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Joseph,
Joseph, Joseph
The Temple Has Returned to Nauvoo - Essay 1
A
Photographic Essay by Scot Facer Proctor
"How long,
oh Joseph, mighty Prophet of the Restoration, for this House to
return to the earth? Over 57,000 sunsets have passed and the temple
has been, as it were, resurrected on the brow of the hill overlooking
the horseshoe bend of the gentle Mississippi River. 'Dear Lord,'
you would pray during your mortal sojourn, 'let thy servant Joseph
see this House completed, and thy servant shall be happy.' Now,
Joseph, you whom all of us call brother: The Temple rests once again
upon the hill and you may gaze upon it in happiness as we do".
Read
it...
 Joseph,
Joseph, Joseph
The Temple Has Returned to Nauvoo - Essay 2
A
Photographic Essay by Scot Facer Proctor
Come with us
on a walking tour of the inside of the temple. How shall I describe
the feeling of walking into the Nauvoo Temple for the first time?
What would it have been like to be there with my ancestors in the
days of Nauvoo's early times?
Part
1 | Part
2 | Part
3 | Part
4
Joseph,
Joseph, Joseph
The Temple Has Returned to Nauvoo - Essay 3
A
Photographic Essay by Scot Facer Proctor
In April of 1999,
when President Hinckley announced that the Nauvoo Temple would be
rebuilt, some say they heard an audible gasp in the tabernacle.
Across the church, wherever people were gathered around a TV screen
listening, the amazement echoed in tears and hugs and near disbelief.
Rebuilding the Nauvoo Temple meant so much more than putting stone
upon stone; it was a message about loss and resurrection, about
a driven people arising from the ashes to reclaim the vision.
Part
1
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2 | Part
3 | Part
4
Joseph,
Joseph, Joseph
The Temple Has Returned To Nauvoo - Essay 4
Text
by Maurine Jensen Proctor
Photography by Scot Facer Proctor
How did the people
of Nauvoo see their magnificent temple? They had to lift their eyes.
For the temple was built on a hill, visible from a distance--and
most of them lived in the flats, their wooden and brick homes lining
roads on the square, not far from the river.
Part
1
| Part 2
| Part 3
 Remembering
the Martyrdom:
Eyewitnesses of that Fateful Day in June, 1844
A
Photographic Essay by Scot Facer Proctor
Even the coldest
heart is moved by the events that took place in the Carthage Jail
in June, 1844. The following accounts are given to paint a picture
of some of the feelings that surround that fateful day in June of
1844.
Read
it...
 Nauvoo
Temple Photo Essay-mid October 2001
"Looking From the Outside In"
A
Photographic Essay by Scot Facer Proctor
I just happened
to be in Nauvoo a few days ago and decided to do a quick photo documentation
for you to show the progress of the temple construction. I think
you will be excited to see the temple from various angles and see
some close-ups and distant shots as well. Read
it...
 Through
the Camera Lens: The People at Nauvoo—Like Walking the Streets
of Zion
A
Photographic Essay by Scot Facer Proctor
Being in Nauvoo
these past few days was truly a heavenly experience. There was a
oneness of heart and a unity of love that I have seldom felt in
a community anywhere in the world. As we walked down the streets
we would run into old friends, spot various General Authorities,
see members of the Tabernacle Choir and just see a mixture of Latter-day
Saints from every clime. Read
it...
 Through
the Camera Lens: A Compensation for Their Tears—The Dedication
of the Nauvoo Temple
A
Photographic Essay by Maurine Jensen Proctor and Scot Facer Proctor
When the
Nauvoo Temple was dedicated June 27 at 6:00 PM, it was the very
hour and the very day that Joseph and Hyrum Smith were murdered
in Carthage Jail 158 years before. (We know the very hour because
John Taylor's watch was stopped by a bullet at 5:16:26, and it was
before Daylight Savings). Read
it...
 Through
the Camera Lens: Gordon B. Hinckley in Nauvoo, June 27, 2002
A
Photographic Essay by Maurine Jensen Proctor and Scot Facer Proctor
No one
felt more intently the meaning or significance of the day than Gordon
B. Hinckley. He was in his element. Deeply moved in one moment,
funny in the next, he showed the range of his nature, the fervor
of his feelings. He had chosen this day, June 27, for its historical
meaning. As he told the crowd at the coverstone ceremony, "This
was Joseph's temple."
Read
it...
 Through
the Camera Lens: The Coverstone Ceremony
A
Photographic Essay by Maurine Jensen Proctor and Scot Facer Proctor
Traditionally,
putting on a temple capstone is the crowning moment of construction
that announces about the exterior structure, “We are there.” In
the recent temple dedications, however, that moment is replaced
by a coverstone ceremony with the placing of a time capsule in the
corner of the temple and then cementing a stone cover over it. Read
it...
 Through
the Camera Lens: The Dawning of a New Day in Nauvoo
A
Photographic Essay by Scot Facer Proctor
I never
tire of Nauvoo. Something about the very name seems to excite the
DNA. Capturing Nauvoo on film and digital images has been easy because
long ago Nauvoo captured my heart. Read
it...
