This is the web site of Connell O'Donovan. Born in 1961 in Syracuse, Utah, I have lived in Santa Cruz, California since 1994, and consider Santa Cruz as my home. I am an administrator at UC Santa Cruz, and am currently working on a biography of William Smith, the youngest brother of Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith.
Below are most of my research/writing projects:
- GLBT Mormon History (1840-1980)
- "I would confine them to their own species": LDS Historical Rhetoric & Praxis Regarding Marriage Between Whites and Blacks - (on interracial marriage as a precedent for same-sex marriage)
- My essays on being Gay, being Mormon, and/or Gay spirituality (and misc.)
- The Etiology of Homosexuality from Authoritative Latter-day Saint Perspectives, 1879-2006
- Affirmation: Singing the Songs of Our Redemption, 1977-2007 - (my keynote speech in honor of Affirmation's 30th birthday celebration in Salt Lake)
- Queer Nation Utah Archives (1990-1992) - under construction
- Biographies of Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Mormons
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Patriarch (1899-1964)
- Mildred "Barry" Berryman (1901-1945)
- Dr. Leona Holbrook (1909-1980)
- Dr. Joel Dorius: The Accidental Activist (1919-2006)
- Musings from 2008 apropos of Proposition 8 in California:
- For Gordon Ray Church on the 30th anniversary of his murder
- Labyrinths, Lipstick and Angels
- Milk and Twinkies
- Save Our (Gay) Children
Mormons in the Lowell, Mass. Branch (1835-1860)Mormons of the Boston, Mass. Branch (1835-1860)
William Smith's Elders' Pocket Companion of November 1844 (Boston) - PDF
Michael Hull Barton's 192 page Something new: comprising a new and perfect alphabet containing forty distinct characters, etc. (origin of the Mormon phonetic "Deseret Alphabet"?) 192-page PDF
JPEG Images of Barton's Phonetic Alphabet: Page One, Page Two
Research on Elder Q. Walker Lewis (1798-1856) & the Extensive Genealogy of His Family (1700-1920)The Life and Murder of Thomas Coleman in Theocratic Utah (1831-1866) - PDF
"I would confine them to their own species": LDS Historical Rhetoric & Praxis Regarding Marriage Between Whites and Blacks
Two Black Mormon Revolutionary War veterans in the Nauvoo area:
- Cato Treadwell of Wilton, CT & Nauvoo, IL
- Cato Mead of Norwich, CT & Montrose, IA
Transcriptions of Isaac Sheen and William Smith's Melchisedek & Aaronic Herald newspaper (Feb 1849 - April 1850), including biographies of the two men
William Smith's Elders' Pocket Companion of November 1844 (Boston) - PDF
