David J. Whittaker

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David Jay Whittaker[1] (born 1945)[2] is a Mormon historian and bibliographer. He has authored or co-authored seven books and about fifty scholarly articles. He was the curator of Western and Mormon history manuscripts for the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library of the Harold B. Lee Library. He was also a professor of history at Brigham Young University (BYU). Currently he is working with the Joseph Smith Papers Project.

Biography

Whittaker received his bachelors degree from BYU in 1967.[3] Whittaker also received his Ph.D. from BYU. Whittaker was a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Whittaker has written several articles for publications from the Ensign to the Journal of Mormon History. Among the articles he has written for the Journal of Mormon History is "East of Nauvoo: Benjamin Winchester and the Early Mormon Church (1995).[4]

Whittaker has also been a Beinecke fellow at Yale University and a Fulbright Fellow in the David and Mary Eccles Center for American Studies at the British Library in London.[5] Whittaker has served as the president of the Mormon History Association.

He has written or co-authored several books related to Mormon History. Early Mormon History: A Selected Bibliography, 1771-1847 was published in 1973 by the University of Southern California.[6] Mormon History a historiagraphical survey of Mormon history written with James B. Allen and Ronald W. Walker.[7] Studies in Mormon History, a bibliography of Mormon history which is considered to be the premier collection in this field.[8] He was also a co-author of Men with a Mission: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles (written with James B. Allen and Ron Esplin.) Whittaker co-edited Supporting Saints with Donald Q. Cannon. He has also written Mormon Americana: A Guide to Sources and Collections in the United States. Whittaker has also written Early Mormon Pamplettering (published 2003).[9] Whittaker has also published short and highly specialized bibliographies on specific topics in early Mormon History.[10]

Whittaker is married to the former Linda Struhs. They are the parents of four children.

Whittaker and Dean Jessee's 1988 piece in BYU Studies which examines the Danites using Albert P. Rockwood's journal is considered one of the best studies on this matter.[11]

Whittaker also wrote the foreword to The Essential Orson Pratt.[12]

Whittaker has lectured widely on the development of early Mormon thought.[13]

Whittaker is coeditor of volumes one and two of the Histories series of the Joseph Smith Papers Project (volume 1 was published in the spring of 2012).[14]

Notes

  1. ↑ Middle name from Ph.D. dissertation entry here: "Early Mormon Pamphleteering". Google Book Search. Retrieved 2009-04-30. 
  2. ↑ Date information sourced from Library of Congress Authorities data, via corresponding WorldCat Identities linked authority file (LAF) .
  3. ↑ BYU Magazine Summer 2001
  4. ↑ http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=2&sid=bf1e9fdf-3646-49f8-90fb-39329a7bbcb0%40sessionmgr7&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ahl&AN=A000422014.01
  5. ↑ http://net.lib.byu.edu/scm/bookconference2005/Final_Book_web_bw.pdf
  6. ↑ Walker, Ronald Warren; Whittaker, David J; Allen, James B (2001). Mormon history. ISBN 978-0-252-02619-5. 
  7. ↑ http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/87rwf5kk9780252026195.html
  8. ↑ http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/78wqn4rt9780252025655.html
  9. ↑ http://www.confettibooks.com/si/41440.html
  10. ↑ Mormon History, Apendix B, that gives an indepth explanation of specific bibliographies by Whittaker and others that were used to develop the book
  11. ↑ http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/FQ_Missouri.shtml
  12. ↑ "The Essential Orson Pratt". Signature Books. Retrieved 2008-09-22. 
  13. ↑ http://www.jwha.info/mmff/mlects.htm
  14. ↑ Biography at Joseph Smith Papers Project website (accessed May 11, 2012)

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