New Mormon history

"[1] New Mormon historians include a wide range of both Mormon and non-Mormon scholars, the most prominent of which include Bushman, Jan Shipps, D. Michael Quinn, Terryl Givens, Leonard J. Arrington, Richard P. Howard, Fawn Brodie, and Juanita Brooks.

D. Michael Quinn dates new Mormon history as beginning in 1950 with Juanita Brooks' publication of "The Mountain Meadows Massacre" by Stanford University Press.

[2] He notes, however, that it had been gaining momentum even before that, citing that B. H. Roberts—church historian from 1901 until his death in 1933—"exemplified much of the philosophy later identified with the New Mormon History.

"[2] Clyde R. Forsberg Jr. credits Leonard J. Arrington, beginning in the 1950s, with having "led the charge" of new Mormon history, with non-Mormon scholars Thomas O'Dea and Whitney O.

[9] Leonard Arrington influenced important scholars of Mormon history, including Richard Jensen, William Hartley, and Ronald Walker.

[14] Other women hired by the Church Historical Department included Jill Mulvay Derr, Carol Cornwall Madsen, and Edyth Romney.

[19] They maintained their respect for the Mormon faith, admitted to flaws in people and policies, and avoided taking a defensive stance,[19] a tone which non-Mormon historian Jan Shipps wrote "made them seem more secular than they actually were.

The movement was contrasted with the traditional ways of writing history which particularly characterized the 19th century, resisting their focus on politics and "great men"; their insistence on composing historical narrative; their emphasis on administrative documents as key source materials; their concern with individuals' motivations and intentions as explanatory factors for historical events; and their willingness to accept the possibility of historians' objectivity.