SALEM, Mass. -- "From New England to the Great Salt Lake: The Mormon Legacy of Faith" is the title of a major new commemorative exhibit in the Peabody Essex Museum here, open May 5-Aug. 27, 2000.
The exhibit is a joint effort of the museum and local members who worked together to bring to life this colorful chapter in American history. The exhibit features Joseph Smith's Essex County roots, well as others from Salem and Essex County who became Church leaders.Joseph Smith came to Salem in 1836 to research his family roots and preach in a city already steeped in theological debate and missionary activity. Many of the earliest Church leaders, including Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, were born in New England.
The museum's Phillips Library holds one of only 12 known copies of the fourth-edition printing of the Book of Mormon. The library also contains a letter that Joseph Smith wrote detailing the Church's persecution in Missouri. The exhibit will combine these and other significant texts with artworks, maps and photographs.
Also, the museum and the Church will present re-enactments of important historical events in the early history of the Church inside the museum's historic homes May 6 and June 17.
Visitors will also have an opportunity to use computer workstations and the Phillips Library's own records to trace their family history. The museum's Phillips Library is one of New England's premier research and rare book libraries, with extensive manuscript materials and vintage photographs documenting more than three centuries of American life.