1. Staff correspondent, “Pilgrims at Birthplace of Religion,” Rochester (NY) Herald, September 22, 1923, 3.

2. “Mormon Head Prominent at Celebration,” Rochester Herald, September 22, 1923.

3. For example, see Thomas G. Alexander, Mormonism in Transition: A History of the Latter-day Saints, 1890–1930 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986). On the Smith family farm in particular, see Keith A. Erekson, “From Missionary Resort to Memorial Farm: Commemoration and Capitalism at the Birthplace of Joseph Smith, 1905–1925,” Mormon Historical Studies (2005): 69–100.

4. Kathleen Flake, “Re-placing Memory: Latter-day Saint Use of Historical Monuments and Narrative in the Early Twentieth Century,” Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation 13, no. 1 (Winter 2003) 69–109.

5. See Michael H. Madsen, “The Sanctification of Mormonism’s Historical Geography,” Journal of Mormon History 34, no. 2 (Spring 2008): 229; and Daniel H. Olsen, “Touring Sacred History: The Latter-day Saints and Their Historical Sites,” in Mormons and Popular Culture: A Global Influence of an American Phenomenon, ed. J. Michael Hunter (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2013), 225–42.

6. See John C. Thomas, “The Book of Mormon in American Missions at the Turn of the Twentieth Century,” Religious Educator 19, no. 1 (2018): 29–57. When Roberts introduced his new proselyting plan for the summer of 1923, he included in his series of five tracts one completely dedicated to the Book of Mormon. The tract is a powerful endorsement, application, summary, and testimony of the Book of Mormon’s significance and reaffirms that the scripture was already well ensconced in the missionary program of the Church before the Cumorah celebration.

7. Truman G. Madsen, “B. H. Roberts and the Book of Mormon,” in Book of Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins, ed. Noel B. Reynolds (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1982), 7–32; Curtis Ashton, “Reclaiming Hill Cumorah,” April 18, 2014, https://history.lds.org/article/historic-sites/new-york/manchester/reclaiming-hill-cumorah?lang=eng&groupid=12968101728671441203-eng.

8. Past historical treatments of the Hill Cumorah and the 1923 Centennial tend to isolate it from the country work preceding it. See, for example, Cameron J. Packer, “A Study of the Hill Cumorah: A Significant Latter-day Saint Landmark in Western New York” (master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 2002), 90.

9. Brigham H. Roberts, in Ninety-Fourth Semi-annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1923), 89–90.

10. Ruth Barnes and Crispin Branfoot, eds., Pilgrimage: The Sacred Journey (Oxford, Eng.: Ashmolean Museum, 2006), 12–13.

11. Heber J. Grant, in Ninety-Fourth Semi-annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1923), 5.

12. At the time, Roberts was serving in the First Council of the Seventy and was an Assistant Church Historian. For information on his mission presidency tenure, see B. H. Roberts, The Autobiography of B. H. Roberts, ed. Gary James Bergera (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1990), 230–36; Truman G. Madsen, Defender of the Faith: The B. H. Roberts Story (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980), 315–37; and Robert H. Malan, B. H. Roberts: A Biography (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1966), 113–28.

13. Roberts, Autobiography, 230.

14. Roberts, Autobiography, 230.

15. See John W. Welch, “B. H. Roberts: Seeker after Truth,” Ensign 16, no. 3 (March 1986): 56–62; John W. Welch, “Introduction,” in B. H. Roberts, The Truth, the Way, the Life: An Elementary Treatise on Theology, ed. John W. Welch (Provo, Utah: BYU Studies, 1994), xi–xxxvii; and Davis Bitton, “B. H. Roberts and Book of Mormon Scholarship: Early Twentieth Century: Age of Transition,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 8, no. 2 (1999): 60–69, 87–88.

16. Truman G. Madsen, “Roberts, B. H.,” in Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 1035. See also Truman G. Madsen, “B. H. Roberts and the Book of Mormon,” BYU Studies 19, no. 4 (1979): 427–45; and Truman G. Madsen, “B. H. Roberts after Fifty Years: Still Witnessing for the Book of Mormon,” Ensign 13, no. 12 (December 1983): 11–19.

