Digital Faith

Leonard Arrington, Gentleman and Scholar

Life on Gold Plates posted extensive notes of the 2010 Arrington Lecture at USU, which was a presentation celebrating the official opening of Arrington's very lengthy diary. Arrington was the LDS Church Historian from 1972-1982, and was responsible for expanding and professionalizing the staff, opening up the LDS archives to scholarly research, and promoting a 16-volume treatment of LDS history which, while not published in its originally envisioned form, did lead to the eventual publication of most of the volumes by the individual researchers involved. The post at LOGP offers several nuggets from Arrington's life and career.

Church History Museum now on Facebook

The Museum of Church History and Art, which has its own website within the sprawling LDS.org domain, is now also on Facebook, according to a story in the Mormon Times.

The article summarizes what the museum is trying to do with its Facebook presence.

The museum's use of Facebook serves several purposes. First, museum officials hope to simply communicate with past and future patrons, and anybody interested in LDS Church history, and to provide updates on upcoming events and exhibits. Additionally, the Facebook account allows the public worldwide to get a special "sneak peak" at museum offerings they otherwise would not have access to.

I just wish they'd at least get their name straight. While the website and Facebook page linked above use the name "Church History Museum," there is another page at LDS.org that calls it "The Museum of Church History and Art." Maybe they got rid of the art. Maybe the art was just too popular compared to the LDS history exhibits. I certainly enjoyed the Rembrandt pencil etchings I saw on display there a few years ago, lingering there a good bit longer than in the hall of presidential portraits or by the decorative quilt exhibits.

The new Mormon.org site

The redesigned Mormon.org site has received a lot of comment at LDS blogs, most recently this post at Mormon Matters. The new site is simply unlike anything the Church has tried before. It certainly signals a willingness to embrace the social media approach. Here are three comments on the new site.

First post

Testing, one, two, three.