Two new items went up today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Come, Follow Me — Doctrine and Covenants Study and Teaching Helps (2025) — Doctrine and Covenants 51–57, May 26 – June 1: “A Faithful, a Just, and a Wise Steward” Jonn Claybaugh has generously supplied another concise set of notes for students and teachers of the “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. “Interpreter Radio: Come, Follow Me in Context: May 26 – June 1: “A Faithful, a Just,... Read more
Today, we entered the area known as the Staffordshire Potteries, which is particularly associated in Latter-day Saint history with the missionary labors of Wilford Woodruff. First, we visited World of Wedgwood in Stoke-on-Trent. It is the headquarters and principal factory of Waterford Wedgwood Royal Doulton, an English manufacturer of fine china, porcelain, and luxury accessories that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood. I confess to having only, at best, a mild interest... Read more
After leaving the Lake District yesterday afternoon, our group drove through Milnthorpe, where John Taylor is generally thought to have been born in 1808. We also visited the house in Beetham, near Milnthorpe, where his parents, James and Agnes Taylor ,lived and in which John grew up. He emigrated to Canada in 1832, where, having been taught by Parley P. Pratt, he and his wife, Leonora Cannon Taylor, joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1836.... Read more
Our group headed up to the Lake District today, devoting much of our time to William Wordsworth (1770-1850) and to his wife, Mary, and his sister, Dorothy, who were both very important elements of his life and his creativity. It might seem odd that a tour focused on Latter-day Saint history should devote the better part of a day to the greatest of the English Romantic poets, but it makes entire sense to me. For one thing, Grasmere and... Read more
We met up with Kris Frederickson, a member of the Interpreter Foundation board and an organizer and co-host of this Interpreter Church history tour of England and then went to meet our motor coach and our local guide and friend, Peter Fagg, and the rest of our group — save two, who didn’t arrive until dinnertime tonight after flight delays — at the Manchester airport. Thereupon, we drove to the Liverpool Docks, where, walking about the area, we discussed... Read more
My wife and I spent multiple hours yesterday, Wednesday, scouting out the glorious British Museum. My usual strategy there over the years has been to try to see every room. By the end of the day, my head is splitting and I’m no longer enjoying it, but I’m determined to visit each and every single @#$& room in the building. Toward the end of this tour, though, I’m supposed to lead our group for about an hour and a... Read more
New, on the blog of the Interpreter Foundation, where nothing ever changes: “The Heartland Versus Mesoamerica, Part 5: The Narrow Strip of Wilderness,” written by Brant A. Gardner. As a small constituent part of a long-term project that I’m working on, I’ll be extracting notes over the next several weeks or (more likely) months from John W. Welch, ed., Reexploring the Book of Mormon: A Decade of New Research (Salt Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book, 1992), and intermittently sharing them here.... Read more
From the “Sometimes, You Can Only Laugh” Department: As usual on such occasions, I didn’t sleep on the non-stop trans-Atlantic flight from Salt Lake City to London. Instead, I read Agatha Christie’s first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in which she first introduced the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot — I can’t recall having read it before — and then, to my shame, watched five episodes from the first season of the current television series Watson, followed by listening... Read more
Back in 2022, in preparation for the launch of our Six Days in August film project (which continues with our series of forthcoming Becoming Brigham documentary short features, currently in production), I reread Eugene England, Brother Brigham (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980) and, as on my two previous readings of the book, really enjoyed it. As I’ve said before, I recommend Brother Brigham highly. If you can get hold of a copy of it, or find it online, I... Read more
I was browsing last night in W. H. Lewis, ed., Letters of C. S. Lewis (New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1966), when I came across the following passage, which I don’t recall having ever noticed before. It’s an excerpt from a letter “To a Lady” (otherwise unidentified by the editor) that is dated 28 October 1961, slightly more than two years before Lewis’s own death on 22 November 1963 (the same day on which Aldous Huxley and... Read more
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