17. John W. Welch, “No, Sir, That’s Not History!” in Reexploring the Book of Mormon: The F.A.R.M.S Updates, ed. John W. Welch (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1992), 88–90; and Truman G. Madsen and John W. Welch, “Did B. H. Roberts Lose Faith in the Book of Mormon?” FARMS Peliminary Reports, 1985.

18. B. H. Roberts to Heber J. Grant, Council, and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, March 15, [1922], Church History Library (hereafter cited as CHL), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City.

19. See Brigham H. Roberts, Studies of the Book of Mormon, ed. Brigham D. Madsen (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1985).

20. Terryl L. Givens, By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture That Launched a New World Religion (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 110–11. See also Truman G. Madsen, ed., “His Final Decade: Statements about the Book of Mormon (1924–1933),” FARMS Preliminary Reports, 1985; John W. Welch, “Finding Answers to B. H. Roberts’s Questions,” FARMS Preliminary Reports, 1985.

21. Conferences were groups of wards or branches similar to what are now called stakes.

22. Roberts, Autobiography, 230–31.

23. See James B. Allen, “The Significance of Joseph Smith’s First Vision in Mormon Thought,” in Exploring the First Vision, ed. Samuel Alonzo Dodge and Steven C. Harper (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2012), 283–306.

24. James B. Allen, “Emergence of a Fundamental: The Expanding Role of Joseph Smith’s First Vision of Mormon Religious Thought,” in Exploring the First Vision, 245–46.

25. See Martin H. Raish, “Encounters with Cumorah: A Selective, Personal Biography,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 13, nos. 1–2 (2004): 38–49, 169–70.

26. See Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Cameron J. Packer, “A Story on Canvas, Paper, and Glass: The Early Visual Images of Cumorah,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 13, nos. 1–2 (2004): 6–23, 167–68.

27. See Reid L. Neilson, Justin R. Bray, and Alan D. Johnson, eds., Rediscovering the Sites of the Restoration: The 1888 Travel Writings of Mormon Historian Andrew Jenson, Edward Stevenson, and Joseph S. Black (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2015), 176–99.

28. See Louise Helps, “Look Once Again at Cumorah’s Hill: The Poet’s View,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 13, nos. 1–2 (2004): 110–23, 173.

29. See Roger L. Miller, “‘Hail, Cumorah! Silent Wonder’: Music Inspired by the Hill Cumorah,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 13, nos. 1–2 (2004): 98–109, 171–73.

30. Groups of Latter-day Saints may have gathered there to celebrate Pioneer Day (July 24) in earlier years. There is, however, no record of these meetings in the manuscript history of the Eastern States Mission. See Albert L. Zobell Jr., “Lest We Forget: Early Cumorah Pageants,” Improvement Era 71, no. 6 (June 1968): 24–25.

31. O. Ragnar Linde, Diary, March 14, 1923, O. Ragnar Linde Papers, J. Willard Marriott Special Collections (hereafter cited as Marriott Special Collections), University of Utah, Salt Lake City; George L. Hoggan, Diary, March 14, 1923, George L. Hoggan Papers, Marriott Special Collections.

32. “Mormons to Start on Missionary Tour,” New York Herald, May 14, 1923.

33. Eastern States Mission Manuscript History, July 17, 1923, LR 2475 2, CHL.

34. Eastern States Mission Manuscript History, June 5, 1923, CHL.

35. In the earliest days of the Church, leaders often called members on missions, encouraging them to go from place to place without funds or prearranged plans. They left their families and occupations, often acting under the belief God would provide for their needs. See D&C 24:18; D&C 84:86. This practice lasted well into the 1860s, when Church leaders recognized potential problems with having missionaries travel in this manner. For a thorough study of this aspect of early missionary efforts, see Jessie L. Embry, “Without Purse or Scrip,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 29, no. 3 (1996): 77–93.

36. Doing country work without purse or scrip continued through the Great Depression and World War II in some domestic U.S. missions, though it was generally confined to summers. There are examples of this form of missionary work even extending into the postwar era after World War II, as late as the 1950s. Embry, “Without Purse or Scrip,” 78–82; Morris Bishop, “In the Footsteps of Mormon,” New York History 22, no. 2 (April 1941): 165.

37. Elton LeRoy Taylor, Oral History by Sandra Skouson, July 5, 1981, MS 2735, folder 421, CHL, 6.

38. “Mormons to Start on Missionary Tour.”

