Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon StudiesW
Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies

The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) was an informal collaboration of academics devoted to Latter-day Saint historical scholarship. The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) was established in 1979 as a non-profit organization by John. W. Welch. In 1997, the group became a formal part of Brigham Young University (BYU), which is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 2006, the group became a formal part of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, formerly known as the Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts, BYU. FARMS has since been absorbed into the Maxwell Institute's Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies.

John Whitmer Historical AssociationW
John Whitmer Historical Association

The John Whitmer Historical Association (JWHA) is an independent, nonprofit organization promoting study, research, and publishing about the history and culture of the Latter Day Saint movement. It is especially focused on the Community of Christ, other midwestern Restoration traditions, and early Mormonism. The Community of Christ's approach to its own history was influenced, in part, by historical problems raised and explored through JWHA publications and conferences, and those of its sister organization, the Mormon History Association. JWHA membership numbers around 400 and is open to all, fostering cooperation with LDS and non-Mormon scholars.

Mormon Historic Sites FoundationW
Mormon Historic Sites Foundation

The Mormon Historic Sites Foundation (MHSF) is an independent organization that seeks to contribute to the memorialization of sites important to the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The organization also maintains a database of historic sites of the LDS Church called the Mormon Historic Sites Registry.

Nephi AndersonW
Nephi Anderson

Christian Nephi Anderson was a prominent Utah novelist and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A prolific writer of the "Home Literature" period of LDS fiction, Anderson published ten novels including the bestselling Added Upon (1898), as well as short stories, poetry, essays, and a history of the Church for young people.

Leonard J. ArringtonW
Leonard J. Arrington

Leonard James Arrington was an American author, academic and the founder of the Mormon History Association. He is known as the "Dean of Mormon History" and "the Father of Mormon History" because of his many influential contributions to the field. Since 1842, he was the first non-general authority Church Historian for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from 1972 to 1982, and was director of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History from 1982 until 1986.

Philip BarlowW
Philip Barlow

Philip Layton Barlow is a Harvard-trained scholar who specializes in American religious history, religious geography, and Mormonism. In 2019, Barlow was appointed associate director of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. Barlow was the first full-time professor of Mormon studies at a secular university as the inaugural Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University (USU), from 2007 to 2018.

Alexander L. BaughW
Alexander L. Baugh

Alexander L. Baugh is a professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University (BYU). He has largely written on the history of the Latter Day Saint movement in the 1830s Missouri period, but has also written on such topics as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Great Britain during the 20th Century.

Susan Easton BlackW
Susan Easton Black

Susan Easton Black is a retired professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. She is also an author of several books related to Joseph Smith and the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Juanita BrooksW
Juanita Brooks

Juanita Pulsipher Brooks was an American historian and author, specializing in the American West and Mormon history, including books related to the Mountain Meadows Massacre, to which her grandfather Dudley Leavitt was sometimes linked.

Thomas Bullock (Mormon)W
Thomas Bullock (Mormon)

Thomas Bullock was a Mormon pioneer and a clerk in the Church Historian's Office of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Richard BushmanW
Richard Bushman

Richard Lyman Bushman is an American historian and Gouverneur Morris Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, having previously taught at Brigham Young University, Harvard University, Boston University, and the University of Delaware. Bushman is the author of Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, an important biography of Joseph Smith, progenitor of the Latter Day Saint movement. Bushman also was an editor for the Joseph Smith Papers Project and now serves on the national advisory board. Bushman has been called "one of the most important scholars of American religious history" of the late 20th century. In 2012, a $3-million donation to the University of Virginia established the Richard Lyman Bushman Chair of Mormon Studies in his honor.

Eugene E. CampbellW
Eugene E. Campbell

Eugene Edward "Gene" Campbell was an American professor of history at Brigham Young University.

George Q. CannonW
George Q. Cannon

George Quayle Cannon was an early member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and served in the First Presidency under four successive presidents of the church: Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Lorenzo Snow. He was the church's chief political strategist, and was dubbed "the Mormon premier" and "the Mormon Richelieu" by the press. He was also a five-time Utah territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress.

Kate B. CarterW
Kate B. Carter

Kate B. Carter was an editor, historian and long-time president of Daughters of Utah Pioneers.

William Clayton (Mormon)W
William Clayton (Mormon)

William H. Clayton was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement who was a clerk and scribe to the religious leader Joseph Smith. Clayton, born in England, was also an American pioneer journalist, inventor, lyricist, and musician.

