The JWHA newsletter is published quarterly. Members receive updates to access the latest articles before the next issue is available.
President’s Message
Kyle Walker reports on MHA and extends an invitation to JWHA members. Read
2024 Conference Highlights
September’s conference is coming fast. Read the exciting details.
Award Nominees
Review the impressive list of award nominations.
Session Chairs
The John Whitmer Historical Association is an organization made strong by our membership and assistance to one another. This year, as always, we need volunteers to serve as session chairs. If you are planning to attend the conference and would like to contribute by serving as a chair, please reach out to proposals@jwha.info. We are thankful for your help in making this a positive and enjoyable conference for one another. We look forward to seeing you in St. George. Reiew the DRAFT agenda.
Conference Guest Rooms
A block of rooms has been reserved at the Hilton Garden Inn and Holiday Inn St. George Convention Center. Reserve your room today, find additional information here.
JWHA at MHA
John Whitmer Books had a table at the Mormon History Association held in Kirtland on June 14-16. Seth Bryant reports.
JWHA Strategic Plan
Goal #3: Increase & Retain Membership
Communication is key to growing JWHA membership. One of our communication tools is our website, www.jwha.info. In the recent membership survey among the JWHA benefits rated “very important” the website was third highest after the journal and annual conference.
Top themes for desires and areas of improvement for JWHA and its online presence include:
- Promote/increase JWHA membership.
- Create and share fresh content such as blog posts, articles, insights, historical facts, member testimonials, event updates, podcasts, videos.
- Reach younger audiences through social media.
- Foster a sense of community, share experiences and stories.
- Easy access to content, especially journal and conference details.
Over the past five years, the content of the JWHA.info website has expanded in a significant way, which is great for our association. JWHA does have to carefully select what can use the limited space of the homepage. But you don’t have to start on the homepage. You don’t even have to start at JWHA.info — use Google and enter JWHA followed by your search term(s).
Learn about more features of JWHA.info that will assist you in using the website effectively.
Website traffic numbers: over the past 12 months
- Nearly 6,000 website visitors.
- Top ways people find JWHA online: 1) type JWHA.info in their browser (40%), 2) search results (36%) 3) follow a shared link to us (24%).
- By far, most visitors are from the U.S. but visitors from 97 countries also visited the site over the past year. After the U.S., Poland, Canada, China, Germany round out the top five.
- After the homepage, the JWHA Journal and annual conference pages were the most visited of the site.
- Visitors to the site are 65.5% desktop computer users compared with 34.4% on a mobile device.
Given JWHA is a nonprofit organization utilizing almost exclusively volunteers — and a limited budget – leadership and members should be proud to have generated such high-quality content and to receive solid online traffic. Much of the expense goes to running the WordPress platform and data security measures that are required of any stable website.
Continued growth and development of the website will aid in the recruitment of new members. Share our story and website with potential members, invite them to experience all JWHA has to offer, share membership benefits. Invite someone to join today!
In Memoriam
Good friend and member of JWHA, Bob Jones, has passed away. Obituary
Articles You May Have Missed
2024-2025 Board of Directors Slate
The nominations committee met recently, and we are pleased to announce the 2024-2025 Board of Directors Slate. Voting will take place at the annual business meeting in St. George.
Kyle Beshears and Nancy Ross have been nominated to serve as board members, 2024-2027.
Kyle R. Beshears (PhD, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is a minister in Mobile, Alabama, and an independent researcher in Mormon studies. His dissertation focused on the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite) after the death of its founder, James J. Strang. He is the author of the forthcoming 40 Questions about Mormonism (Kregel Academic) and has taught religious studies at the University of Mobile.
Nancy Ross is a department chair and associate professor in the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Department at Utah Tech University, where she has been teaching for 17 years. Her PhD is in art history, but her current research focuses on the history and sociology of religion. She is an ordained elder in Community of Christ and pastor of the Southern Utah congregation.
Matthew Harris, a JWHA stalwart, has been chosen to serve as our president-elect.
Dr. Matt Harris is a professor of history at Colorado State University-Pueblo. His particular focus is in religion and the law, church and state, American Religions, civil rights, legal history, and Mormon Studies. He received a BA and MA in history from Brigham Young University and an MPhil and PhD, also in history, from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality (Oxford University Press, 2024) and Watchman on the Tower: Ezra Taft Benson and the Making of the Mormon Right (University of Utah Press, 2020). His work has been featured on CSPAN, the Religion News Service, Longreads, as well as over two dozen podcasts from around the world.
We are also pleased to announce that Bill Russell, one of the founders of the JWHA, has been asked to serve in an emeritus position as a member of the board.
William D. (Bill) Russell earned a B.A. in religion at Graceland College (now University) (1960), the M.Div. from Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City (1967), and the J. D. degree at the University of Iowa College of Law (1976). He also has earned 75 graduate hours in history from Saint Paul and the University of Iowa. His major professor at Iowa was Sidney Mead, who was the major professor for Martin Marty and other major figures in American religious history. He is Past President of the John Whitmer Historical Association (1977) and the Mormon History Association (1983). He has published many articles and book reviews in the JWHA Journal, and MHA Journal, Dialogue, Sunstone, the Christian Century, the Utah Historical Quarterly, the Saints’ Herald, and Stride magazine. He has published three books, Treasure in Earthen Vessels: An Introduction to the New Testament; The Word Made Flesh: Sermons on New Testament Texts; and Homosexual Saints: The Community of Christ Experience. He has books nearing completion on the Schism in the RLDS Church which came to a head in 1984 with the approval of women’s ordination, and a book on the Kirtland (Ohio) cult murders of 1989. Bill is an elder in the Community of Christ.
We are pleased to see this mixture of new and seasoned members of JWHA to lead us for the next few years!
Bernauer Service
Barbara Bernauer, JWHA President 1998-1999, passed recently. Her family is having a service and reception to celebrate her life and specially want to invite her friends at JWHA.
It is on Sunday, May 19, at 2:30 at Mission Road Community of Christ, 7842 Mission Road, Prairie Village, Kansas.
Also on Zoom: Barbara’s service Zoom Meeting ID: 885 529 7717 Password: 2021
In Memoriam
Longtime friend of JWHA, Steve Mayfield, passed away March 30, 2024. He will be greatly missed.
Read Steve’s obituary here.
Visit the JWHA online store today – find your treasure!
If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, please contact us at jwha@jwha.info. We always appreciate your input.