39. Embry, “Without Purse or Scrip,” 78.

40. Taylor, Oral History, 6.

41. Eastern States Mission Manuscript History, July 17, 1923, CHL.

42. B. H. Roberts to the Eastern States Mission, August 29, 1923, Cumorah Conference Materials, Roberts Papers, MS 106, box 10, folder 13, Marriott Special Collections.

43. A puttee is a gaiterlike article worn from ankle to knee that offers support and protection from the elements. Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “puttee.”

44. Taylor, Oral History, 6.

45. See B. H. Roberts, Why “Mormonism”? (Independence, Mo.: Press of Zion’s Printing and Publishing Company, 1923); see also LeRoi C. Snow, “Eastern States Mission,” Liahona: The Elders’ Journal 20, no. 19 (March 13, 1923): 382–83. Why “Mormonism”? was a missionary tract written and published in March 1923 by B. H. Roberts, intended for distribution on his missionaries’ summer campaign. Of the five tracts in Roberts’s new system, one was dedicated solely to the Book of Mormon, containing references to Roberts’s longstanding interests in the Book of Mormon that frequently highlight its “doctrinal value” and powerful witness.

46. B. H. Roberts to the Eastern States Mission, letter, “The Conference at Cumorah,” August 10, 1923, Cumorah Conference Materials, Roberts Papers, MS 106, box 10, folder 12.

47. Taylor, Oral History, 6.

48. Staff correspondent, “Pilgrims at Birthplace of Religion,” 3.

49. Roberts, “The Conference at Cumorah,” August 10, 1923, Roberts Papers.

50. Roberts, “The Conference at Cumorah,” August 10, 1923, Roberts Papers.

51. B. H. Roberts to missionaries of the Eastern States Mission, letter, “Conference at Cumorah (Second Letter, n.d.),” Cumorah Conference Materials, Roberts Papers.

52. Hoggan, Diary, May 15, 1923.

53. Hoggan, Diary, May 16, 1923.

54. Hoggan, Diary, May 17, 1923.

55. Hoggan, Diary, May 17, 1923.

56. Hoggan, Diary, May 18–25, 1923.

57. Hoggan, Diary, June 9, 12, 15, 1923.

58. Hoggan, Diary, July 11–12, 1923.

59. Hoggan, Diary, June 1, 1923.

60. LeRoi C. Snow, “Eastern States Mission—Voices from the Field,” Liahona: The Elders’ Journal 21, no. 4 (August 14, 1923): 74. All Liahona citations are also pasted into the Eastern States Mission Manuscript History on the same date. See LR 2475 2, CHL.

61. Snow, “Eastern States Mission—Voices from the Field,” 74.

62. Reports from Elders Diamond R. Adams and Carl E. Weaver serving in the Albany Conference in August 1923 noted the presence of prejudice, leading to several refusals of street privileges to preach. See Snow, “Eastern States Mission—Voices from the Field,” 76. Elder Elton Taylor also recorded, “This was in an area of early historic church history, in western New York and western Pennsylvania, where there was still considerable bitterness toward the church at that time.” Taylor, Oral History, 6.

63. LeRoi C. Snow, “Eastern States Mission—New Haven,” Liahona: The Elders’ Journal 21, no. 4 (August 14, 1923): 74.

64. LeRoi C. Snow, “Eastern States Mission—South West Virginia,” Liahona: The Elders’ Journal 21, no. 4 (August 14, 1923): 75.

65. Snow, “Eastern States Mission—Voices from the Field,” 74.

66. “Palmyra Scene Re-enacted—Genealogy Will Be Theme,” Deseret News, September 22, 1923, second section, 1.

67. Taylor, Oral History, 6.

68. Some missionaries started traveling to Cumorah as early as September 1, while others from conferences adjacent to the New York proselyting area started later.

69. Roberts, Autobiography, 231; “Eastern States Show Interest in Palmyra Meeting,” Deseret News, September 21, 1923, second section, 1.

