The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is an evangelical religion. From a beginning in western New York in 1830, it grew into a world-wide organization which numbered more than a million and a half members by 1960. Those largely responsible for this growth have been the Church members who have volunteered two to three years of their time to missionary service. In 1960 there were approximately 7,000 of these missionaries working in different areas of the world. Of this number, almost 1,800 were serving in Europe, where with the exception of the personnel of the United States government groups, they probably constituted the largest single group of organized Americans living abroad. This study will trace the history of Mormon missionary work in France up to 1960. The French Mission encompasses most of the French-speaking areas of western Europe, and at various times during its history included all of France, the Channel Islands, and those parts of SWitzerland and Belgium where French is the predominate language. Also included in this study is a brief description of Mormon proselyting among the French-speaking Waldenses people of northern Italy. This was included because for many years Italy has been, at least nominally, assigned to the French Mission. Though missionaries have not proselyted in Italy for more than 100 years, there are a handful of Mormons living in that country. In this thesis, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is frequently referred to either as "the Church" or "the Mormon Church." This is done to avoid the repetition of its longer official name. Also, the Mormon missionaries are termed simply "the missionaries" or "the elders," the title elder being an office or degree of the Mormon priesthood to which all male missionaries belong. There are two remaining terms which need clarification. They are "branch" and "ward." In Mormon usage the branch is a small congregation of believers presided over by a branch president and two counselors. The ward is a somewhat larger congregation presided over by a bishop and two counselors. In the writing of this thesis a number of people have been instrumental in aiding the author by advice or in research materials. A particular debt of gratitude is owed to Professor S. George Ellsworth, chairman of the writer's graduate committee, for his valuable counsel and assistance. Appreciation is also expressed to the other members of the committee, Professors Leonard J. Arrington and Douglas D. Alder, for their helpful suggestions and encouragement. For their cooperation in allowing access to the historical data and records on the French Mission, the writer owes a special thanks to the staff of the Church Historian's Office of the Mormon Church. The author is also sincerely grateful to those who have read and criticized this thesis, and especially to his wife, Connie, who helped more than words can express by her patient encouragement.

The purpose of this thesis is to identify and discuss various popular images of the Mormon women of Utah between 1852 and 1890, the period during which the Latter-day Saints openly practiced plural marriage. The phrase "in the toils" refers to the basic image present in the minds of many Americans--that the women of the church were an oppressed, unhappy, enslaved group of individuals. This image, expressed in different ways, is found in many published writings of the period examined. After demonstrating the presence of this "in the toils" image, this study then attempts to analyze and evaluate its significance. Certainly this negative image had a bearing on anti-Mormon sentiment in general and opposition to the practice of polygamy. Moreover, the image seemed to generate more from nineteenth century values toward women and the family than it did from observable realities of the Mormon woman's condition. Several more realistic and historically valid images of the nineteenth century Mormon woman are suggested here. Another aspect of this subject is the manner in which the Mormon women themselves responded vii to their misrepresentation among non-Mormons. ' They identified themselves with an image of moving "onward for Zion," many of them, at least publicly, wholeheartedly endorsing their church and its teaching concerning plurality of wives. This paper has been based on numerous types of primary sources published between 1852 and 1890, including periodical articles, novels, reformers' tracts, travel accounts, newspapers, and public documents. The Mormon perspective has been studied through sermons, public testimonials of Mormon women, the Woman's Exponent, and a number of secondary sources.

Evangelical Protestant Christians have been one of the primary groups opposing Mormons since the beginnings of Mormonism in the 1820s. This thesis is an examination of the historical basis for Evangelical opposition to Mormonism and the impact of that opposition on Mormon identity. This study is divided into three chronological chapters representing the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries in America. Evangelical animosity towards Mormonism was grounded in the Christian heretical tradition begun in the second century AD. Because of this tradition, Evangelicals were inherently afraid of heresy for two main reasons: temporal treason and eternal damnation. Due to the heterodox claims of a new prophet and new scripture, Mormonism was quickly labeled as dangerous, not only to Christianity, but to America as a whole. This perceived danger only grew as Mormonism continued to differentiate itself further with the practices of polygamy, communalism, and theocracy. In the nineteenth century, Mormon assimilation of Evangelicalism primarily affected the social structures of marriage, economics, and politics. In the twentieth century, Mormon assimilation of Evangelical identity would focus more on the incorporation of Evangelical ideology and theology. As Fundamentalism and Neo-Evangelicalism protested Mormonism as a cult, Mormonism became more Fundamentalist and Evangelical by nature, especially as the Church of Jesus Christ of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognized how such opposition negatively impacted American public perceptions. Such changes included the development of Mormon neo-orthodoxy with its emphasis on the sovereignty of God, the depravity of man, and salvation by grace. In the twenty-first century, a group of Mormon and Evangelical scholars engaged in the practice of interfaith dialogue developed by Liberal Protestants and Catholics. As part of their dialogue, Evangelicals retained the purposes of evangelism and apologetics thereby qualifying the dialogue as a new more subtle form of Evangelical opposition to Mormonism in the twenty first century. As Evangelicals continuously opposed Mormonism as a Christian heresy, such opposition effected changes within Mormonism, changes that have led to some degree of assimilation and even adoption of several elements of Evangelicalism. The most recent part of this assimilation process has been the development of Mormon progressive orthodoxy that emphasizes anti-sectarianism, anti-liberalism, and revised supernaturalism.

