Items marked with (RS) indicate the presentation is part of the Restoration Studies track.

Time Session Presenter(s) Location
Thursday, September 21, 2017
4:00 p.m. Registration Opens Visitor’s Center Lobby
5:45 p.m. Annual Business Meeting Peter A. Judd, presiding Visitor’s Center Theatre 1
Welcome & Introduction to Nauvoo Joseph Smith III
Ada Smith
Visitor’s Center Theatre 1
7:00 p.m. Plenary 101 Richard P. Howard Lecture:
The Divergent Memories of the Restoration Movement
Dr. Michael S. Van Wagenen Camp Nauvoo Lodge
8:00 p.m. Reception Tabernacle
Friday, September 22, 2017
View schedule
Saturday, September 23, 2017
View schedule
Sunday, September 24, 2017
9:00 a.m. Historic Hymn Fest: After Nauvoo: Singing Grief and Hope in Exile Andrew Bolton Community of Christ Church Sanctuary


Session 101
Richard P. Howard Lecture
7:00 to 8:00 p.m., September 21

Title: The Divergent Memories of The Restoration Movement by Michael Scott Van Wagenen

Abstract: The Howard Lecture will explore how the diverse branches of the restoration have chosen to remember one another. An analysis of these collective memories not only reveals how the groups view each other, but also how and why they have created unique identities for themselves.

Biographical; Sketch: Dr. Michael Scott Van Wagenen, a graduate of the University of Utah, is associate professor and public history coordinator at Georgia Southern University. While an undergraduate student, Van Wagenen noticed the divide between professional history and filmmaking. In a quest to bridge these fields, he worked actively as a screenwriter, producer, and director while earning bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in history.

In the past 25 years, he has written, produced, directed, and/or edited over 20 documentary films. His work has twice won highest honors at the National Education Film and Video Festival and been screened at the American Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Margaret Mead Ethnographic Film Festival, Chicago Latino Film Festival, and several other venues.

His academic interests lie in the American West and borderlands where he researches the histories, cultures, and collective memories of the diverse people of the region. He is the author of the award-winning Library Journal best seller Remembering the Forgotten War: The Enduring Legacies of the U.S.-Mexican War (University of Massachusetts, 2012), The Texas Republic and the Mormon Kingdom of God (Texas A&M, 2002), as well as several articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries. He is also co-editor with W. Paul Reeve of Between Pulpit and Pew: The Supernatural World in Mormon History and Folklore (Utah State University, 2011).

Continuing with his interest in film and history, he is the co-director of the Visual History Summer Institute and founder of the Ogeechee International History Film Festival. He is currently writing a book on visual history and producing a documentary film about the modern commemoration of one of the South’s most controversial lynchings.

2017 conference event page