70. See Roberts, “Conference at Cumorah,” August 10, 1923, Roberts Papers.

71. Taylor, Oral History, 7.

72. Jane Shipp Hogan, comp., “Ancestors of Carl Bingham Shipp and Annie May Newton,” typescript, 166–67, MS 15023, CHL.

73. Roberts, Autobiography, 231.

74. Rudger Clawson, “Church Authorities Attend Commemoration Exercises,” Deseret News, September 29, 1923, section three, 7; Taylor, Oral History, 6; and Hogan, “Ancestors of Carl Bingham Shipp and Annie May Newton,” 166.

75. “First General Conference of the Eastern States Mission,” Journal History of the Church, September 21, 1923.

76. “Program of the First General Conference of the Eastern States Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” (Brooklyn, N.Y.: Eastern States Mission, 1923), 1, CHL.

77. “First General Conference of the Eastern States Mission.”

78. Roberts, Autobiography, 233.

79. Heber J. Grant, Journal, September 21, 1923, Heber J. Grant Papers, CHL.

80. James E. Talmage, Journal, September 20, 1923, James E. Talmage Papers, MSS 229, box 32, folder 1b, L. Tom Perry Special Collections (hereafter Perry Special Collections), Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

81. Joseph Fielding Smith, “Minutes—The First General Conference of the Eastern States Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held at Joseph Smith Farm and the Hill Cumorah, September 21–23, 1923,” 1, Joseph Fielding Smith Papers, MS 4250, CHL.

82. Hogan, “Ancestors of Carl Bingham Shipp and Annie May Newton,” 166–67.

83. Smith, “Minutes—The First General Conference of the Eastern States Mission,” 2.

84. “Mormon Head Prominent at Celebration,” September 22, 1923.

85. Clawson, “Church Authorities Attend Commemoration Exercises,” 7.

86. Some of the puddles were large enough as to inspire younger attendees to wade into them waist-deep as the weather improved. See “Mormonism’s Theologian Interviewed,” Rochester Herald, September 23, 1923.

87. See David F. Boone, “‘A Man Raised Up’: The Role of Willard W. Bean in the Acquisition of the Hill Cumorah,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 13, nos. 1–2 (2004): 24–37, 168–69.

88. Smith, “Minutes—the First General Conference of the Eastern States Mission,” 3; and “Palmyra Scene Re-Enacted,” 1.

89. “Mormon Head Prominent at Celebration,” September 22, 1923.

90. See session information in George Hoggan’s annotated copy of the “Program of the First General Conference of the Eastern States Mission,” Hoggan Papers, 2.

91. “Program of the First General Conference of the Eastern States Mission,” Hoggan Papers, 2–3.

92. “Proceedings of Second Days Services,” Journal History of the Church, September 22, 1923; Clawson, “Church Authorities Attend Commemoration Exercises,” 7.

93. “Program of the First General Conference of the Eastern States Mission,” 3–4.

94. Staff correspondent, “Pilgrims at Birthplace of Religion,” 3.

95. “Closing Exercises of the First General Conference of the Eastern States Mission and Commemoration Services,” Journal History of the Church, September 24, 1923; and Smith, “Minutes—the First General Conference of the Eastern States Mission,” 8.

96. Roberts, Autobiography, 232–33; and B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1965), 6:524.

97. During the labor strike, newspapers joined workforces to produce a joint spread of varying page lengths. See Talmage, Journal, September 19, 1923.

98. See Roberts, Comprehensive History of the Church, 6:523–24; and “Newspapers Give Vivid Account of Celebration,” Deseret News, September 29, 1923, 7.

99. Roberts, Comprehensive History of the Church, 6:522–23.

100. Clawson, “Church Authorities Attend Commemoration Exercises,” 7.

101. “Mormon Head Prominent at Celebration,” September, 22, 1923; and Paul B. Cannon to G. Homer Durham, June 23, 1981, MS 6768, CHL. See also Nephi Anderson, “Nannie Tout in London,” Young Woman’s Journal 15, no. 9 (September 1904): 401–4; “Preaching the Gospel in High Places,” Improvement Era 7, no. 7 (May 1904): 548; and Edward H. Anderson, “The Touts Sing on Ship,” Improvement Era 9, no. 9 (July 1906): 744.

102. “Mormon Delegates Assigned,” Rochester Herald, September 24, 1923.

103. Roberts, in Ninety-Fourth Semi-annual Conference, 91.

104. “Program of the First General Conference,” 4–5.

