Marvin S. Hill

Marvin Sidney Hill (1928–2016) was a professor of American history at Brigham Young University (BYU) and a historian of the Latter Day Saint movement.

Marvin S. Hill
Born
Marvin Sidney Hill

(1928-08-28)August 28, 1928
DiedJuly 27, 2016(2016-07-27) (aged 87)
Pleasant Grove, Utah, US
Spouse
Lila Foster
​
(m. 1953)​
Academic background
Alma mater
ThesisThe Role of Christian Primitivism in the Origin and Development of the Mormon Kingdom, 1830–1844 (1968)
Doctoral advisorMartin E. Marty
Academic work
DisciplineHistory
Sub-discipline
School or traditionNew Mormon history
InstitutionsBrigham Young University

Biography

Born on August 28, 1928, Hill completed his Master of Arts in history at BYU in 1955.[1] He received a PhD in American intellectual history from the University of Chicago in 1968 and studied under Martin E. Marty[2] and wrote his dissertation on Christian primitivism and Mormonism.[3] Hill attended the University of Chicago at the same time as Dallin H. Oaks, and their mutual interest in the murder of the Mormon founder Joseph Smith in Illinois led to a ten-year research effort. Together, they published the book Carthage Conspiracy: The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith in 1975 while both were working at BYU, Hill as a professor of history and Oaks as the president of BYU.[4] It won the Mormon History Association's best book award for 1976.

Hill was a professor of American history at BYU starting in the 1960s.[5] In 1972, he took leave from BYU to accept a post-doctoral research fellowship at Yale University.[6] He has also served as president of the Mormon History Association and on the board of editors of the Journal of Mormon History.[7]

In Mormon studies, Hill was a well-known proponent of the new Mormon history[8] and advocated a "middle ground" approach that did not seek to describe Mormonism as authentic or fraudulent.[9]

Hill married Lila Foster in 1953. They had six children and lived in Provo, Utah.[10] He was the brother of Donna Hill (1921–2007), the author of the noted 1977 biography Joseph Smith, the First Mormon.[11][12] He died in Pleasant Grove, Utah, on July 27, 2016.

Awards

Writings

Books
  • Hill, Marvin S.; Allen, James B., eds. (1972). Mormonism and American Culture. Interpretations of American History. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-042819-8.
  • Oaks, Dallin H.; Hill, Marvin S. (1975). Carthage Conspiracy: The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-00554-6.
  • Hill, Marvin S.; C. Keith Rooker; Larry T. Wimmer (1977). The Kirtland Economy Revisited: A Market Critique of Sectarian Economics. Studies in Mormon History. Vol. 3. Provo, Utah: BYU Press. ISBN 0-8425-1230-6. Published concurrently in BYU Studies 17.
  • Hill, Marvin S. (1989). Quest for Refuge: The Mormon Flight from American Pluralism. Salt Lake City: Signature Books. ISBN 0-941214-70-2.
  • Smith, Joseph, Jr. (1995). Marvin S. Hill (ed.). The Essential Joseph Smith. Classics in Mormon Thought. Vol. 4. Salt Lake City: Signature Books. ISBN 0-941214-71-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Articles

Other

References
  1. Hill, Marvin S. (1955), An Historical Study of the Life of Orson Hyde: Early Mormon Missionary and Apostle From 1805-1852, MA thesis, Provo, Utah: Department of History, Brigham Young University
  2. Marty, Martin E. (June 7–14, 1989). "Sophisticated Primitives Then, Primitive Sophisticates Now". The Christian Century. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  3. Hill, Marvin S. (June 1968), The Role of Christian Primitivism in the Origin and Development of the Mormon Kingdom, 1830-1844, PhD dissertation, Department of History, University of Chicago, retrieved 2010-02-24
  4. Oaks, Dallin (May 1996). "Joseph, the Man and the Prophet". Ensign: 71. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  5. Hill, Marvin S. (Spring 1969). "The Shaping of the Mormon Mind in New England and New York" (PDF). BYU Studies. 9 (3): 351–72. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  6. "Notes on Contributors". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 7 (2): 105–107. Winter 1972. doi:10.2307/45224375. JSTOR 45224375. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  7. Hill, Marvin S. (1975). "Quest for Refuge: An Hypothesis as to the Social Origins and Nature of the Mormon Political Kingdom". Journal of Mormon History. 2: 3–20. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  8. Bohn, David Earle (1992). "Unfounded Claims and Impossible Expectations: A Critique of New Mormon History". In George D. Smith (ed.). Faithful History: Essays on Writing Mormon History. Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books. ISBN 1-56085-007-8. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  9. Midgley, Louis (1992). "The Acids of Modernity and the Crisis in Mormon Historiography". In George D. Smith (ed.). Faithful History: Essays on Writing Mormon History. Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books. ISBN 1-56085-007-8. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  10. Hill, Marvin S. (1989). Quest for Refuge: The Mormon Flight from American Pluralism (Dust jacket: About the Author). Salt Lake City: Signature Books. ISBN 0-941214-70-2. Retrieved 2010-02-23.
  11. Hill, Donna (1977). Joseph Smith, the First Mormon. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday. p. xii. ISBN 0-385-00804-X.
  12. Hill, Marvin S. (1989). "Acknowledgments". Quest for Refuge: The Mormon Flight from American Pluralism. Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books. Archived from the original on 2010-01-16. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  13. "MHA Awards Summary" (PDF). Mormon History Association. 2008. Retrieved 2010-02-25.
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