Mark Ashurst-McGee
{{Short description|American historian and editor}}
Mark Roscoe Ashurst-McGee{{cite web | title=Zion rising: Joseph Smith's early social and political thought | work=Copyright Catalog (1978 to present) | publisher=United States Copyright Office | url=http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=2&ti=1,2&Search_Arg=ashurst%20mcgee&Search_Code=NALL&CNT=25&PID=lu0_kj9pIM_cvZ8WaWAZZQFR2j&SEQ=20100118162755&SID=1 | access-date=2010-01-18}} (born 1968) is an American historian of the Latter Day Saint movement and editor for the Joseph Smith Papers project.
Background
From 1988 to 1990, Ashurst-McGee served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in New Jersey.{{cite web | title=The Mark R. Ashurst-McGee Papers | work=Marriott Library Special Collections | publisher=University of Utah | location=Salt Lake City | url=http://db3-sql.staff.library.utah.edu/lucene/Manuscripts/null/Accn1619.xml/complete | access-date=2009-02-27 }}{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
Ashurst-McGee received a B.A. and B.S. from Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1994,{{cite journal | title=Alumni Updates: Profiles | journal=BYU Magazine | date=Spring 2008 | url=http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=2215 | access-date=2009-08-24}} and an M.A. in History from Utah State University (USU) in 2000. During his graduate studies he also did a summer seminar course in Latter-day Saint history at BYU that was led by Richard L. Bushman.[https://web.archive.org/web/20150609072550/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865630241/New-generation-of-historians-presenting-a-better-view-of-Mormonism-to-the-world-speaker-says.html?pg=all R. Scott Lloyd "New generation of historians presenting a better view of Mormonism to the world, speaker says", Deseret News, June 6, 2015] His master's thesis on Joseph Smith's religious development won the Reese History Award from the Mormon History Association.{{cite journal | title=About the Contributors | journal=FARMS Review | year=2006 | volume=18 | issue=1 | url=http://www.farmsresearch.com/publications/review/?vol=18&num=1&id=618 | access-date=2009-04-09}} He then pursued his doctorate in history at Arizona State University (ASU), where he also worked on a project for American Indian history and culture.{{cite web | title=H-AmIndian Staff | work=Department of History | publisher=Arizona State University | url=http://history.clas.asu.edu/h-amindian_staff | access-date=2009-02-27}} His dissertation was on Joseph Smith's early social and political thought, and won the Gerald E. Jones Dissertation Award from the Mormon History Association.{{cite news | title='Massacre' receives honors from Mormon History Association | author=Lloyd, R. Scott | work=MormonTimes | publisher=Deseret News | date=May 23, 2009 | url=http://www.mormontimes.com/studies_doctrine/church_history/?id=7917 | access-date=2009-06-03}} Through this training, he became a "specialist in documentary editing conventions and transcription methodology."{{cite web|title=Contributor Bios |publisher=The Joseph Smith Papers |url=http://josephsmithpapers.org/ContributorBios.htm#MAMcgee |access-date=2009-02-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120155006/http://josephsmithpapers.org/ContributorBios.htm |archive-date=2008-11-20 }} A BYU professor of religious education and colleague in the Joseph Smith Papers Project, Steven C. Harper, stated Ashurst-McGee "probably knows the field of documentary editing better than anybody that I know."{{Cite book | author=Harper, Steven C. | author-link=Steven C. Harper | title=The Joseph Smith Papers | work=BYU Education Week | publisher=BYU Broadcasting | date=August 18, 2008 | location=Provo, Utah | format=mp3 | url=http://www.byub.org/talks/Talk.aspx?id=2949 | access-date=2009-08-24}}. 42:55 minutes in.
Mormon studies
In 1999, Ashurst-McGee was an intern in the Church Archives of the LDS Church.{{cite journal | author=Ashurst-McGee, Mark | title=The Josiah Stowell Jr.-John S. Fullmer Correspondence | journal=BYU Studies | volume=38 | issue=3 | year=1999 | pages=108–117 | url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/byustudies,2048 | access-date=2009-02-27}} After his time at ASU, he joined the staff of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History at Brigham Young University. He also worked as an editor for Deseret Book and published articles with the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS){{cite web | title=Mark Ashurst-McGee | work=Authors | publisher=Maxwell Institute | url=http://farms.byu.edu/authors/?authorID=481 | access-date=2009-02-27}} and the Mormon History Association.