Eugene EnglandW
Eugene England

George Eugene England, Jr., usually credited as Eugene England, was a Mormon writer, teacher, and scholar. He founded Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the oldest independent journal in Mormon Studies, with G. Wesley Johnson, Paul G. Salisbury, Joseph H. Jeppson, and Frances Menlove in 1966, and cofounded the Association for Mormon Letters in 1976. He is also widely known in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for his many essays about Mormon culture and thought. From 1977–1998, England taught Mormon Literature at Brigham Young University. England described the ideal modern Mormon scholar as "critical and innovative as his gifts from God require but conscious of and loyal to his own unique heritage and nurturing community and thus able to exercise those gifts without harm to others or himself."

Kathleen FlakeW
Kathleen Flake

Kathleen Flake is a historian, writer, and attorney and is currently the Richard Lyman Bushman Chair of Mormon Studies at the University of Virginia.

John GeeW
John Gee

John Laurence Gee is an American Latter-day Saint scholar, apologist and an Egyptologist. He currently teaches at Brigham Young University (BYU) and serves in the Department of Near Eastern Languages. He is known for his writings in support of the Book of Abraham.

Terryl GivensW
Terryl Givens

Terryl Lynn Givens is a senior research fellow at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute of Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University (BYU). Until 2019, he was a professor of literature and religion at the University of Richmond, where he held the James A. Bostwick Chair in English.

LeRoy R. HafenW
LeRoy R. Hafen

LeRoy Reuben Hafen was a historian of the American West and a Latter-day Saint. For many years he was a professor of history at Brigham Young University (BYU).

Laura Harris HalesW
Laura Harris Hales

Laura Harris Hales is an American writer, historian, and podcaster who focuses on matters of history, theology, and culture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Richard P. HowardW
Richard P. Howard

Richard P. Howard is an American historian emeritus of Community of Christ, having served as world church historian of that organization from 1966–1994. He was the first professionally trained scholar to occupy that position. Howard has frequently been compared to Leonard Arrington, his counterpart in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Both church historians are recognized as pioneering scholars of the New Mormon History. Howard's contributions include foundational work on Latter Day Saint scripture and the professionalization of the history of the Reorganization and the Community of Christ. His research into the origins of Mormon polygamy helped change his church's official stance on the subject.

Roger D. LauniusW
Roger D. Launius

Roger D. Launius is an American historian and author of Lithuanian descent, a former chief historian of NASA. He retired in 2016 as Associate Director for Collections and Curatorial Affairs for the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.. Launius is a consulting historian in air and space history. He has written many books on space flight, and also published on the history of the Latter Day Saint movement.

Brigham D. MadsenW
Brigham D. Madsen

Brigham Dwaine Madsen was a historian of indigenous peoples of the American West, of the people of Utah and surrounding states, and of Mormonism. He was a professor at the University of Utah.

Carol Cornwall MadsenW
Carol Cornwall Madsen

Carol Cornwall Madsen is an emeritus professor of history at Brigham Young University (BYU) where she was a research historian with the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History. She also served as associate director of BYU's Women's Research Institute. She has written 50 scholarly articles and several books.

Truman G. MadsenW
Truman G. Madsen

Truman Grant Madsen was a professor of religion and philosophy at Brigham Young University (BYU) and director of the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. He was a prolific author, a recognized authority on Joseph Smith, and a popular lecturer among Latter-day Saints. At one point, Madsen was an instructor at the LDS Institute of Religion in Berkeley, California.

Armand MaussW
Armand Mauss

Armand Lind Mauss was an American sociologist specializing in the sociology of religion. He was Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Religious Studies at Washington State University and was the most frequently published author of Sociology works on Mormons during his long career. A special conference on his work in Mormon studies was held in 2013 at California's Claremont Graduate University (CGU), the papers from which were subsequently published by the University of Utah Press in the format of a Festschrift, where he was honored as "one of the most prominent Mormon intellectuals of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries."

Adam S. MillerW
Adam S. Miller

Adam S. Miller is an American author of religious criticism and interpretation, with an focus on contemporary Latter-day Saint lay theology. Miller is also a professor of philosophy at Collin College in McKinney, Texas, where he directs the college's honors program.

Hugh NibleyW
Hugh Nibley

Hugh Winder Nibley was an American scholar and an apologist of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who was a professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) for nearly 50 years. He was a prolific author, and wrote apologetic works supporting the archaeological, linguistic, and historical claims of Joseph Smith. He was a member of the LDS Church, and wrote and lectured on LDS scripture and doctrinal topics, publishing many articles in the LDS Church magazines.

Preston NibleyW
Preston Nibley

Preston Nibley was an American religious leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and wrote several books on the church, including several pieces of devotional literature.

