Christopher Blythe

This article introduces the Latter-day Saint "legend of the naked dead, " which in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was a widely known story emphasizing the importance of proper burial, including the ritual clothing of the dead. The ceremonial robes and garments that Latter-day Saints wear in temple services are also worn in the grave. In these stories, apparitions appear to the living to coax them to fix some error in their burial clothing. The legend cycle emphasizes the place of the family in caring for their dead, the significance of these rituals, and, of course, the continuing connections between the living and the dead, while simultaneously reinforcing the expectation for Latter-day Saints to always wear the garment under their secular clothing. Historically, some have viewed the practice of wearing the garment as onerous and altered their garments for purposes of comfort or fashion. The legend of the naked dead assures Latter-day Saints that there is purpose in this tradition that transcends even death.

This article documents one strain of Mormon thought concerning the Woman of Endor narrative in 1 Samuel 28, in which the woman was interpreted as a prophetess enabled to raise the dead through her spiritual gifts. Church leaders eventually condemned this narrative because of its similarities with Spiritualist exegesis and American Christianity's use of the narrative to condemn Spiritualism as necromancy. Through establishing an orthodox reading of the passage, leaders strengthened the boundaries separating the two faiths – boundaries that many Spiritualists had argued were at best blurry and overlapping.

This article examines how Mormons reinterpreted the figure of Joseph Smith (1805–1844) in the wake of their prophet’s death. As a number of Mormon sects emerged in the years immediately following 1844, rival prophets claimed continued access to Smith as a means of legitimating themselves against opposing bodies. The article argues that these re-conceptualizations of Joseph Smith served to draw boundaries between movements, with particular attention to the processes of sacralization common to many new religious movements facing their founder’s death. Specific emphasis is on the Latter-Day Saints’ efforts to regulate such practices originating from their sectarian competitors but also from LDS adherents.

The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) established its own singular identity among nineteenth century Mormon sects through the observance of Mormonism's temple rites. In performance and rhetoric, these ceremonies served as a link to the past before Joseph Smith's death and the subsequent fissuring of Mormonism's original incarnation in the mid-1840s. "The upper room work" acted as a means of legitimation - evoking a sense of authenticity for the movement when challenged by rival sects.

"This article is divided into two major parts. The first section is devoted to a history of the proto-Cutlerite - that is, the movement as it existed as a colony before organization as a church - involvement with polygamy. Here we will count wives and husbands and measure the extent of overall knowledge of polygamy during the period. The second section is devoted to a history of a history of the Cutlerite ... memory or representation of polygamy [in the early days of Mormonism.]"