The author attempts to analyze and evaluate the educational views, policies and contributions of Adam S. Bennion during his administration as Superintendent of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Educational Program.Part of the study is dedicated to an intensive search of historical data to determine Church educational policy and philosophy prior to his administration.His views on many religious and educational topics, taken from his personal, unpublished manuscripts, are quoted at length.An attempt is also made to examine his role as a policy maker and to evaluate his contribution in light of present policy and philosophy in the L.D.S. Department of Education. Bennion's broad experience in public as well as private education prompted his proposals that the church concentrate on religious education, leaving secular education to the public schools.Finally an attempted evaluation is made of his contribution to the field of education subsequent to his assignment as superintendent of Church schools.

The purpose of this thesis is to critically examine the factors contributing to the rise and subsequent decline of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Upper Canada. Although the time period of this study spans from 1830 until 1850, the principal years of activity were from 1832 until 1840. An effort is made to discuss any major location wherein the Church made substantial progress.The major contribution of the thesis lies in the effort to stage the Mormon drama against a Canadian background of changing social factors. During the times of greatest economic stagnation, political upheaval and Methodist divisions, Mormonism made its greatest strides. In contract, once the economy had improved, the political rebellion quelled, and religious divisions healed, the Mormon influence waned. Furthermore, the Church emphasized so strongly the doctrine of gathering to America that not enough stalwart converts remained behind to form a permanent nucleus of activity.

The origin of the Smoot family is traced to thirteenth century Holland when a vassal of the Count of Holland chose the name Smout. The family, after conspicuous service, entered the ranks of the nobility and gained a coat of arms. William Smoot contracted to perform fifty days service in the Colony of Virginia in 1633. Impressed by the new land, he settled in America.His decendent and the subject of this biography was born on February 17, 1815, in Owenton Franklin County, Kentucky, to George Smoot and Ann Rowlett who named their infant son Abraham Owen Smoot after an illustrious uncle, Colonel Abraham Owen. Young Abraham was so ill as a child that when he was nine years of age, burial clothes were prepared for his death which seemed imminent. Providence ruled otherwise. The young boy had a strong desire to live and find the true church. On March 22, 1835, at the age of twenty years, he was baptised by by Elder David Patten who in the confirmation promised Smoot that he would become strong and healthy which he did steadily from that date.After being placed in charge of a local branch, Smoot was ordained an Elder on February 26, 1836 and labored as a missionary companion to Elders David Patten and Warren Parrish. He also labored as a missionary with Wilford Woodruff with whom he journeyed to Kirtland to go through the Temple where he was ordained a Seventy on December 20.The Prophet Joseph sent Smoot back to the southern states to regain his health and to lead a company of southern saints to Missouri. Before starting south, he was promised in a Patriarchal Blessing pronounced by Joseph Smith Senior that he would recover his health and gain wisdom and fame among the saints and the Lord's protection while among his enemies. A Baptist Deacon who opposed Smoot in one of his public meetings of the journey was suddenly stricken dead.

The "History of the Southern States Mission, 1831-1861," traces the development of a system of proselyting in the southeastern United States, and its effect on the lives of both missionaries and converts who embraced the principles of the restored gospel taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.This study includes an examination of twenty-eight personal missionary journals, and consequently gives a valid picture of Latter-day Saint objectives and the sacrifices necessary to achieve them. Their objectives were to carry the message to the world and build up the Kingdom of God.To reach their goal, the Mormons developed an enthusiastic and extensive proselyting system. As members joined the movement and caught the spirit of the Kingdom, they were zealous to carry the message to their friends and relatives. The free-lance method developed into a system wherein definite calls were made to a particular field of labor.One of the earliest and most fruitful fields of Mormon proselyting activity became known as the Southern States Mission – an area of thirteen southeastern states.The South was first contacted by two Mormon missionaries in June, 1831. Each succeeding year, the number of laborers increased. By 1861, at least 230 missionaries had served in the South. Some of them returned again and again, as many as five times, to spread the gospel. Even the threats of mobs did not stop their work. They not only preached the gospel, but also collected money to finance the temples and help the poor, sold subscriptions to L.D.S. newspapers, campaigned for Joseph Smith as a presidential candidate and organized Saints for emigration.The mission was a field of training for leadership. Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, Jedediah M. Grant, George A. Smith and others received valuable training for Church responsibilities.The hospitable and religious nature of the Southerners made success possible. Approximately 2000 Southern converts joined the Church during the thirty year period. They came from the various strata of society--from Negro slaves to the wealthy plantation owners. They responded to their profession of faith by contributing their time, talents and money to the Church.As soon as the number of converts in a locality justified an organization, they sustained a local member as president of their "branch." The first branch was established in Cabell County, Virginia, in 1832. A larger ecclesiastical unit composed of branches, was developed into a "conference" in 1836.When Joseph Smith designated ‘gathering places’ for his followers, approximately fifty per cent of the Southern Saints joined the emigration movement to Missouri, Illinois and Utah.Proselyting activities focused on Texas after the body of the Church moved to Utah in 1847, and hundreds of Texans were affected by the "spirit of gathering." They had a long distance to travel, and experienced much hardship and discouragement.The "History of the Southern States Mission, 1830-1860," shows the effect of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the lives of men. It reflects the successes, joys, sorrows and satisfactions that came to those who embraced the Latter-day Church. For thirty years, before the outbreak of the Civil War, the South was a fruitful missionfield. However, in 1861, the war brought a cessation of missionary work and ended the first era of the Mission's history.

