PARENT DIRECTORY:

Restoring the Gospel: Artifacts of my personal experiences within the Latter Day Saints' Restoration Movement; including web presentations focused on its history and scriptures. Site hosted by Dale R. Broadhurst. The Parent Directory includes the following Two Home Pages: The "Old" Spalding Studies Home Page   (detailed below)
Restoration Scriptures   (permanently removed)

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THIS HOME PAGE:

The Spalding Studies Home Page - Introduction -
This is the "front door" into The Spalding Studies Home Page (SSHP). By following the links from this page you will find out who the Rev. Solomon Spalding (1761-1816) was and why I've developed a web-page devoted to the study of his life, times, and works.

Site visitors who just wish to briefly scan some introductory information on Solomon Spalding was -- without navigating through all the site links -- can find some quick answers here: 1. FAQ's on Spalding Studies
2. Solomon Spalding: A Brief Biographical Sketch
    Not a long biography -- just a little info to get started.
3. Statement in the Handwriting of Solomon Spalding
    His thoughts religion, morality, & human nature.


The SSHP Introduction Page Side Bar Window Includes: 4. Site Map   (you are here)

5. Spalding Links
      External Links to Many Spalding-related Web-Pages  and...
      Internal Links to SSHP Features and Resources, such as: 5a. Vernal Holley Materials
      1.  B of M Authorship: A Closer Look
               2nd. ed. (1989): B of M- Spalding parallels, etc.
      2.  B of M Authorship: Supplements


5b. Dale R. Broadhurst Materials

      1.  Spalding Studies & Reviews
               see #7 below for the active link to this section
      2.  Broadhurst Papers at Marriott Library
               resources in this catalog will eventually be listed
               in detail and cross-linked to quotes, transcripts,
               lists, tables & indices appearing in The Spalding
               Studies Home Page web-documents and the on-line
               materials at the Spalding Research Project -- for
               not yet linked examples see "The Library," below
      3.  Spalding Research Project (SRP)
               started in 1979, suspended in 1982, and recently
               resumed at a sister site; SRP products include
               research notes, papers, experimental presentations,
               and other pre-publication Spalding materials --
               the SRP files are cross-linked to information on
               the Spalding Studies Home Page sub-pages.

6. The Library (html and text files)
    a section where on-line or downloadable public domain
    texts that are relative to Spalding Studies may be accessed
    ex.: Unpublished 1833 Letter by a Conneaut Witness

7. FAQ, News, & Notes (post messages)
    includes an electronic bulletin-board where messages,
    news, notes, site update info, and such can be posted
    ex.: Broadhurst statement on Spalding - B of M textual resemblance

8. The Spalding History Page
    includes a biographical sketch of Spalding -- along with a
    sub-page on Spalding Genealogical Notes, etc.
    ex.: Solomon Spalding: A Brief Biographical Sketch
    ex.: Genealogy of Solomon Spalding and his wife, Matilda D. Sabin

9. Spalding Studies Reviews
    a section for reviews of books and journal articles relating
    to Rev. Solomon Spalding, his writings, or the Spalding
    Authorship Theory for the Book of Mormon
    ex.: Review of the Tanners' 1977 book on the Spalding Theory
    ex.: Review of Wm. H. Whitsitt's "Sidney Rigdon biography"

A bit of Information about
the Spalding Studies Site Host
( Dale R. Broadhurst )

I've put together this set of web-pages with a certain amount of hesitation -- not so much because of the nature of their subject matter, but because I value my privacy and have always had an aversion to calling attention to myself. Perhaps this feeling comes from my having grown up as an outsider in the very close-knit society of small-town Idaho during the early second half of the 1900's. Though not a member of the locally predominant church myself, I was always interested in the stories those Mormons told of my ancestor, Samuel Thomas Winegar, who joined their ranks near Kirtland, Ohio in 1833. He and his family lived in the mission field frequented by Elder D. Philatus Hurlbut, the Mormon missionary who discovered and publicized the "Spalding Story." Samuel was also a neighbor of Elder Benjamin Winchester, the first Mormon author to write extensively on the Spalding Authorship Theory for the Book of Mormon. Coming from the same area where Spalding wrote his tales, and from the same time and place where the "Spalding Story" first appeared, some members of my family have always held an interest in this historical oddity, myself included.

In 1979 I entered the Methodist Theological School in Ohio and became the second RLDS (Reorganized Latter Day Saint) ever to attend the seminary and the first to graduate with a Masters degree (in 1981). While there I spent some time at nearby Oberlin College and was able to examine the old Spalding romance manuscript in the Oberlin Archives. That study developed into the subject of my Masters' project and I later presented some professional papers on the textual similarities of the romance with the Book of Mormon.

Putting my research notes and papers aside, I then left the USA to serve a non-proselytizing "mission" as an educational volunteer in South Asia & the Pacific. While working in Nepal, I completed the donation process to have my research papers put on file at the Marriott Library in Utah.  Following my adventures in Nepal I spent a short time with the RLDS missionary in Osaka, Japan -- then moved on with another Osaka RLDS elder to do work in Taipei, Taiwan. This endeavor eventually extended into Micronesia. My overseas mission continued until 1997, when I retired from my duties as an academic researcher on a small Pacific island and moved to Hawaii. I now live with my wife, Elizabeth, in the town of Hilo, a half-hour away from my grandchildren and light years away from the hectic world of 21st century life.

Although I'm disabled and no longer gainfully employed, I find that I have some spare time now to put my old research papers in order and I've recently decided to make some of the more interesting bits and pieces available on the web. The pace I've set in initiating and updating The Spalding Studies Home Page and its sister site, the Spalding Research Project, is decidedly relaxed.  Some of the web-pages here may gather some dust while I ignore them and go off to do other things. Much of what you'll see presented here will be preliminary postings of my texts and graphics; and they will evolve, expand, move about, and perhaps even disappear for a while if the "page under construction" notices get a bit too thick.  It has always been my eventual plan to turn the whole "Spalding Project" over to other hands. Considering my current progressive health deterioration, I hope that can happen in the near future -- then I'll just sit back and see what others can develop, without having to write the papers and hack out the html myself.

Dale
(6/24/98)

ps:
Here's an old photo taken during my research days at the seminary.