Legacy—Great Stories from Church and Family History

015: Melvin Thatcher and Matt Heiss; Oral Histories

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:00:00 MST

Episode 15: Oral Histories. When we speak of personal histories we think most often of autobiographies, journals, or even scrapbooks; but what about cultures where there is no written tradition--how do they record their history? What about video tape or digital recordings? What effect does technology have on our recording of history? Melvin Thatcher of the Family History Department and Matt Heiss of the Church History Department discuss oral history.

014: Sandy Joseph and Merrill White, Family History Center

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:50:00 MST

Episode 14: Family Search Center. In 1823, the angel Moroni quoted the prophet Malachi to Joseph Smith: “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:6; see also D&C 2). The LDS Church is well-known around the world for its genealogical research, and family history has become an important element in the lives of Latter-day Saints. Sandy Joseph, manager of the Family Search Center in the Joseph Smith Building, and Merrill White, manager of Patron Services, discuss the center and their work.

013: Alex Smith, Nauvoo

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:00:00 MST

Episode 13: Nauvoo. In 1838, the Cherokee Nation was forced from its lands, and the people began their great Trail of Tears through western Illinois. The following year, another displaced people made their way to the area. Having been driven from the state of Missouri, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began to gather amid the remains of the abandoned Fort Des Moines. Today on a horseshoe bend of the Mississippi River sits the quaint Midwestern town of Nauvoo, which rivaled Chicago in size during its heyday. Alex Smith, volume editor with the Joseph Smith Papers Project in the Church History Department, discusses Nauvoo and its history.

012: Gary Boatright Jr., Amy Nuffer, and Melanie Hinton; Liberty Jail

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:00:00 MST

Episode 12: Liberty Jail. From December 1838 to April 1839 the Prophet Joseph Smith, along with several other Church leaders, was unjustly imprisoned in a rough stone dungeon measuring 14 by 14 feet, with a ceiling just over 6 feet high. Only two small, barred windows allowed light and air into the cell. The six prisoners suffered from the cold winter weather, filthy conditions, hunger, and illness. While in Liberty Jail, the Prophet wrote letters to his family and the Saints. His correspondence contains some of the most poignant revelations found in scripture. Gary Boatright Jr., Amy Nuffer, and Melanie Hinton from the Church History Department discuss Liberty Jail and the events leading up to Joseph Smith’s imprisonment.

011: Jeff Anderson, Journals and Documents

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:00:00 MST

Episode 11: Journals and Documents. Jeff Anderson of the Church History Library shares several stories that illustrate the value of historical documents. The Church History Library preserves records that relate to the history of the Church, gathering records from the corporate body of the Church, as well as documents from individual Latter-day Saints such as journals, letters, ward newsletters, etc. Because digitizing is labor-intensive and formats can be fleeting, microfilm is used to archive many documents. The interview concludes with recommendations about keeping personal records and information about submissions to the library.

010: Daniel Henderson, History of Music in the Church

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:00:00 MST

Episode 10: History of Music in the Church. Music has always played an important role in religious worship. Three months after the Church was organized, the Lord, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, instructed Joseph’s wife Emma to make a selection of sacred hymns for the Church. Latter-day Saints therefore have a long tradition of music in their meetings, but few know the history behind their music. Daniel Henderson, doctoral candidate at the New England Conservatory of Music, discusses early Mormon music and how we got the hymnal we have today.

009: Kirk Henrickson, The Great Tabernacle

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:00:00 MST

Episode 09: The Great Tabernacle. It’s one of the most recognizable buildings in the world. Some visitors around the beginning of the 20th century criticized it as “a prodigious tortoise that has lost its way,” but famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright dubbed the Salt Lake tabernacle “one of the architectural masterpieces of the country and perhaps the world.” Kirk Henrichsen and Randy Dixon from the Church History Department discuss the great tabernacle on Temple Square and the challenges leading up to its construction.

008: Mel Bashore, The Mormon Trail

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:00:00 MST

Episode 08: Interview with Mel Bashore about the Mormon Trail. Mel Bashore has been a librarian at the Church History Library since 1975. He researches historic sites and writes interpretive guides for missionaries who work at the sites. His research and publications have focused particularly on the Mormon Trail, the path across the North American plains traveled by Latter-day Saint pioneers.

