Brigham Young: Images of a Mormon Prophet By Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, R. Q. Shupe Eagle Gate, BYU Religious Studies Center, 2000. Hardback: 314 pages. ISBN: 1-57008-625-7
Reviewed by: Randall Larsen

I thought I saw Brigham Young in the audience at the recent International Lion's Club parade here in Honolulu. The man I spoke to looked exactly like the images in Holzapfel's and Shupe's book. Well of course it really wasn't Brigham Young , yet after having spent many hours perusing Images of a Mormon Prophet and reading the well chosen descriptions of Brother Brigham included in the book-I felt I should recognize President Young if he were to suddenly appear in the flesh.

Holzapfel and Shupe ambitiously attempt to gather together "all the known paintings and photographic images of Brigham from his lifetime" (1). In addition the authors have also collected a representative sample of graphic images of Brigham including some satiric political cartoons. The book is divided into three sections. First, the book presents "an overview of Brigham Young's life from 1801 to 1848." Second, the author's include and introductory essay "Now We See but a Poor Reflection." The first two sections motivate the main body of the book which consists of the author's impressive collection of images. Without this setting of the stage I fear the reader would wonder why such a project was undertaken. After seeing ten picures of Brigham at various ages, what is to be gained by viewing the whole family album?

I suspect one reason why we delight in viewing numerous images of Brigham is the lack of a similar collection of images of the Prophet Joseph. Only one possible Daguerreotype image of Joseph is thought to exist and that appears to be substantially retouched. In Brigham's case the images are relatively plentiful. The question is how to make each image interesting.

Perhaps a comment on the photo session will bring the images alive. Did the photographer stop to straighten Brigham's tie and refine his pose from image 87 to image 88 (238)? This is not a good strategy since perhaps no one cares what happened at a photo session.

The author's major hunch is that the reader will find the provenance of a photo or painting interesting . How was the image made? Who made it? How was the image preserved to our day? When considered in this way, each image has its own story to tell. The stories are fascinating and they perhaps raise questions that may be answered by readers. What happened to the painting of Brigham that "hung in the Lion House well into the twentieth century" (84)? Is there an existant copy of the bust made of Brigham by a visiting italian sculptor Pietro Mezzara? (306). Was Brigham ever photographed by Matthew Brady?(3).

Since I am a former Hollywood director of photography, I love the old images for their technical features. The book includes generous descriptions of obscure imaging processes such as the Hand Colored Daguerreotypes, the Ambrotype, and the Chromolithograph.

Another interesting feature of the book is the wide variety of written descriptions of Brigham and his character that are included. The opinions vary from enlightened to depraved.

Some useful chonologies of Brigham's life are included along with some rare photos of Brigham's wives and associates. You might see a resemblance in some of the images to your own contemporaries. I was amazed for example how much Marcellus Snow, a descendant of Erastus Snow resembles his forebearer.

The author's book shows a historian's care for accuracy. Controversial issues such as how Brigham Young really died are skirted; however, there is no attempt to cover up evidence that the cause of death might not have been a "broken appendix." I was gratified to note that on page 296 the authors carefully note that the penciled notation "appendix broke" in Seymour Young 's diary was "[added later:]." This is significant because of Sam Taylor 's claim that Brigham Young was poisoned. Sam Taylor wrote:

In his journal of 24 August 1877, five days before Brigham's death, there is a penciled notation in Seymour Young's journal: "appendix broke."

How did he know? This proves that Brigham Young's death was due to a ruptured appendix, doesn't it?

Well, what is remarkable about that notation is that in 1877 a ruptured appendix was not known to be a cause of peritonitis, called at that time "inflammation of the bowels." In fact, it wasn't until 1886, nine years later, that Reginold Fitz, professor of pathogenic anatomy at Harvard, gave the pioneer paper on the subject. [Sunstone 15:3/16 (Sep 91)].

In my opinion Sam is probably right; however, I think the issue was wisely avoided by the authors in what at first glance appears to be a Postumr table picture book.

The book merits a careful reading because it does grant new insights into the character of a man who had a great deal to do with setting the course of the church in the 19th century.

Brigham is still with us in many ways. Now we can have his images in our living room.