105. Taylor, Oral History, 7.

106. Hoggan, Diary, September 23, 1923.

107. Clawson, “Church Authorities Attend Commemoration Exercises,” 7; later republished as “Centennial Commemoration of the First Visit of the Angel Moroni to the Prophet Joseph Smith,” Liahona: The Elders’ Journal 21, no. 8 (October 9, 1923): 139–42.

108. Smith, “Minutes—the First General Conference of the Eastern States Mission,” 5–6.

109. Heber J. Grant, Journal, September 23, 1923, Heber J. Grant Papers.

110. Smith, “Minutes—the First General Conference of the Eastern States Mission,” 5–6.

111. Clawson, “Church Authorities Attend Commemoration Exercises,” 7.

112. Apostle Clawson reported around 250 automobiles parked at the base of the hill, along with 1,250 people present at the afternoon public meeting, and that 1,000 cars “moved about the hill and along the main thoroughfare nearby.” See Clawson, “Church Authorities Attend Commemoration Exercises,” 7; Talmage, Journal, September 23, 1923, Perry Special Collections; and Smith, “Minutes—the First General Conference of the Eastern States Mission,” 7. Local newspaper reporters suggested higher numbers: “Mormon Delegates Assigned,” Rochester Herald, September 24, 1923; and “Pilgrims Return by Train,” Rochester Herald, September 24, 1923.

113. “Last Meetings of Celebration of Centennial,” Rochester Herald, September 23, 1923.

114. Smith, “Minutes—the First General Conference of the Eastern States Mission,” 7.

115. “Last Meetings of Celebration of Centennial,” September 23, 1923.

116. Talmage, Journal, September 23, 1923.

117. Clawson, “Church Authorities Attend Commemoration Exercises,” 7.

118. Talmage, Journal, September 23, 1923.

119. See B. H. Roberts, “Destruction of the Ancient Nations in America, The Book of Mormon Message to the Gentile Nations Occupying the Land,” Improvement Era 27, no. 4 (February 1924): 288–92.

120. Taylor, Oral History, 8.

121. “Mormon Delegates Assigned,” Rochester Herald, September 24, 1923.

122. See Hoggan’s annotated program, “Program of the First General Conference of the Eastern States Mission,” Hoggan Papers.

123. Roberts, Autobiography, 232.

124. Roberts, Comprehensive History of the Church, 6:523.

125. LeRoi C. Snow, “Eastern States Mission,” Liahona: The Elders’ Journal 21 (December 18, 1923): 246.

126. Hogan, “Ancestors of Carl Bingham Shipp and Annie May Newton,” 166.

127. Snow, “Eastern States Mission,” 246–47.

128. Grant, in Ninety-Fourth Semi-annual Conference, 4–5.

129. Smith, “Minutes—the First General Conference of the Eastern States Mission,” 8, Joseph Fielding Smith Papers.

130. Clawson, “Church Authorities Attend Commemoration Exercises,” 7.

131. Roberts, in Ninety-Fourth Semi-annual Conference, 89.

132. Roberts, in Ninety-Fourth Semi-annual Conference, 89.

133. Roberts, in Ninety-Fourth Semi-annual Conference, 90.

134. Roberts, in Ninety-Fourth Semi-annual Conference, 92.

135. Roberts summarized this feeling in his October 1923 conference address: “The great outstanding thing in the Book of Mormon is the fact of the visit of the Redeemer to the inhabitants of this western world, and the message of life and salvation that he delivered here; the Church which he brought into existence, the divine authority which he established here in the western world. This is what makes the Book of Mormon of so much importance—it is a new witness for God and Christ and the truth of the gospel.” See Roberts, in Ninety-Fourth Semi-annual Conference, 91.

136. Right before the conference, on September 17, 1923, the Church made a move to purchase the Inglis farm, and for the first time in its history owned a part of the Hill Cumorah. See Boone, “Man Raised Up,” 30–31. While President Grant’s predecessor, Joseph F. Smith, is often seen as the primary champion of Church historical sites in the early twentieth century, the Cumorah conference was President Grant’s inaugural foray into the land acquisition that eventually led to complete ownership of the hill and the subsequent placement of monuments on it.

137. “Mormon Head Prominent at Celebration,” September 22, 1923.

Centennial Celebrations