Embodying the pioneers: handcart pioneers, Mormon Trail re-enactments, and sensory history

Abstract

Sensory history provides scholars with a deeper understanding of the past by allowing them to tease out people's visceral experiences. The popularity of re-enactments also points to the value of sensory history. People create deeper connections to the past as they try to physically embody the past. Although there is great value in sensory history as a methodology to historians and those who engage in re-enactments, its use has been limited. By focusing on sensory history, historical accounts can reignite history for those who have turned away from the discipline. It can provide greater detail for those attempting to re-enact historical events. This dissertation calls for professional historians to take sensory history and re-enactments more seriously. The sensory history of the Martin and Willie handcart companies and the attempts to re-enact those events are an excellent case study. Latter-day Saints consider bodily refinement through trials essential for salvation. In October of 1856, two Mormon handcart companies became the quintessential example of enduring suffering to reach God. They became stranded in blizzard-like conditions 60 miles outside Casper, Wyoming at a place called Martin's Cove. Before a rescue party was able to reach them, over two hundred emigrants perished on the Mormon Trail. Today, thousands of young Latter-day Saints (Mormons) return to this place to re-enact their sensory experience for spiritual enlightenment. This dissertation argues that their attempts to recreate the pioneers' bodily experiences allow them to create a deeper connection with the past.