Ep 212 – Emma Smith, Linda Newell, and Valeen Avery

On this episode, Joseph and Hyrum Smith are locked up in Carthage Jail and they aren’t going anywhere. We take a little time to catch up with other prominent figures in Nauvoo history; this week begins with Emma Hale Smith. We discuss her role in the Relief Society, unwillingly policing polygamy rumors, running land speculation and deals while her husband is occupied, and fighting with her sister wives. Then we focus on her role in the two week period of June 12-25 1844 and her actions which have been construed by the SLC leadership to lead to Jo’s death. Is she responsible? Or, are those myths fabricated by the SLC propaganda machine which have been debunked by historians? This episode interweaves Emma’s story with the story of her seminal biographers, Valeen Tippets Avery and Linda King Newell on their journey writing Emma’s biography through the 1970s-80s.

Links:

Check out Writing Mormon History; Historians and their Books
http://www.signaturebooks.com/product/writing-mormon-history/

Also pick up a copy of Mormon Enigma; Emma Hale Smith
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/mormon-enigma-emma-hale-smith_linda-king-newell/302792/#isbn=0252062914&idiq=9621239

Relief Society Minutes
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/nauvoo-relief-society-minute-book/1#full-transcript

Emma Biography JSP
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/emma-hale-smith

SUNSTONE!!!
https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/2020symposium/

Show links:

Website http://nakedmormonismpodcast.com
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Music by Jason Comeau http://aloststateofmind.com/
Show Artwork http://weirdmormonshit.com/
Legal Counsel http://patorrez.com/