L. John NuttallW
L. John Nuttall

Leonard John Nuttall Sr. was a private secretary for John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff, and was a member of the Council of Fifty who kept a detailed journal of the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Dallin H. OaksW
Dallin H. Oaks

Dallin Harris Oaks is an American religious leader and former jurist and educator who since 2018 has been the first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was called as a member of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1984. Currently, he is the second most senior apostle by years of service and is the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. However, consistent with long-established practice, due to Oaks serving in the First Presidency, M. Russell Ballard currently serves as the quorum's acting president.

Benjamin ParkW
Benjamin Park

Benjamin E. Park is an American historian concentrating on early American political, religious, and intellectual history, history of gender, religious studies, slavery, anti-slavery, and Atlantic history. Park is an assistant professor at Sam Houston State University.

Robert V. ReminiW
Robert V. Remini

Robert Vincent Remini was an American historian and a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He wrote numerous books about President Andrew Jackson and the Jacksonian era, most notably a three-volume biography of Jackson. For the third volume of Andrew Jackson, subtitled The Course of American Democracy, 1833-1845, he won the 1984 U.S. National Book Award for Nonfiction. Remini was widely praised for his meticulous research on Jackson and thorough knowledge of him. His books portrayed Jackson in a mostly favorable light and he was sometimes criticized for being too partial towards his subject.

William D. Russell (historian)W
William D. Russell (historian)

William Dean Russell is an American historian focusing on the history of the Latter Day Saint movement. Russell taught at Graceland University for forty-one years, retiring as a professor of history in 2007. He has been a civil rights activist since the 1960s, championing the causes of equality for all regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation. A member of the Community of Christ, Russell is one of the activists and leaders credited with the church's progressive transformation in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Val D. RustW
Val D. Rust

Val Dean Rust is a professor at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Jan ShippsW
Jan Shipps

Jo Ann Barnett Shipps, known as Jan Shipps, is an American historian specializing in Latter Day Saint history, particularly in the latter half of the 20th century to the present. Shipps is generally regarded as the foremost non-Mormon scholar of the Latter Day Saint movement, having given particular attention to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her first book on the subject was Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition published by the University of Illinois Press. Recently, the University of Illinois Press published her book Sojourner in the Promised Land: Forty Years Among the Mormons, in which she interweaves her own history of Mormon-watching with 16 essays on Mormon history and culture.

Heman C. SmithW
Heman C. Smith

Heman Conomon Smith was a leader in and official historian of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Wallace StegnerW
Wallace Stegner

Wallace Earle Stegner was an American novelist, short story writer, environmentalist, and historian, often called "The Dean of Western Writers". He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 and the U.S. National Book Award in 1977.

Fanny StenhouseW
Fanny Stenhouse

Fanny Warn Stenhouse was an early Mormon pioneer who defected from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was most famous for her 1872 publication Exposé of Polygamy in Utah: A Lady’s Life among the Mormons, a record of personal experience as one of the wives of a Mormon elder during a period of more than twenty years in the mid-1800s.

Heidi S. SwintonW
Heidi S. Swinton

Heidi Sorensen Swinton is an author, screenwriter and historian who has written several books to accompany historical documentaries created by film-maker Lee Groberg. She also wrote a biography of Thomas S. Monson and a biographical essay on Lorenzo Snow.

Edward TullidgeW
Edward Tullidge

Edward Wheelock Tullidge was a literary critic, newspaper editor, playwright, and historian of the Utah Territory. During his life he was a member and leader in several different denominations of the Latter Day Saint Movement, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the New Movement (Godbeite) movement, and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He played a significant role in the creation of the Salt Lake Tribune.

Laurel Thatcher UlrichW
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian specializing in early America and the history of women, and a professor at Harvard University. Her approach to history has been described as a tribute to "the silent work of ordinary people"—an approach that, in her words, aims to "show the interconnection between public events and private experience." Ulrich has also been a MacArthur Genius Grant recipient. Her most famous book, “A Midwife’s Tale,” was later the basis for a PBS documentary film.

Ronald W. WalkerW
Ronald W. Walker

Ronald Warren Walker was an American historian of the Latter Day Saint movement and a professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) and president of the Mormon History Association. His work, acclaimed by the Mormon History Association, dealt with the Godbeites, the Utah War, and the Mountain Meadows Massacre, among other topics.

Mike WinderW
Mike Winder

Michael Kent Winder is an American businessman, author, and politician. He was the mayor of West Valley City, Utah between 2010 and 2014. A Republican, he currently represents District 30 in the Utah House of Representatives, a position to which he was first elected in November 2016. He is the author of fourteen published books on Utah and LDS history, including Presidents and Prophets: The Story of America's Presidents and the LDS Church. He has received criticism in the press for using false identities and undisclosed pseudonyms for city promotion, for a political attack, and for editing of the Wikipedia article about him.