2014 Arrington Mormon History Lecture is Oct. 2

Ronald W. Walker, a noted educator and historian, is the featured speaker at the 20th Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History Lecture, an annual event hosted by Utah State University’s Special Collections and Archives, a division of University Libraries. The title of Walker’s lecture is “Heroes and Hero Worship: Brigham Young and the Utah War.”

The lecture, free and open to everyone, is Thursday, Oct. 2, 7 p.m., at the Logan LDS Tabernacle, 50 N. Main Street.

Brad Cole, director of Special Collections and Archives and interim dean of University Libraries, coordinates the Arrington Lecture. He feels that Walker is an ideal speaker to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series.

“Ron Walker brings a broad view of Mormon history over the last 30 years,” Cole said. “He was one of the first professional historians hired by Leonard at the LDS Church Archives in the 1970s and he has gone on to have an amazing career as a Mormon historian. I look at his place in the lecture series as a capstone event.”

Cole said that each year’s speaker is selected after review by a committee and speakers are asked to create a fresh piece of scholarship for the lecture.

Walker provided a brief abstract of his proposed lecture and how it connects to the title.

How do men and women shape history and do human values have a role in the writing of history? he asks.

“At a time when the so-called New Mormon history appears to be running its course (after occupying center stage for the past half century), it may be time to rethink our approaches,” Walker writes. “Can the use of narrative biography and the expression of human values bring new understanding to Utah and Mormon history?”

Walker uses the Utah War to test these suppositions.

“The event has an intriguing cast of characters, with Mormon leader Brigham Young certainly among them,” Walker said in his abstract. “Along the way, we will discuss other questions. How soon did Mountain Meadows begin to shape events? What were constitutional theories behind Mormon resistance to the Utah Expedition? Did Mormons support the war effort? The Utah War also asks an important moral question, including when and why men and women should fight a war?”

Walker is a professional historian living in Salt Lake City. He is also a professor of history, emeritus, at Brigham Young University. He is an author and the recipient of multiple awards.

For information on the Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History Lecture, contact Special Collections and Archives at Utah State University, (435) 797-2663.

Related links:

Contact: Contact: Brad Cole, (435) 797-8268, brad.cole@usu.edu

Writer: Patrick Williams, 435-797-1354, patrick.williams@usu.edu