American Universities and the Birth of Modern Mormonism, 1867-1940

In the closing decades of the nineteenth century, college-age Latter-day Saints began undertaking a remarkable intellectual pilgrimage to the nation's elite universities, including Harvard, Columbia, Michigan, Chicago, and Stanford. Thomas W. Simpson chronicles the academic migration of hundreds of LDS students from the 1860s through the late 1930s, when church authority J. Reuben Clark Jr., himself a product of the Columbia University Law School, gave a reactionary speech about young Mormons' search for intellectual cultivation. Clark's leadership helped to set conservative parameters that in large part came to characterize Mormon intellectual life. At the outset, Mormon women and men were purposefully dispatched to such universities to gather the world's knowledge to Zion. Simpson, drawing on unpublished diaries, among other materials, shows how LDS students commonly described American universities as egalitarian spaces that fostered a personally transformative sense of freedom to explore provisional reconciliations of Mormon and American identities and religious and scientific perspectives. On campus, Simpson argues, Mormon separatism died and a new, modern Mormonism was born: a Mormonism at home in the United States but at odds with itself. Fierce battles among Mormon scholars and church leaders ensued over scientific thought, progressivism, and the historicity of Mormonism's sacred past. The scars and controversy, Simpson concludes, linger. Contents 8 Chronology 12 Introduction: Mormonism Reframed 18 1 Brigham Young’s Romance with American Higher Education, 1867–1877 28 2 The Death of Mormon Separatism in American Universities, 1877–1896 45 3 Evolution and Its Discontents, 1896–1920 71 4 Anti-intellectualism Rejected and Reborn, 1920–1940 109 Conclusion: Mormonism Uncharted 139 Appendix A. Mormons Studying “Abroad” before the Woodruff Manifesto (1890) 144 Appendix B. Mormons at the University of Michigan, 1874–1913 154 Appendix C. Mormons at Harvard, 1891–1913 166 Appendix D. Mormons at Columbia, 1882–1921 172 Appendix E. Advanced Degrees Earned by Mormons in Religion, History, and the Social Sciences, 1920–1940 178 Notes 182 Bibliography 214 Acknowledgments, 230 Index 232 "The book situates American universities as a unique egalitarian cultural and institutional space for Mormons in nineteenth-century American society. They were places where Mormons could experience a personally transformative sense of freedom and dignity, equip themselves for taking advantageous paths in American society, and explore provisional reconciliations of religious and scientific perspectives. Contributing to an understanding of the evolution of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints in the context of American history, Simpson chronicles a Mormon intellectual pilgrimage made by hundreds of youth to the elite universities of the United States"-- Provided by publisher Cover -- Contents -- Chronology -- Introduction. Mormonism Reframed -- 1. Brigham Young's Romance with American Higher Education, 1867-1877 -- 2. The Death of Mormon Separatism in American Universities, 1877-1896 -- 3. Evolution and Its Discontents, 1896-1920 -- 4. Anti-intellectualism Rejected and Reborn, 1920-1940 -- Conclusion. Mormonism Uncharted -- Appendix A. Mormons Studying "Abroad" before the Woodruff Manifesto (1890) -- Appendix B. Mormons at the University of Michigan, 1874-1913 -- Appendix C. Mormons at Harvard, 1891-1913 -- Appendix D. Mormons at Columbia, 1882-1921 In the closing decades of the nineteenth century, college-age Latter-day Saints began undertaking a remarkable intellectual pilgrimage to the US’s elite universities. Thomas W. Simpson chronicles the academic migration of hundreds of LDS students from the 1860s to the late 1930s. Appendix E. Advanced Degrees Earned by Mormons in Religion, History, and the Social Sciences, 1920-1940 -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Acknowledgments -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z