Item Detail
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12143
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4
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0
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English
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Community Leadership on the Mormon Frontier
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Ohio State University
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Ph.D. diss.
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"The nineteenth-century Mormon bishops exerted a greater direct influence on community-building than any comparable American leadership group since the Puritan fathers. This dissertation analyzes that leadership through quantitative methodology to describe the backgrounds of the more than one thousand men who served as community bishops. The study examines wards in three settlements in depth to determine the nature of the bishops' leadership in a large urban area, in a farming community, and in a town which began as a mining settlement. The dissertation compares Mormon and Puritan community-building activities. Finally, the study compares the ward leaders with the city bosses and urban business leaders of other American cities. The bishops became, collectively, the dominant force in community leadership in the Great Basin. Frequently, bishops served in responsible political positions as territorial legislators, mayors and probate judges. They encouraged voter turnout, urged immigrants to become naturalized citizens, and spoke of political matters at church meetings. The bishops played extremely important roles in the economic growth of their wards and regions by backing such concerns as telegraphs, railroads, mines, canals, and cooperative stores. Their possession of greater than average wealth increased their ability to support local and regional business endeavors, and their religious positions provided them with numerous opportunities to exert economic leadership. Mormon urbanization proceeded in a planned, orderly fashion under ecclesiastical leadership, which distinguished Mormon city-building from urbanization efforts in other American cities. The bishops influenced social development by supporting education and administering the Mormon social welfare program. Like the Puritans, the Mormons acted from a sense of divine mission, sought to create a city on a hill, and created unusually strong communities. The bishops' efforts to build strong communities were more successful than attempts by businessmen, who attempted to create close urban relationships through city planning. The bishops' leadership constituted an important reason why the Mormons enjoyed a stronger sense of community than most contemporary Americans." [Author's abstract]