A national survey of bishops' wives was conducted to determine whether Reuben Hill's "Roller Coaster" model of family stress following a stressor event should be modified to include a honeymoon period when the precipitating event is viewed positively by the family. The honeymoon period was expected to be within the first year, and too few respondents were in their first year to give statistically significant evidence of such a pattern. Several measures did give non-significant evidence of a honeymoon phase, though.Other factors found to have an important effect on the stressfulness of the position of bishop's wife were: age of the woman (positive effect), presence and age of children (no children or only older children at home is less stressful), and whether or not the wife has a friend or relative to talk to who is also a bishop's wife (which improves overall rating of the position).

The valley and region in which Murray is located was well known to the trappers and exploreres before the Mormon Pioneers entered the area. The Escalante expedition visited the general area as early as September of 1776, and left a description of Utah Valley and its inhabitants. While in the Utah Valley, the Indians gave the Spaniards information about the valley to the north and the lake there.Come fifty years later, the region became well known to the fur trappers of the great fur companies. Peter Skene Ogden, Jedediah Smith, and Provost with their companies of men traversed the region and became well acquainted with it. After the arrival of the first trappers, the area was often visited by white men, either trapping or exploring.With the Mormons entering the valley, came the settlers who were to make the first settlement at South Cottonwood. Green Flake, a member of the first party of pioneers is reported to have built a house for James Flake in the area where the Mississippi Saints settled in 1848. This area became known as the Amasa Lyman Survey and was the nucleus from which the South Cottonwood ard grew.

It is only hoped that this preliminary attempt to analyze the functions of county government in the Territory of Utah will strike a note of interest in other students and give them ideas for further study.

When writing about a culture, ethnographers can convey important insights about society. However, ethnography can also misrepresent culture. To address this fact, reflexive ethnography attempts to influence both the methodology and the rhetoric of writing about culture. Reflexivity seeks to acknowledge the bias of the researcher. To include the voice of the cultural insiders, and to more closely represent the dynamics of cultures that always have an element of hybridity. However, reflexive ethnographies can also be unwieldy and impractical. Therefore, one must find a pragmatic application of reflexivity.Reflexivity can have application to Mormon folklore studies. The most important Mormon folklorists in the mid-twentieth century were Austin and Alta Fife and their folklore research includes the ethnography "A Mormon from the Cradle to the Grave," a non-reflexive text that both reveals and conceals aspects of Mormon culture. Analyzing the Fife's world view and the context that surrounded the production of their research helps reveal why their writings describe Mormon culture the way they do. Such a project also assesses their work in a reflexive way as it reveals researcher bias and includes more cultural voices.William A. (Bert) Wilson took the Fifes' place as the preeminent Mormon folklorist, and his work provides a more complete cultural description. He moves past the Fifes survivalist mode to a functional description on Mormon culture. He also combines an insider perspective with his functionalism. Such a shift focuses more on cultural context and does a better job at representing culture. In these aspects, Wilson's work is a step towards reflexivity.Reflexivity, however, could play a greater role in the work of Mormon folklorists. Wilson has called for modifications in the study and writing about Mormon folklore. He has argued that much of the past work misrepresents Mormon folklore by ignoring the more common stories in favor or the supernatural. His urging to modify the type of lore that is collected and analyzed will make Mormon folklore more reflexive. The researcher focus will be closer to what the culture itself is like. Reflexivity could also come about by adopting more reflexive methodologies, like those advocated by Elaine Lawless. Finally, Mormon folklorists can also make sure that all voices are heard in the complex subcultures of Mormonism.

The purposes of this study were (1) to learn how many persons who were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were blind, (2) to determine the social and economic conditions of these blind members, and (3) to learn what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has done to promote employment of blind members through its Welfare Program, and how this was accomplished.

This thesis was begun as just a history of the labor movement in Utah County, but as the research for data proceeded it became more evident that the factors influencing the retardation and development of the movement were the important things to consider. As a consequence, the greater portion of this work is so devoted.

Mormon periodical fiction has had a slow and painstaking development. Not much fiction of worth was produced prior to 1900, but by 1900 the antecedents of a future "mature" fiction were established.The fiction of the years following those initial developments of fiction is largely, as yet, unexplored and unevaluated. It is my purpose in this study to map out the broad areas of this fiction and attempt to measure its literary value.