Mormons and the Media, 1830-2012

Jared Farmer, author of the award-winning On Zion's Mount and a forthcoming history of California (to be published by Norton), recently shared with me a marvelous creation ... an e-book (free!) titled Mormons in the Media, 1830-2012.

From the site's self-description:

This is a curated collection of media images – examples of what historians call “primary sources.” The images concern Mormons and Mormonism in U.S. politics and the public sphere, from Joseph Smith to Mitt Romney. I use the word “media” broadly to encompass books, magazines, newspapers, photos, films, posters, postcards, ads, cartoons, sheet music, and websites. My collection considers both outside views of Mormons – including anti-Mormon propaganda – and depictions promulgated by Latter-day Saints themselves.

What follows is a treasure trove of discovery and interpretation. The images are to be savored. On successive pages, one finds E.D. Howe's Mormonism Unvailed and Southpark. There are choice depictions of Brigham Young and his many wives. Farmer includes several images of Mountain Meadows Massacre historical markers. [Jared, I want to know who bothered to compose "Down with the Mormons" in 1870]. There's a fascinating section on Mormons and whiteness. There's even a Dale Murphy baseball card (my favorite player during the 1980s despite a maddeningly high strikeout rate).

Besides learning about how other Mormons have loathed, mocked, and denounced the Latter-day Saints for the past 180 years, students (as in undergraduate students in particular) would learn a great deal about Mormonism from Mormons in the Media. I'm going to have my students next semester use it at length. Bravo, Jared, and thank you for making this available to everyone gratis.