007: Emily Utt, Gadfield Elm Chapel

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:00:00 MST

Episode 07: Interview with Emily Utt, Church History Department. Emily has worked in the Church History Department for four years and has spent most of her time researching and writing for Church-owned historic site exhibits. Her most recent project has been researching the Gadfield Elm Chapel. A small stone chapel in the rural countryside of England, the Gadfield Elm Chapel stands as a monument to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Through the missionary efforts of Wilford Woodruff, Brigham Young, Willard Richards, and others, 1,500 people joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the small towns and villages near the Gadfield Elm Chapel.

006: Mark Staker, Harmony, Pennyslvania

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:00:00 MST

Episode 06: Interview with Mark Staker, curator in the Church History Museum. Mark has been a curator in the Church History Museum for the past 16 years. His recent focus has been on the importance of Harmony, PA, and how it relates to Latter-day Saint history. Emma Hale grew up in Harmony, and there she met Joseph Smith. They buried their first child in Harmony. Joseph received the priesthood authority here and also translated much of the Book of Mormon in Harmony.

005: Jill Mulvay Derr: Eliza R. Snow and Nauvoo Relief Society Minutes

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:00:00 MST

Episode 05: Interview with Jill Mulvay Derr, director of the Church History Research and Development Division in the Church History Department. Jill recently completed a study of Eliza R. Snow and the record she kept of the Relief Society meetings in Nauvoo. At the age of 38 years old, Eliza R. Snow was called as the secretary of the female Relief Society of Nauvoo in 1842. She recorded the proceedings of 19 of the 33 recorded meetings. She created, preserved, and shared this book of records to create meaning and ensure memories of the Relief Society origins.

004: Paul Smith, Emma Smith History

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:00:00 MST

Episode 04: Interview with Paul Smith, chief researcher of Emma Hale Smith. Emma Hale Smith, wife of the Prophet Joseph Smith, was born July 10, 1804, in Harmony Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. At the inception of the female Relief Society of Nauvoo in 1842, Emma was appointed its founding president. As a devoted wife, mother, and friend, Emma stood as a respected leader and was acknowledged by the Lord as “an elect lady.” Speaking of Emma (her daughter-in-law), Lucy Mack Smith said, "I have never seen a woman in my life who would endure every species of fatigue and hardship from month to month and from year to year with that unflinching courage, zeal, and patience which she ever has done." Joining us today is Paul Smith, longtime researcher and writer of many subjects, chief among those being Emma Hale Smith. He shares great insight into the life of Emma, a woman we should love and respect.

003: Willard and Rebecca Bean, Palmyra, New York

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:00:00 MST

Episode 03: Interview with two of Willard and Rebecca's grandchildren (Vicki Bean Topliff and Rand Packer). In 1915 newlyweds Willard and Rebecca Bean moved into the Joseph Smith home in Palmyra, New York. Their mission was to last five years but stretched into twenty-five. Overcoming hatred and bigotry the family became respected, loved, and finally honored as the most versatile family to ever live in Palmyra.

002: Gary Boatright Jr., Joseph Smith Jr. Birthplace—Sharon, Vermont

Fri, 29 May 2009 12:00:00 MST

Episode 02: Interview with Gary Boatright, historic sites researcher for the Church History Department. In the maple-covered hills of Vermont stands a granite monument commemorating the birthplace of the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was here on a wintery New England day that the Smith family welcomed another son into the world. Of his own birth the prophet wrote simply, “I was born in the town of Sharon, in the state of Vermont on the twenty-third day of December A.D. 1805 to goodly parents.”

001: Jenny Lund, Winter Quarters

Wed, 13 May 2009 12:00:00 MST

Episode 01: Interview with Jenny Lund, manager of Church history sites in the Church History Department. For Latter-day Saints today, the small cemetery on a bluff near what is today Omaha, Nebraska, stands as a symbol of forced exile from Nauvoo, a harrowing journey of suffering and sacrifice for thousands. The principal settlement, Winter Quarters, is remembered mainly for the death that stalked the camp, yet it was also a place for refuge and a nearly ideal setting to prepare for the rest of the pioneers’ journey to the West.