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This handbill was distributed to advertise an LDS conference in Blackburn, England in 1930 – a completely ordinary, typical, routine conference, where John A. Widtsoe (apostle and European Mission President) and W. William Lund (Assistant Church Historian) were the featured speakers, probably focusing on the Centennial anniversary of the organization of the Church.
But … the handbill is structured in every detail to mimic an advertisement for a typical anti-Mormon meeting:
The title, Disclosure of Mormonism, suggests an exposé (when held by anti-Mormons, such exposés tended to focus on temple practices, or polygamy and harems, or the bloody crimes and political machinations of those evil Mormons).
The speakers are identified as hailing from Salt Lake City – nearly all anti-Mormon “experts” came directly from Salt Lake City. They may have been there only a few days, but their visit equipped them with all the knowledge necessary to expose Mormon secrets.
Neither speaker is identified by his Church position. Elder Widtsoe is, rather, identified by his valid academic credentials, further suggesting the expertise of a careful student of the “Mormon Problem.”
The [presumably false] claims of Mormonism, and the [presumably pernicious] effect of Mormonism on the world were standard subjects for anti-Mormon lectures.
The scriptural tagline at the bottom also found a frequent place in anti-Mormon advertising. Everyone knew the fruits of Mormonism were evil, and were titillated by the prospect of hearing them regaled in lurid terms.
And yet, of course, every word on the handbill could apply with equal validity to the completely ordinary, typical, routine conference held by Latter-day Saints, with their curious neighbors invited to attend.
What do you think of such tactics? Clever, playing on the curiosity of non-Mormons? A waste of time, given the expectations of the audience those tactics would attract? Something else?
What a fun example of spin! Where did you dig that up?
Oh, I have my ways 🙂 — knowing how and where to look for goodies like this is my stock in trade.
very cool.
Now this is what the MHA program should look like … 🙂
Excellent work Elder Widtsoe! I was convinced it was an anti-Mormon presentation.
Nice.
Yet one more reason why so many of us belong to the Widstoe fan club on Facebook.
Heh, heh! That’s a good one!
Fabulous find! By the way, A. William Lund was in England in 1930 serving as president of the British Mission which had just recently been separated from the European Mission.
You find us such delicious tidbits, Ardis. This is a real treasure.
Ah, thanks blueagleranch — without checking where he was in 1930, I just assumed (bad! bad!) that he had gone over on one of those quickie inspections of the missions and had accompanied JAW on a round of conferences while he was there.
Glad you all like this one. Really, if you were to substitute the names of the speakers with generic names — wouldn’t even have to be real anti-Mormons — this flyer would have fooled anybody used to the anti-Mormon lecturer!
Very cool find. Not the sort of thing you would expect out of correlation or the Newsroom these days.
Clever. Wonder if we could do something similar today? 😉
Don’t you wish that you could have been to one of the meetings and watch the faces of those people who thought this was going to be a expose about the dreadful Mormons?
It was nice of the radical socialists of the Independent Labour Party to rent their hall to us Mormons for this meeting. I suspect that they just needed the money, but I wonder if they felt some affinity for some fellow radicals.
How many non-members came, and how many stayed. Cool, yes, but it reminds me of what BH Roberts said about the time he addressed a southern mob and to answer their bloodthirst he spoke on the subjects of polygamy and Mountain Meadows. After he spoke he told the missionaries never to do the same, or they would be killed. Good once, never again, and great missionary stories to pass on to the younger set, hopefully with the warning attached.
In a some what related vien I ran a corss this book browsing the library catalog last night.
http://evilbydesign.info/