Talk:Leonard J. Arrington

Religion
Was he a Morman? Normally such a question is certainly irrelevant, but since the LDS is included in his field of study, and employed him for a time, i think it warrants an answer. Cheers, Lindsay 11:09, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

Subheadings
I have added some subheadings to the article for readability. There are probably too many subheadings for the amount of text, but this allows for future expansion. I am not an expert on Mormon history so if anyone has information that can add to the early life and to the Church Historian achievement sections, that would be great. Euryalus 23:45, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Publications
The four books listed now are some of Arrington's major Mormon works. However, the publishers and ISBNs are those of later editions, not the original publication. I want to change this and add more works. Are Published Works lists standardized on WP? Should these lists have: Also, what formatting style should be used (this list differs from the   style)? I propose using the Template:Book list table style (as can be seen in Stephen King bibliography). Rich jj (talk) 20:36, 30 June 2008 (UTC)
 * original publishers?
 * ISBN's if the original edition didn't have one (i.e. books before 1970)?
 * later editions?
 * chronological ordering (earliest first)?
 * With no objections in a weeks time, I'll move forward with the Template:Book list style.Rich jj (talk) 14:55, 7 July 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm starting to think the Template:Book list I've used looks very cluttered and distracting. I think I may revert to a more common "Publications" list (like B. H. Roberts) for simplicity and compactness.  Facts about editions, summaries and notes would be gone, but if useful, they could be used in LDS Church Historian or Academic career in discussions about these works.  I hope somebody gives input on this, since it may also affect my approach to such publication lists elsewhere. What is more useful and usable? Rich jj (talk) 02:46, 13 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Since nobody objects or cares, I'll change this list into the more-common bulleted text list, using Template:Cite book. Rich jj (talk) 22:43, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

Is this why?
""Arrington also granted liberal access to Church archival material to both Mormon and non-Mormon scholars. ""

Is this why he was unceremoniously relieved of his position?

CBHA (talk) 00:51, 29 October 2008 (UTC)


 * This was probably a contributing factor. Arrington had several run-ins with influential traditionalists in the church who disapproved of open disclosure and the modern historical approach.  Some publications out of his department were criticized by high profile conservatives who feared it might erode faith.  Arrington lasted as the official Church Historian for 10 years (although some say it was only 6) because he also had influential allies, such as the First Presidency.  As leadership slowly changed, Arrington's team was pushed into positions away from Church Headquarters.


 * Regarding the archives, Arrington's memoirs say he was accused of allowing anti-Mormons to access salacious documents that embarrassed the church. Arrington commented that these anti-Mormon findings had actually occurred under Joseph Fielding Smith (the previous Church Historian, who granted access inconsistently) but they appeared in print after the office had changed hands to Arrington.  But in the end, the plan for open archives was tarnished and it was decided that historical matters were hazardous enough to require tighter control.  Arrington's successor was a much more administrative man who guarded the archives closely and restricted some materials.  Overall, though, it was still much more open than under Joseph Fielding Smith.


 * We may never know exactly why Arrington was dismissed because it was a sensitive church matter discussed behind closed doors. But in my opinion, archival access was just one of several issues.  ——Rich jj (talk) 21:14, 5 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Ummm... so why did Richard Bushman call the Camelot age "sanitized" (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705376021/Richard-Bushman-on-Mormon-scholarship.html)? 97.126.229.91 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 00:47, 11 July 2011 (UTC).


 * The link is dead, but I think these are related: snippet, another snippet, different article about the same speech(?). I'd like to read Bushman's full comments, and I'm sure I have things to learn from him on this point.  It doesn't look like he thought Arrington's "Camelot" was a step backwards or that it was trying to conceal history.  I think he was saying Mormon history is currently in a "golden age" where "scholarship is no longer judged by its partisan conclusions, but by its accuracy and insight."  I guess it's come a long way since "Camelot" in the 1970s.  It was hard enough for some people to accept The Story of the Latter-day Saints, and Rough Stone Rolling might not have gone over so well.  But nowadays we have lots of young, highly-trained scholars, pumping out academic studies from numerous presses.  And the Church and its members seem supportive and interested.  ——Rich jj (talk) 21:59, 4 December 2013 (UTC)

Dead external links
I couldn't easily find replacements for these dead links from the external links section. I put them here in case someone can find an archived version for them (or I might look for it later).


 * "Leonard James Arrington (1917-1999): A Bibliography", by David J. Whittaker
 * "List of National FFA Officers from Idaho" Idaho FFA Association, State Division of Professional-Technical Education, Boise, ID

Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 19:58, 6 June 2016 (UTC)

page undergoing edits
Hi, I'm going to be expanding this page in the next few days. It's possible that I will get too detailed about some of Arrington's life, but I also plan on editing the information I add afterwards. But if you have opinions about how my additions are going please let me know! Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 18:38, 8 June 2016 (UTC)
 * I drew heavily from the Topping biography, which has its flaws. If any editors would like to add information from the new Prince biography that would be an excellent additional source. Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 18:09, 11 July 2016 (UTC)
 * I got a copy of the Prince bio, and we'll be adding info from it gradually over the next few weeks. Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 15:54, 1 September 2016 (UTC)

Incomplete bibliography of LDS History Division Publications
I started copying out the bibliography of LDS History Division Publications found in Dialogue, but I decided that I didn't have time to complete it. If anyone else wants to do that, here's the list from my sandbox history. Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 18:18, 5 January 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Leonard J. Arrington. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080513010207/http://www.signaturebookslibrary.org/saints/introduction.htm to http://www.signaturebookslibrary.org/saints/introduction.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 21:38, 14 December 2017 (UTC)

Church Historian in infobox
I recently added Arrington's Church Historian position to his infobox. Since his position was so unique, I'm not really sure if it should go in the infobox, but it seemed helpful. Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 17:39, 6 August 2018 (UTC)