The Fall 2008 BYU Magazine has an article on Harleman Halls, the building on West 111th Street that has managed to fill nearly half its apartments with LDS Church members. The article not only tells how the building gained such a preponderance of Church members, but also gives a sense of the community in the building that developed as a result.
I came across an interesting blog post this past week, some brief notes about the stay of Charles Henry Crow in New York City in 1856-1859. I’ve asked for further information from the author of the post, hoping that the information will give us further insight into what the Church was like in New York City while the Eastern States Mission was closed for a few years. The mission was reopened again in the early 1860s, and then closed for nearly 30 years until 1893.
Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune
I came across the 1859 interview of Brigham Young by New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley this week and was able to add it to our site. The interview is quite comprehensive, in terms of the issues of the day, covering slavery and polygamy as well as some of the unusual aspects of Mormonism at the time, such as tithing.
While collecting articles that mention New York City from the Times and Seasons, I came across an 1840 letter from George J. Adams that provides some great insight into the beginnings of a branch in Brooklyn that year. Adams recounts founding a branch of 19 in Brooklyn after hearing a sermon by Heber C. Kimball in February of that year, joining the Church eight days later and being ordained an Elder eight days after that. (more…)
This past sunday evening New York Stake member and friend of our history committee, Mark Holden, showed many of the interesting items from his personal collection at a fireside held in the 87th street building. The collection was really quite fascinating, as were Mark’s stories about the items and how he found them. The fireside drew more than 50 people and even included a few items of interest to those studying the Mormon presence in New York.
This past weekend as I added newspaper articles to the website, I came across a fascinating story about the divorce of the Glovers in 1892. The initial article mentioned that the couple attended the Mormon Church that met at Rockaway Avenue and Fulton Street. Here, I thought, was more evidence of LDS Church meetings before the Eastern States Mission was reopened in 1893.
4 videos about the Church in Harlem that were added to YouTube about a month ago. The videos were done by a non-Mormon Brazilian graduate student at Columbia University (I assume in Journalism)
While perhaps not as researched as many on this list would like, they do include a brief overview of the history of blacks and the priesthood, and include appearances by both Richard and Claudia Bushman.
So I’ve embedded them in the NYC LDS History website:
http://www.nycldshistory.com/nycldshist/index.php?title=Harlem
Please feel free to pass this on to whomever you think would be interested.