This year’s annual conference includes an exciting slate of interesting sessions certain to provoke discussion and expand interest in restoration history.
Note: the agenda presented here is not final and is subject to change.
Items marked with (RS) indicate the presentation is part of the Restoration Studies track.
Click on the Session Numbers for Abstract & Bio.
| Time | Session | Presenter(s) | Location | |
| Friday, September 27, 2019 | ||||
| 7:30 – 9:15 a.m. | Light breakfast (included in registration fee) | |||
| 8:00 a.m. Chair: Kevin Barney |
Plenary 201 | Problematic Roots of Restoration Whence the Vision? Tracing the Rise and Fall of the First Vision in the Community of Christ |
Katy Pratt Sumsion Keith J. Wilson |
Conference Center |
| Flat Earthers, Anglo-Israelism, and the Golden Plates: Cautionary Tales of Ripping Up a Sect’s Problematic Roots (RS) | John Hamer | |||
| Frederick Douglass & Joseph Smith III: The Memoir Revisited | Kevin W. Bryant | |||
| 9:00 a.m. | Break | |||
| 9:30 a.m. Chair: Sherry Mesle-Morain |
Breakout 211 | Expanding Understanding of the Community of Zion (RS) | Laurie Due | Cayuga |
| The Millenial Generation in the Restoration: A Comparative Study (RS) | Katherine Pollock | |||
| 9:30 a.m. Chair: C. Malcolm Warner |
Breakout 212 | The Mendon, NY Branch | Robert Wilcox Cook | Canandaigua |
| Doubting Thomas: a Look at the Burdick Clan of New York and Their Different Paths in the Restoration | Daniel Kelty | |||
| 9:30 a.m. Chair: Roger D. Launius |
Breakout 213 | “Unchurched and Destitute”: Evangelical Resistance to the Restoration Movement | Jill Brim | Hemlock |
| Pamphlet Wars: Brighamites vs. Reorganites, Religions in Conflict | Greg Brim | |||
| 9:30 a.m. Chair: Lachlan Mackay |
Breakout 214 | The Untold Story of the Acquisition of the Original Temple Lot: Independence, Jackson County | R. Jean Addams | Honeoye |
| “‘The Clay and Ray Counties’ Mormon Removal Committees, and, the 1835 Clay County Missouri Memorial to Congress, Calling for a Military Road through to Clay County” | Mark Goodmansen | |||
| 10:45 a.m. | Break | |||
| 11:15 a.m. Chair: Bryon Andreasen |
Breakout 221 | From Burned Over to the Mansion, Architecture Influences Thinking | Paul DeBarthe | Cayuga |
| “An Untold Drama Within a Drama”: Female Religious Devotion in the Early Church as Expressed in the Life of Katharine Smith Salisbury | Kyle Walker | |||
| 11:15 a.m. Chair: Melvin C. Johnson |
Breakout 222 | Remembering a Forgotten Prophet: Historiographical Reflections on William Bickerton and American Religious History | Daniel P. Stone | Canandaigua |
| Planted and Fertile: The Far-Reaching Impact of the Burned Over District on Bickertonites, Community of Christ and Latter-day Saint Women | Barbara Morgan Gardner | |||
| 11:15 a.m. Chair: Randall B. Barnes |
Breakout 223 | From Humble Beginnings to International Renown: Richard L. Evans–the Man and the Message | Lloyd D. Newell | Hemlock |
| Rochester, New York: The Latter-day Saints and the Reshaping of American Theatre History in the Crucible of the Burned-Over District | Lee Krahenbuhl, PhD. | |||
| 11:15 a.m. Chair: Sally Cook Roth |
Breakout 224 | The Neurotheology of a Tragically Flawed Prophet, Stanley M. King of Canada: Are “Kitchen Table” Prophets Dangerous? Does the Bible Justify Polygamy? Do Sheep “Graze” in Our Brains? | Bill Russell Bruce Taylor |
Honeoye |
| 1:00 p.m. | Awards Luncheon – included in registration fee Nominated Books Nominated Articles |
Conference Center | ||
| 2:30 p.m. | Break | |||
| 3:00 p.m. Chair: Michael Karpowicz |
Breakout 241 | Nauvoo Camp and the Rise of Organized Youth Camping in Community of Christ | Stephen K. Smith | Cayuga |
| Why Did the RLDS Youth Programs Disappear after a Half Century of Success? | Sherry Mesle-Morain | |||
| 3:00 p.m. Chair: R. Jean Addams |
Breakout 242 | The Palmyra Revival of 1824-25, From Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist Records: Its Impact on the Restoration Movement | H. Michael Marquardt | Canandaigua |
| Jesse Townsend’s Presbyterianism: Calvinism and the development of Joseph Smith’s Restorationist Theology (RS) | James R. W. MacDonald | |||
| 3:00 p.m. Chair: Blake Roberson |
Breakout 243 | How the Erie Canal Corridor Became the Burned Over District: Rochester and the Advent of Mormonism | Bruce W. Worthen | Hemlock |
| Burned Over, Burned Again, YET Never Burned Out: 4 Perspectives on The Continuing Conversion Catastrophe | Russell L.Osmond, PhD. | |||
| 3:00 p.m. Chair: William D. Morain |
Breakout 244 | Joseph Smith’s Courting: Plural Marriage in Nauvoo, 1842-1843 | Susan Staker | Honeoye |
| ‘Playing Smash’ with the Wight Family in Centerville, New York | Christine Cox | |||
| 4:15 p.m. | Break | |||
| 4:45 p.m. Chair: Scott C. Esplin |
Breakout 251 | Liberty Jail: Myths and Misconceptions | Alex Baugh | Cayuga |
| The Rush to Publish D&C 76 (RS) | Blair Burt Bryant, EdD | |||
| 4:45 p.m. Chair: Brent Lee Metcalfe |
Breakout 252 | Forerunner or Revisionist? The Puzzle of Solomon Chamberlin | Johnny Stephenson | Canandaigua |
| Joseph Smith, Consecration & Stewardship | Dr. Warner Woodworth | |||
| 4:45 p.m. Chair: Vickie Cleverley Speek |
Breakout 253 | The Influence of Entheogens and Hermetics in the Burned Over District |
Bryce K. Blankenagel Brian W. Kassenbrock |
Hemlock |
| 4:45 p.m. Chair: Michael W. Homer |
Breakout 254 | Death to Seducers! Examples of Mormon-led Extra-legal Justice in Historical Context | Craig L. Foster | Honeoye |
| “He beheld the prince of darkness:” The Second Great Awakening, Diabolism, and Joseph Smith | Steven Hepworth | |||
| 6:00 p.m. | Trivia Night: pre-registration required | Event Center | ||
