John Whitmer Historical Association

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The John Whitmer Historical Association (JWHA) is "an independent scholarly society composed of individuals of various religious faiths who share a lively interest in the history of the Latter Day Saint Restoration Movement."^[1] The organization takes its name from John Whitmer, the first official historian of the Latter Day Saint movement.

JWHA is headquartered in Independence, Missouri. It was originally founded by members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now "Community of Christ"). The association has always been open to all scholars regardless of their denominational affiliation.

1 History of JWHA
2 Current status
3 Annual conferences
4 External links and references

[edit] History of JWHA

JWHA was founded on September 18, 1972 by fourteen historians and scholars associated with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) now called the Community of Christ. The founding members were (in alphabetical order): Alma Blair, Paul Edwards, Robert Flanders, Barbara Higdon, Barbara Howard, Richard Howard, Larry Hunt, Warren Jennings, Gerald Kruse, Mark McKiernan, W. Grant McMurray, Gordon Mesley, William Russell, Geoff Spencer, and Pat Spillman.

The organization's founding goals^[2] were:

To create a professional association that is predominantly Midwestern in focus, taking advantage of the associational and friendship networks of persons of RLDS background.
To collect and preserve publications, documents, manuscripts, and other valuable materials relating especially to the history of the Reorganization.
To facilitate communication among the various persons and agencies that serve the generic Mormon historical community: the LDS Church Historian's office, the RLDS Church Historian's office, the Mormon History Association, various public and private libraries that have and collect Mormon materials, especially in the Midwest, and the persons who write Mormon history, especially the history of the RLDS, the churches of the dispersion, and the early Midwest period of Mormon history.
To draw into the fellowship of the association persons who may share many of its concerns, but not be themselves members of the Reorganized Church – especially such persons who live in the Midwest.
To infuse the spirit of renewal in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and in the larger fellowship of Christians, into the work of the historians of Mormonism and the perspective which they carry to their work.
To enhance and facilitate the marvelous and fruitful association which has developed in the past few years with many friends in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Past presidents of JWHA include historians who were practicing members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as historians who were not members of any Latter Day Saint church. Past presidents of the association have been:

Robert Flanders 1973-74 (author of Nauvoo: Kingdom on the Mississippi (1975) ISBN 0-252-00561-9)
Alma Blair 1975
Kenneth Stobaugh 1976
Bill Russell 1977
Barbara Higdon 1978
Paul Edwards 1979
Clare Vlahos 1980
W. Grant McMurray 1981
Tom Morain 1982
Norma Hiles 1983
Paul Edwards 1984
Richard Howard 1985
Wayne Ham 1986
Robert Mesle 1987
Linda Newell 1988
Maurice Draper 1989-90
Roger Launius 1991-92 (Alexander William Doniphan: Portrait of a Missouri Moderate (1997) ISBN 0-8262-1132-1)
Lee Pement 1993-94
Jessie Embry 1995-96
Danny Jorgensen 1996-97
Ron Romig 1997-98
Barbara Bernauer 1998-99
Ed Warner 1999-2000
Alma Blair 2000-01
Mike Riggs 2001-02
Billie Young 2002-03
Mark Scherer 2003-04
Jan Shipps 2004-05 (Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition (1987) ISBN 0-252-01417-0)

JWHA's first annual meeting was held in Nauvoo, Illinois in 1973. Recent annual conferences have been held in Nauvoo (2002), Far West, Missouri (2003), Omaha, Nebraska (2004), and Springfield, Illinois (2005). JWHA's 2006 conference will be held in Excelsior Springs, Missouri and will treat the theme "Scattering of the Saints: Diverse Expressions of the Restoration."

[edit] Current status

As of 2005, JWHA reported approximately 500 members on its roles, split roughly equally between the Midwestern United States and the Mormon cultural zone in the Western US.

The current (2005–2006) president of JWHA is Newell G. Bringhurst. He is author and editor of numerous books including: Excavating Mormon Pasts: The New Historiography of the Last Half Century: Excavating Mormon Pasts: The New Historiography of the Last Half Century (Kofford Books, 2004) and Black and Mormon (Univ. of Illinois Press, 2004).

[edit] Annual conferences

JWHA hosts an annual conference each September, wherein historians in the organization present papers, and speak in discussion panels. JWHA also hosts a biennial banquet with a keynote speaker, traditionally held prior to the Community of Christ's biennal World Conference. The association publishes a quarterly newsletter and an annual journal called the John Whitmer Historical Association Journal. In September of 2005, JWHA began to publish history books under its own imprint, John Whitmer Books. The first title published under the new imprint is Matthew Bolton's Apostle of the Poor: The Life and Work of Missionary and Humanitarian Charles D. Neff.