Excavating Nauvoo: The Mormons and the Rise of Historical Archaeology in America

3. Interpretive Conflict at Nauvoo

Chapter 3 Interpretive Conflict at Nauvoo It is highly unlikely that the restoration project would have enjoyed broad support at federal, state, and local levels had nri not promoted Nauvoo as a place of significance to American history. The decision to interpret Nauvoo in this way, however, was not universally self-evident to those involved in the restoration project. In fact, from the beginning there existed two interpretive poles that anchored either end of an interpretive spectrum, which was constantly being negotiated by those interested in Nauvoo’s interpretation. On the one hand, there was an effort to place Nauvoo in a strictly secular context, emphasizing its historical significance to America’s past. On the other, there was a desire to interpret the story of Nauvoo in terms of its religious significance to thelds Church. Although both the secular and the religious interpretations were present to some degree in all ofnri’s deliberations, each was emphasized over the other during different periods of the 130 interpretive conflict at nauvoo corporation’s history. Understanding the ways in which the interpretation of Nauvoo changed during this time is key to understanding major events in nri’s later years. Nauvoo: A Base of Westward Expansion The chief proponent of the secular approach to Nauvoo’s interpretation was the National Park Service. The nps had been interested in Nauvoo since at least the late 1930s. Although Nauvoo’s role in the westward expansion of America was recognized at this time, it was not until the late 1950s that this interpretation of the city gained momentum as a result of contemporary developments within the nps. Particularly significant was the Mission 66 program, which sought to renovate the outdated and overtaxed facilities of the national parks in the wake of increased tourism following the Second World War. Among the national parks that benefited from this surge of activity was the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, where nps officials revived their plans to commemorate and interpret America’s westward expansion during the first half of the nineteenth century. Central to these plans was the construction of the Gateway Arch—conceived as a monument to westward expansion—and a modern interpretive facility where this chapter of the nation’s history could be explained to the public.1 It was a logical extension of this renewed emphasis on national parks and the concurrent resurgence of interest in the nation’s westward expansion for the nps to support and encourage the restoration of Nauvoo. From this perspective Nauvoo, like St. Louis, possessed exceptional value in commemorating and illustrating this episode of American history. 131 interpretive conflict at nauvoo Indeed, Nauvoo was the origin of the Mormon Trail, which, together with the Oregon, Santa Fe, and Overland trails, represented what the nps proclaimed to be the major contributing factors in the country’s westward expansion. Furthermore, as Conrad Wirth, director of the nps, remarked in 1962, Nauvoo was unique because “The old historic beginning of the migration from St. Louis . . . is gone but here you have left actually many of the old buildings that existed at the time of the starting West.”2 For all of these reasons, the nps designated Nauvoo a National Historic Landmark in January 1961. In so doing, nps sanctioned and helped cement the secular interpretation of Nauvoo’s significance in the public mind. Nauvoo: A Monument to Mormon History Although some leaders of the lds Church advanced this kind of secular interpretation of Nauvoo in the late 1930s,3 there was strong precedent within the Church to provide a religious interpretation of Nauvoo by the time nri was organized some twenty years later. Beginning in the early twentieth century, the lds Church stationed missionaries at some of its historic sites, with the assignment to interpret the significance of these places in light of the Church’s history and doctrine. In this interpretive framework, the historic sites became monuments to important religious figures and events. Nauvoo was no exception. In fact, in the years preceding and immediately following the organization of nri, the Church operated an information bureau on a portion of the Nauvoo Temple lot, where missionaries interpreted the religious significance of the city, its people, and its structures to visitors. In this perspective, Nauvoo was 132 interpretive conflict at nauvoo a testament to the prophet Joseph Smith and his followers, a grand monument to “a glorious era in Church history.”4...