Remembering
at the Smith Family Cemetery in Nauvoo
by
Maurine and Scot Proctor
On June 27,
2002, in a blaze of noon sun, a crowd gathered at the Smith family
cemetery at the Mississippi River's edge in Nauvoo to remember that
day 158 years ago when Joseph and Hyrum were murdered at Carthage.
Present were President Gordon B. Hinckley, Elder M. Russell Ballard
of the Twelve, and President W. Grant McMurray, President of the
Community of Christ (formerly the RLDS Church). Read
it...
Angel’s
View of Nauvoo
Aerial
Photography be Dennis Davis
Text
of Legend by Scot Facer Proctor
Meridian reader
John Marsh sent us this wonderful aerial photograph of Nauvoo taken
recently by Dennis Davis. We thought you would like to get an ‘angel’s
view of Nauvoo’ with a brief orientation through the legend
below. So many of you have been to Nauvoo or have an intense interest
in it, here is a fun angle you may not have been able to take with
your point-and-shoot. Read
it...
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Rebuilding
the Nauvoo Temple:
Meticulous Attention to Historical Detail
On a blistering
August day in 1948, two missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints felt compelled to stop at a remote house in
California's Mojave Desert. The house belonged to Leslie Griffin.
Although Griffin was not affiliated with the Church, he told the
missionaries that his grandfather was William Weeks, the architect
of the original Latter-day Saint temple in Nauvoo, Illinois, that
had been forcibly abandoned at the height of anti-Mormon sentiment
there in 1846. Read
it...
 The
Spirit in the Pegs and Panes:
Chuck Allen Handcrafts the Windows of the Nauvoo Temple
It was a Chuck
Allen honed in suffering, turned back to woodworking in a desperate
hour, and awakened to the Spirit, then, who took on the difficult
job of crafting the Nauvoo temple windows. It has been from the
beginning a meticulous process, involving finding solutions to problems
unfolding before him each day. A man less attuned to the Spirit
might have faltered. Read
it...
The
Artists Who Painted the Nauvoo Murals
Shortly after
the Nauvoo reconstruction was announced in April of 1999, the interior
designers in the temple construction department. decided to revive
the practice of putting murals in the the world room, the celestial
room, and the garden rooms. Meridian shares a behind-the-scenes
look at the mural artists and their work. Read
it...
Meridian
Interviews Nauvoo Temple Architect
Roger
Jackson was the principal in charge of the architectural team for
the Nauvoo Temple, representing FFKR firm from Salt Lake City.
Our
Days Renewed as of Old: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Nauvoo
“Turn
thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days
as of old.” —Lamentations 5:21
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Sacred
Stone: Building the Kingdom
In the winter
of 1839, nearly five thousand men, women, and children straggled into
Quincy, Illinois, having been threatened with extermination by the
Governor of Missouri, the state next door. Many had lost their homes
and farms; some had lost their loved ones. They left behind their
beloved prophet, Joseph Smith, and a handful of his close associates
in a dungeon called Liberty Jail. In April he and the others would
be allowed to "escape" and Joseph would make his way to Illinois to
join his people. Read
it...
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 Sacred
Stone: The Temple at Nauvoo
No other
story in American religious history can match the drama of the
Mormon effort to build the kingdom of God on earth. The near
completion of the Nauvoo Temple in 1845 and the Saints' experiences
within its walls represented "the beginning of a new era.
. . . the beginning of a homeward journey.
Read
it...
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 Sacred
Stone: Distinctive Features of the Nauvoo Temple Stone: The
Temple at Nauvoo
The intended
structure was massive by most standards and certainly far exceeded
any building effort underway for hundreds of miles. Joseph Smith
selected young architect William Weeks to design the temple
but retained the role as chief architect. At one point, the
two clashed regarding the design of round windows in the broad
side of the building. Weeks contended that the windows should
be semicircular—that the building was not tall enough to
accommodate round windows. Joseph Smith summarily dismissed
his objection: "I wish you to carry out my designs. I have
seen in vision the splendid appearance of that building illuminated,
and will have it built according to the pattern shown me."
Read
it...
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Sacred
Stone: City for Sale
“It
is ironic that the Saints spent five years building the temple
and then just six weeks receiving their endowments and blessing
and then walked away from it. But they did it willingly because
they had received those blessings, and Brigham Young promised
them that they would build even a grander temple out there in
the wilderness when they got there to the new gathering place,”
said Dr. Glen M. Leonard.
Read
it...
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 Sacred
Stone: Come After Us
Exiled, they had only one place to go—across the river into the territory of Iowa—and west. It was a wild, untamed land, with few roads or settlements. The Mormons asked James Clarke, Iowa Territorial Governor, to grant them safe passage. Unlike Governor Boggs of Missouri and Governor Ford of Illinois, whose anti-Mormon positions caused the near collapse of the Church, Governor Clarke promised them safety and fulfilled his pledge.
Read
it...
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