes, pp. 782-813
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 2, Folder 8
  • Description: Notes, pp. 814-835
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 2, Folder 9
  • Description: Notes, pp. 836-861
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 2, Folder 10
  • Description: Notes, pp. 862-877
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 2, Folder 11
  • Description: Notes, pp. 878-905
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 2, Folder 12
  • Description: Notes, pp. 906-934
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 2, Folder 13
  • Description: Bibliography, pp. 935-969
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 2, Folder 14

Finding aid created by Special Collections and Archives.
2008

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