Massachusetts Museum to Focus on LDS History

The Peabody-Essex Museum of Salem, Massachusetts, has scheduled an exhibit this spring and summer that will spotlight the Church’s New England roots, development, and westward movement.

“From New England to the Great Salt Lake: The Mormon Legacy of Faith” is scheduled to begin on 6 May and run through the end of August.

The exhibit will include rare items owned by the Peabody-Essex Museum as well as items loaned by the Church Museum of History and Art in Salt Lake City. Among the items from the museum in Salem are a first edition and a fourth edition copy of the Book of Mormon, the latter signed by Nathaniel Henry Felt, a pioneer Church leader in the Salem area. The museum will also exhibit two letters linked to the Prophet Joseph Smith—one from him and one from a writer reporting the Prophet’s martyrdom in Illinois.

In addition to providing information on the Church’s roots in New England and the Latter-day Saint trek westward, the Peabody-Essex exhibit will offer a brief look at the Church today. Among the other items on loan from the Church museum will be photos for a family history display, folk art representations of LDS temples created by members from nations around the world, and a contemporary painting with a Book of Mormon theme. The painting will be part of the Book of Mormon display.

Arrangements have been made for local Church members to serve as guides for the museum exhibit, and there will be a reception and preview of the exhibit on 4 May for community leaders.

A poster invites attention to the Peabody-Essex Museum exhibit.

This lithograph depicting Moroni delivering the gold plates to Joseph Smith will be on loan from the Church museum. (Angel Moroni Delivering the Plates to Joseph Smith Jr., by C. C. A. Christensen.)