Religiosity has largely been ignored by consumer research as a factor in the negotiation of meaning from magazine advertisements containing lifestyle messages. A meaning based study was undertaken to seek to identify its presence and emergence within a religious audience. A qualitative methodology employing in-depth, phenomenological interviewing was designed. Six members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, three men and three women, were invited to give their interpretations, thoughts, and feelings towards four magazine advertisements. A second in-depth phenomenological interview was conducted with each participant to provide individual lifeworld contexts. Analysis employed a previously tested conceptual construct, Life Themes, to identify a paramount, existential motivator unique to each participant. Life Themes were consequently examined for influences of personal and institutional religiosity. Expressions of religiosity were found to be influenced by individual Life Themes. Though findings indicate conflicts with personal values derived from religiosity, interpretive consensus was not found in particular incidences or on particular values. Findings also suggest that proximity to Christian lifestyle values, rather than to simply “Mormon” lifestyle values, more fully suggest incidence of shared interpretive strategy in evaluating lifestyle appeals within advertising messages. The study indicates that aligning a product with messages containing values that promote lifestyle conflict is not serving the best interests of the product, nor its intended market.

This thesis depicts in a visual format the settlement geography of early Utah.Several topics in Utah's historical geography were mapped by conventional cartographic techniques to give an overview of processes and patterns of settlement.This thesis points to the utility of maps in portraying information concerning settlement activity. It indicates that visual correlations enable the student to better understand settlement through spatial relationships.Of special interest are the use of color maps, and the creation of physical relief impressions by photographically screening a raised relief map of Utah.

The aim of this study, therefore, is to trace briefly the historical origins and development of the LDS temple baptismal font and to investigate the various iconographic meanings which may pertain to it and its role as a potential vital symbol in the Mormon Church.

This thesis contains the history of Teton Valley from 1888 to the present. It gives the main events in the founding and building of a locality under the direction and influence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.The first chapter is written by way of an introduction. The second chapter gives the discovery of the valley by the first white men and subsequent forays by others in later years.The prominence of the Teton Peaks, 13,747 feet high, distinguished the locality as a land mark to Indian, trapper, trader, and early settler alike. The trappers of the several fur companies, were the first to stay any length of time. It was in the valley that the famous rendezvous took place. This location was used many times because of its central location, pasturage, and beauty which appealed to the Indians, trappers, and traders, who congregated here annually.

This study addressed itself to identifying dominant motivational influences prompting seminary attendance of ninth and eleventh grade students living along the Wasatch Front in the state of Utah and to determine if these motivational influences were related to stated objectives of the LDS seminary program. The sample consisted of twelve randomly selected cluster groups of seminary classes from the Ogden, Salt Lake City, and Provo-Orem areas. Factors relative to stated objectives and to entertainment were incorporated in the survey questionnaire, Survey of Attendance Rationale, used for data collection. Data were collected in February 1981 and submitted to factor analysis, analysis of variance, and the Chi-square test of homogeneity.Results of the hypotheses tested indicated that primary motivational factors influencing seminary attendance were related to the stated objectives of the seminary program, accompanied by the strong influence of and desire for entertainment related activities.

Thirty-nine fathers were observed to determine if they interact differently with their child as a result of the child's sex or birth ordinal position.Results indicated that fathers expected more of their sons, had a higher readiness of explanation for them, and criticized them more often. Fathers gave more praise, physical contact and supportive behavior to their daughters. Birth ordinal effects paralleled and interacted wiith the child's sex.Stepwise regression yielded a mean value of 44.16 in explaining the overall variance in dependent variables. It emphasized the number of hours the father spent with his child and family, the father's age, education, and occupation. In comparison to these, the child's sex and ordinal position emerged as having little importance.