The Mormon Colony Scheme in the Late Ottoman Empire: Attempts to Alleviate the Abject Poverty Facing Armenian Converts to Mormonism (1898-1928)

Department of History cordially invites you to the upcoming Museum Lecture by Kent Schull, titled "The Mormon Colony Scheme in the late Ottoman Empire:  Attempts to Alleviate the Abject Poverty Facing Armenian Converts to Mormonism (1898-1928)." The lecture is scheduled to take place on December 17, 2024 at 5:00 PM in Nafi Baba Building 103.

Abstract:
From the early 1880s till the end of the Ottoman Empire, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) sent dozens of missionaries to the Middle East in order to proselyte and establish the Mormon Church in the region as part of its Millenarian aspirations to prepare for the second coming of Jesus Christ through preaching its “Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ” and commence the gathering of Israel.  During this almost 40-year period hundreds of Ottoman-Armenians converted to Mormonism with congregations in Aintab, Aleppo, Zara, and Maraş.  This presentation discusses the struggles faced by the Mormon Armenian community, particularly in terms of providing for its basic necessities during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the community’s attempts to ameliorate these dire circumstances. Deeply impoverished due to awful economic circumstances within the broader Ottoman Empire, but also exacerbated by persecution from the Ottoman government and local Armenians, the LDS Armenian community and its Missionary leaders attempted various schemes, such as carpet weaving, textile manufacture, agriculture, and several abortive attempts to establish a “Mormon Colony” in the Holy Land. This presentation investigates these attempts at self-sufficiency and communalism within the context of growing Western Imperialism in the Middle East and how this intersected with the Millenarian aspirations of the Mormon Missionaries and their Protestant competitors.