Leonard J. Arrington
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Leonard J. Arrington (July 2, 1917 – February 11, 1999) was an author, academic and the founder of the Mormon History Association.
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[edit] Early life
Arrington was born in Twin Falls, Idaho on July 2, 1917. He earned a doctorate in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in March 1952. In 1958, Harvard University Press published his Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, based on his doctoral dissertation.
[edit] Educational career
Arrington taught at North Carolina State College from 1941 until 1942. He was a professor at Utah State University from 1946-1972. From 1972-1987 he was Lemuel H. Redd Jr. Professor of Western American History at Brigham Young University
Arrington established the Mormon History Association and served as its first president. He also created the Western Historical Quarterly and served as president of the Western History Association.
[edit] LDS Church Historian
In 1972, Arrington was appointed official Church Historian of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and was simultaneously appointed as Lemuel H. Redd Professor of Western History and Founding Director of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University (BYU).
During his time in the office, Arrington embarked on an ambitious program of sponsoring the writing of LDS Church histories in the academic style. The new Mormon History Those that are the best known include “The Story of the Latter-day Saints” and one for interested outsiders “The Mormon Experience." Arrington also granted liberal access to Church archival material to both Mormon and non-Mormon scholars; The Church transferred his division to BYU in 1982, bringing the era of open Church Archives to a close. Working in a new Brigham Young University division, the "Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History," brought Arrington into a more static situation, as he no longer divided his time between Church Headquarters and BYU.
[edit] Publications
- Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900; University of Illinois Press; ISBN 0-252-02972-0; (1958; Hardcover, reprint October 2004).
- The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints, with Davis Bitton; University of Illinois Press; ISBN 0-252-06236-1 (1979; Paperback, 1992)
- Brigham Young: American Moses; University of Illinois Press; ISBN 0-252-01296-8, (1985; Paperback, 1986)
- Saints without Halos; The Human Side of Mormon History with Davis Bitton; Signature Books (1981).
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint Church History, p. 48-49. "Mormon America"; Richard N. and Joan K. Ostling; HarperSanFransico(2000), p. 254-258.
"Mormon America"; Richard N. and Joan K. Ostling; HarperSanFransico(2000), p. 254-258.
[edit] External links
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