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Steven Olsen: "Liberty Jail and the Nauvoo Temple: Framing a Spiritual Revolution"

Thursday, September 28
4:00 PM
1060 HBLL

Liberty Jail and the Nauvoo Temple: Framing a Spiritual Revolution

Steven Olsen, senior curator at the Church History Department, will share his analysis of revelations recorded by Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail. The truths introduced or enlarged upon were so innovative that they required new vocabulary to express them, new rituals to enact them, and new built forms to contain them. Indeed, the jail was the seedbed of revealed promises that eventually blossomed in Nauvoo’s “House of the Lord.”

About Steven L. Olsen (BA ’75)
For the past four decades, Steven Olsen has filled various professional and administrative positions with the LDS Church History Department in Salt Lake City, including senior curator and managing director. Major projects completed under his leadership include permanent exhibits at the Church History Museum and historic site restorations in New York, Ohio, and Utah. He has been president or board member of a variety of state, regional, and national professional service organizations. Olsen publishes widely in the fields of Latter-day Saint studies and museums studies and frequently presents at scholarly and professional conferences.

Olsen has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Brigham Young University and master’s and doctor’s degrees in cultural anthropology from the University of Chicago. He has been an adjunct professor of anthropology at BYU and is currently a member of the National Advisory Council for the BYU College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences. He and his wife Kathi have five children.

Students in the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences gain Experience Points for attending this lecture. Learn more about Experience Points.

Contact Information
Niwako Yamawaki
801-422-2085
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