Mormons acknowledge early history
SALT LAKE CITY — The Mormon church’s renovated history museum that reopened recently features a small and surprising display about an uncomfortable part of the faith’s history that for generations has been glossed over: polygamy.
The display is tucked inside a modern revamped museum that tells the story of how the church was founded and formed in the eastern U.S. from 1820-1846 before Mormons trekked across the country to settle in Utah. Inside a special 220-seat theater, visitors can watch a theatrical dramatization of founder Joseph Smith’s much-dissected visit from God and Jesus in 1820 in the woods of upstate New York that led to the foundation of the religion.
The decision by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to provide more details about what is known as this “first vision” and acknowledge the early days of polygamy — a practice that has been outlawed by the mainstream church since 1890 — marks the latest illustration of the religion’s push for transparency over secrecy when it comes to its history and beliefs, religious scholars said.
“The fact that this is going to be deeply embedded in this kind of official narrative at the church’s signature museum is significant,” said Patrick Mason, associate professor of religion at Claremont Graduate University in California and Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies. “This is where Mormons take their kids. This is where Mormon youth groups go.”
The museum is in downtown Salt Lake City near the religion’s much-visited flagship temple, where thousands of out-of-town visitors and Mormons from all over the world come to visit. The renovations took a year.
At a ribbon-cutting ceremony Sept. 29, top-ranking Mormon leader Jeffrey Holland said the first museum revamp since 1984 shows the religion’s commitment to documenting and honoring the faith’s history. He said many Latter-day Saints will have a spiritual experience seeing artifacts that include clothes worn by Smith’s brother Hyrum Smith when the two were killed by a mob in 1844.
Holland said the polygamy display was included because “plural marriage was a fact of life for the early Mormon church.”
“It wouldn’t be much history in this church if that were not acknowledged,” said Holland, a member of the faith’s governing body called the Quorum of the Twelve. “It’s not a principal part of the exhibit, but we acknowledge that was a fact for some years in the church.”
