New Mormon Studies CD-ROM – review

New Mormon Studies CD-ROM – review

This CD-ROM is a must for anyone serious about Mormonism and the history of the religion. Purchased separately, everything available on the CD-ROM would cost thousands of dollars (assuming you could even find all of it available for sale). The searchability that this product offers makes it even more valuable.

Some of the titles included are:
All the issues of Dialogue and Sunstone (this alone makes it more than worth the price)
Wilford Woodruff’s Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript
1830, 1837, 1840 Book of Mormon
The Apostolic Diaries of Rudger Clawson
Bancroft’s History of Utah
Neither White Nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church
Brigham Young University: A House of Faith
Quest for Refuge: The Mormon Flight from American Pluralism
Of All Things! A Nibley Quote Book
Indian Origins and the Book of Mormon: Religious Solutions from Columbus to Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith’s New York Reputation Reexamined
Joseph Smith’s Response to Skepticism
New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology
Mormon Neo-Orthodoxy: A Crisis Theology
The New Mormon History: Revisionist Essays on the Past
Preface to Faith: A Philosophical Inquiry into RLDS Beliefs
Studies of the Book of Mormon
Religious Seekers and the Advent of Mormonism
On the Potter’s Wheel: The Diaries of Heber C. Kimball
Power From on High
Saints without Halos: The Human Side of Mormon History
Mormon Hierarchy v.1
Illustrations of Freemasonry
Mormon Polygamy
Carthage Conspiracy
An Abundant Life
The Mysteries of Godliness
“The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: Minutes of Meetings and Other Documents Excerpts, 1835-1896”
Oration Delivered by Mr. S. Rigdon. On the 4th of July, 1838. At Far West, Caldwell County, Missouri. Far West: Journal Office, 1838
Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders
and much more …


from the publisher:
This compilation of significant primary and secondary works on Mormonism–boon for researchers and trivia hunters alike–rivals the best-stocked archival collection yet comes on a single CD-ROM. Preparing Sunday School lessons was never so easy!

The CD is divided into seven categories. The first, “LDS Scriptures and Scriptural Studies,” contains 23 works, including the earliest editions of Mormon scriptures, complemented by historical and modern commentaries�everything from the classic Seven Claims of the Book of Mormon by John A. Widtsoe to Dan Vogel�s more contemporary The Word of God: Essays on Mormon Scriptures.

Among the 72 ground-breaking works in the “History” section are those by respected scholars Thomas G. Alexander, Irene M. Bates, Eugene E. Campbell, Edwin B. Firmage, Robert Bruce Flanders, Carmon B. Hardy, Edward Leo Lyman, D. Michael Quinn, and Richard S. Van Wagoner.

In the “Biography, Autobiography, and Family History” section are 89 works by and about such notable historical figures as Hugh B. Brown, Lucinda Lee Dalton, Philo Dibble, Mosiah Hancock, Martin Harris, Oliver B. Huntington, Orson Hyde, Benjamin F. Johnson, Luke Johnson, Helen Mar Kimball, Joseph C. Kingsbury, Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, Amasa Lyman, Stephen Markham, Thomas B. Marsh, John E. Page, Emily Partridge, David Patten, William W. Phelps, Josiah Quincy, Willard Richards, Ebenezer Robinson, Joseph Smith III, Lucy Mack Smith, Eliza R. Snow, John Taylor, Orson F. Whitney, Lyman Wight, and many others.

One of the most exciting portions of the disk contains 53 “Diaries, Journals, and Letters” by eyewitnesses to key events, including Thomas A. Clawson, Zebedee Coltrin, Oliver Cowdery, Heber J. Grant, Heber C. Kimball, Anthon Lund, Francis M. Lyman, Marriner Wood Merrill, L. John Nuttall, Franklin D. Richards, Catharine Cottam Romney, Hosea Stout, Wilford Woodruff, and Brigham Young.

Among the “Doctrine and Theology (Including Non-LDS Parallel Works),” 80 in all, are: Melvin J. Ballard�s Three Degrees of Glory, Erich Robert Paul�s Science, Religion, and Mormon Cosmology, Ethan Smith�s View of the Hebrews, Joseph F. Smith�s Gospel Doctrine, James E. Talmage�s The Articles of Faith, John Taylor�s Items on Priesthood, O. Kendall White�s Mormon Neo-Orthodoxy, Orson F. Whitney�s Baptism: The Birth of Water and of Spirit, and so on. There are no less than 634 issues of 13 publications in the “Periodicals” category, including LDS Conference Reports from 1880 to 1971, Journal of Discourses and Collected Discourses, seven early LDS newspapers and magazines, and recent periodicals such as Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, covering three decades, and Sunstone magazine for two decades.

The final category is “Contemporary Issues,” including gender topics (Beecher�s and Anderson�s Sisters in Spirit: Mormon Women in Historical and Cultural Perspective), race (Bush�s and Mauss�s Neither White Nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church), sex (Corcoran�s Multiply and Replenish: Mormon Essays on Sex and Family), and related issues.

This includes the entire Signature Books Library through 1996 (excluding fiction), Mormon titles from University of Illinois Press, the earliest editions of LDS scriptures, nineteenth-century LDS church classics, and more.

Folio based — dual Macintosh and Windows format. Over 950 works (with illustrations).

“This important contribution to LDS studies makes available to a new generation of readers the very best of contemporary Mormon scholarship.”
Leonard J. Arrington, former Church Historian, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“An Essential major new tool. It will assist immeasurably in research by expanding the access to significant sources.”
Thomas G. Alexander, Lemuel Hardison Redd, Jr., Professor of American History, Brigham Young University

“Mormonism is an extremely popular topic for research, but students are frequently hindered by a lack of sources. This extraordinary collection of primary and secondary works is a wonderful way to solve this problem.”
Jan Shipps, Professor of Religious Studies and History, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis

“A must for every library. This impressive achievement will become the standard for all such electronic databases.”
– Gregory C. Thompson, Director, Special Collections, University of Utah Libraries