Leonard James Arrington (
July
2 1917 –
February
11 1999) was an 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.
Biographical background
Arrington
was born in Twin Falls,
Idaho
on July 2, 1917. His parents were devout
Latter-day Saints and farmers. He
grew up as an aspiring farmer and active member and officer of the
Future Farmers of America
(FFA).
Under a scholarship to the University of
Idaho
, Arrington studied agricultural science in 1935, later
changing to agricultural
economics. He graduated
Phi
Beta Kappa in 1939.
Arrington then began graduate work at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill
and married Grace Fort in 1942.
From 1943
to 1946, he served in World War II for
the United
States
in North
Africa and Italy
.
After
teaching in Logan,
Utah
, he returned and completed a doctorate in economics from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill in March 1952. In 1958,
Harvard University Press published
his
Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day
Saints, 1830-1900, based on his doctoral dissertation,
Mormon Economic Policies and Their Implementation on the
Western Frontier, 1847-1900.
Arrington remained an active and devoted member of
the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout his life. In 1982,
his wife Grace Fort died, and in 1983 Arrington was remarried to
Harriet Ann Horne.
On February 11, 1999 at the age of 81, Arrington died of heart
failure at his home in Salt Lake City.
Academic career
Arrington
taught at North Carolina State College
from 1941 until 1942. He was a professor at
Utah State Agricultural
College in Logan,
Utah (which became Utah
State University in 1957) from 1946-1972. For a year leave
during 1956-1957, he was a fellow at the Henry
E.
Huntington Library and Art
Gallery in San Marino, California
. From 1958-1959, he was a Fulbright Professor of American Economics
at the University of Genoa in
Italy, and from 1966-1967 he was a visiting professor of history at
the University of California, Los
Angeles
. From 1972-1987 he was Lemuel H.
Redd Jr.
Professor of Western American History at Brigham
Young University
.
In 1977,
he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the
University of
Idaho (his alma mater), and in
1982 Utah State University
awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Humanities degree.
In 2005, in honor of Dr. Arrington, Utah State University created
the Leonard J. Arrington Chair in Mormon History and Culture, which
was sponsored by more than 45 donors. This chair is the first
position at a public institution specifically for the study of the
Mormon history and culture. In Fall 2007, this chair was first
filled by
Philip Barlow. The
university also hosts the Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History
Lecture Series, in which Arrington himself gave the inaugural
lecture in 1996.
Historical associations
Arrington helped establish the
Mormon History Association in
1965 and served as its first president in 1966–1967. He also
created the
Western
Historical Quarterly and served as president of the
Western History
Association (1968-69), the
Agricultural History Society
(1969-70), and the Pacific Coast Branch of the
American Historical
Association (1981-82). He was made a Fellow of the
Society of American
Historians in 1986. In 2002 he was posthumously awarded the
first annual Lifetime Achievement Award by the
John Whitmer Historical
Association. Starting 1999, after his death, the Mormon History
Association created the annual Leonard J. Arrington Award, awarded
for distinguished and meritorious service to Mormon history.
LDS Church Historian
In 1972, Arrington was appointed official
Church Historian of
The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and was
simultaneously appointed as "Lemuel H.
Redd Professor of
Western History" and Founding Director of the "Charles Redd Center
for Western Studies" at Brigham Young University (BYU). The "Church Historian's Office" was
transformed into the church's "Historical Department", and
Arrington was made director of its research-oriented "History
Division".
During his time in the office, Arrington embarked on an ambitious
program of sponsoring the writing of LDS Church histories in the
academic style. Among the best known works from this "
New Mormon History" were two general
Church histories, one aimed at LDS Church members,
The Story of the Latter-day
Saints, and one for interested outsiders,
The Mormon
Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints. Arrington also
granted liberal access to Church archival material to both Mormon
and non-Mormon scholars. This era is sometimes referred to as
“Camelot” due to its open and idealistic ethos.
Departure
The Church transferred his History Division to BYU in 1982,
bringing the era of open Church Archives to a close. Working in a
new Brigham Young University division, the
Joseph
Fielding Smith Institute for Church History, brought Arrington
into a more static situation, as he no longer divided his time
between Church Headquarters and BYU. In February 1982, he was
privately released as Church Historian and director of the History
Division. These positions were assumed by the Historical
Department's Managing Director
G.
Homer Durham, who was also a member
of the
First Quorum of the
Seventy. At the April 1982
General Conference,
the change was not formally announced and Arrington did not receive
the traditional vote of thanks for his service.
Arrington continued on as director of the Joseph Fielding Smith
Institute for Church History until his retirement in 1987. In 2005,
the Institute was closed and the department's historians were
returned to Church Headquarters.
Publications
Books
- Won Best Book Award (Mormon History Association)
- Won Best Book Award (Mormon History Association)
- Won Best Book Award (Mormon History Association) and
Evans Biography Award (Utah State
University)
- Special citation (Mormon
History Association)
Articles
See also
Notes
Sources
External links
Wikis
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