Gary L. Bunker

Letters to the Editor

Phrenology Among the Mormons

On 2 July 1842 the Nauvoo Wasp contained a letter from A. Crane, M.S., professor of phrenology, alluding to the “large number of persons in different places” who wished to know “the phrenological development of…

Illustrated Periodical Images of Mormons, 1850-1860

Image history—how the Mormons were viewed by others—has been a fruitful approach used by several historians during the past decade.

Timing, Context and Charisma | Ronald L. Numbers, Prophetess of Health: A Study of Ellen G. White

Seldom does the motivation for a book begin with a serendipitous finding. Such, however, was the case for this partial biography of Ellen G. White, the founder of Seventh Day Adventism. The author, a specialist…

Polygamous Eyes: A Note on Mormon Physiognomy

Ruth Benedict perceptively observed: “The first lesson of history . . . is that when any group in power wishes to persecute or expropriate another group, it uses as justification, reasons which are familiar and…

Cartooning Mormons | Calvin Grondahl, Freeway to Perfection

Caricaturing the Mormon experience is hardly a new venture, but the cultural context of the present differs drastically from the past. For nearly the first century of Mormonism, cartoonists, including such powerful image makers as…