When FARMS printed a coordinated critique of Grant H. Palmer's controversial 2002 book, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, Ashurst-McGee wrote one of the five critiques published in the FARMS Review.{{cite journal | title=A One-sided View of Mormon Origins | author=Ashurst-McGee, Mark | journal=FARMS Review | publisher=Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies | year=2003 | volume=15 | issue=2 | url=http://farms.byu.edu/publications/review/?vol=15&num=2&id=513 | access-date=2009-02-27}} The other reviewers were James B. Allen, Davis Bitton, Louis Midgley, and Steven C. Harper.
Ashurst-McGee is a member of the Joseph Smith Papers Project. Along with Richard L. Jensen and Dean C. Jessee, he co-edited the first volume to be published from the series, which was on the early journals of Joseph Smith. Released in 2008, the book became very popular and sold very quickly, prompting expanded additional printings. In 2009, it received the Steven F. Christensen Best Documentary Award (Mormon History Association) and a Special Award in Textual Criticism and Bibliography (Association for Mormon Letters).{{cite web | title=News, Reviews, and Endorsements | date=July 8, 2009 | publisher=The Joseph Smith Papers | url=http://josephsmithpapers.org/News.htm | access-date=2009-08-24 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090928024132/http://josephsmithpapers.org/News.htm | archive-date=September 28, 2009 }} Ashurst-McGee is expected to edit future volumes of Smith's papers.
Work
- {{cite journal
| last=Ashurst-McGee |first=Mark
| title=The Josiah Stowell Jr.-John S. Fullmer Correspondence
| journal=BYU Studies
| volume=38
| issue=3
| year=1999
| pages=108–117
| url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/byustudies,2048
}}
- {{Cite book
| last=Ashurst-McGee |first=Mark
| author-mask=2
| title=A Pathway to Prophethood: Joseph Smith as Rodsman, Village Seer, and Judeo-Christian Prophet
| series=[master's thesis]
| publisher=Utah State University
| year=2000
}}.
- {{cite journal
| last=Ashurst-McGee |first=Mark
| author-mask=2
| title = Moroni: Angel or Treasure Guardian?
| journal = Mormon Historical Studies
| volume = 2
| issue = 2
| date = Fall 2001
| pages = 39–75
}}
- {{cite journal
| last=Ashurst-McGee |first=Mark
| author-mask=2
| title = Mormonism's Encounter with the Michigan Relics
| journal = BYU Studies
| volume = 40
| issue = 3
| year = 2001
| pages = 174–209
| format = PDF
| url = http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/byustudies,4447
}}
- {{cite journal
| title=A One-sided View of Mormon Origins
| last=Ashurst-McGee |first=Mark
| author-mask=2
| journal=FARMS Review
| year=2003
| volume=15
| issue=2
}}
- {{cite journal
| title=Moroni as Angel and as Treasure Guardian
| last=Ashurst-McGee |first=Mark
| author-mask=2
| journal=FARMS Review
| year=2006
| volume=18
| issue=1
}}
- {{cite journal
| last=Ashurst-McGee |first=Mark
| author-mask=2
|author2=Smith, Alex
| title=The Joseph Smith Journals
| journal=Ensign
| date=December 2007
| url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2007/12/the-joseph-smith-journals?lang=eng
}}
- {{Cite book
| last=Ashurst-McGee |first=Mark
| author-mask=2
| title = Zion Rising: Joseph Smith's Early Social and Political Thought
| series = [doctoral dissertation]
| publisher = Arizona State University
| year = 2008
}}
- {{Cite book
| last = Smith
| first = Joseph Jr.
| author-link = Joseph Smith, Jr.
| editor1-last = Jessee
| editor1-first = Dean C.
| editor1-link = Dean C. Jessee
| editor2-last = Ashurst-McGee
| editor2-first = Mark
|editor-mask2=2
| editor3-last = Jensen
| editor3-first = Richard L.
| editor3-link = Richard L. Jensen
| title = Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839
| series = The Joseph Smith Papers
| publisher = Church Historian's Press
| location = Salt Lake City
| year = 2008
| isbn = 978-1-57008-849-0
}}
Notes
{{Reflist|2}}
Sources
- [http://josephsmithpapers.org/projectTeam Biography] at Joseph Smith Papers Project website (accessed May 4, 2012)
- [http://farms.byu.edu/authors/?authorID=481 Maxwell Institute listing]
- [http://db3-sql.staff.library.utah.edu/lucene/Manuscripts/null/Accn1619.xml/complete University of Utah papers listing]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashurst-Mcgee, Mark}}
Category:20th-century Mormon missionaries
Category:American Mormon missionaries in the United States
Category:Arizona State University alumni
Category:Brigham Young University alumni
Category:Brigham Young University staff
Category:Historians of the Latter Day Saint movement
Category:Utah State University alumni