David O. McKay
Reid L. Neilson and Carson V. Teuscher (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780252042850
- eISBN:
- 9780252051715
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252042850.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
Departing from Utah, David O. McKay and Hugh J. Cannon began their year-long fact-finding mission on December 4, 1920, traveling northwest by railroad to the deepwater port of Vancouver, Canada. The ...
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Departing from Utah, David O. McKay and Hugh J. Cannon began their year-long fact-finding mission on December 4, 1920, traveling northwest by railroad to the deepwater port of Vancouver, Canada. The two made a stop in the Pacific Northwest to visit church leaders and missionaries serving in Portland and Seattle. Arriving in Vancouver, McKay and Cannon boarded their steamship and spent two weeks at sea. Their journey to Japan was tempestuous at times; McKay tried to relate his ongoing struggle with seasickness in good humor, thinly disguising his discomfort on the high seas. Steamship travel became a staple of their journey; over the following year, McKay and Cannon recorded a travel distance of 37,819 miles by sea—well eclipsing the pair’s mileage by land.Less
Departing from Utah, David O. McKay and Hugh J. Cannon began their year-long fact-finding mission on December 4, 1920, traveling northwest by railroad to the deepwater port of Vancouver, Canada. The two made a stop in the Pacific Northwest to visit church leaders and missionaries serving in Portland and Seattle. Arriving in Vancouver, McKay and Cannon boarded their steamship and spent two weeks at sea. Their journey to Japan was tempestuous at times; McKay tried to relate his ongoing struggle with seasickness in good humor, thinly disguising his discomfort on the high seas. Steamship travel became a staple of their journey; over the following year, McKay and Cannon recorded a travel distance of 37,819 miles by sea—well eclipsing the pair’s mileage by land.
David O. McKay
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780252042850
- eISBN:
- 9780252051715
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252042850.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
The year-long fact-finding mission of Mormon apostle David O. McKay and his traveling companion Hugh J. Cannon to the colonies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was one of the most ...
More
The year-long fact-finding mission of Mormon apostle David O. McKay and his traveling companion Hugh J. Cannon to the colonies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was one of the most significant moments of the twentieth century for Mormonism. Although the contemporary church has grown to become a global presence, the early decades of the last century found missionaries struggling to gain converts abroad. For the church’s leadership, it was a pioneering endeavor to visit, observe, and fellowship with the church’s expanding global constituency in the Pacific. Other general authorities had visited individual church missions at various times—especially across Europe. None, however, had ever circumnavigated the globe, using the Pacific as a focal point of travel. In today’s information age, where such visits occur almost weekly for many senior church leaders, the significance of such an expedition is easy to overlook. When McKay was called in October 1920, no one knew the tour would eventually form many of the most important initiatives he had undertaken when he became church president three decades later. McKay’s rich and vivid account of his and Cannon’s 61,646-mile around-the-world journey illustrates the roots of Mormonism’s globalization. His diary account is without doubt one of the more significant texts in the historical cannon of global Mormon studies.Less
The year-long fact-finding mission of Mormon apostle David O. McKay and his traveling companion Hugh J. Cannon to the colonies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was one of the most significant moments of the twentieth century for Mormonism. Although the contemporary church has grown to become a global presence, the early decades of the last century found missionaries struggling to gain converts abroad. For the church’s leadership, it was a pioneering endeavor to visit, observe, and fellowship with the church’s expanding global constituency in the Pacific. Other general authorities had visited individual church missions at various times—especially across Europe. None, however, had ever circumnavigated the globe, using the Pacific as a focal point of travel. In today’s information age, where such visits occur almost weekly for many senior church leaders, the significance of such an expedition is easy to overlook. When McKay was called in October 1920, no one knew the tour would eventually form many of the most important initiatives he had undertaken when he became church president three decades later. McKay’s rich and vivid account of his and Cannon’s 61,646-mile around-the-world journey illustrates the roots of Mormonism’s globalization. His diary account is without doubt one of the more significant texts in the historical cannon of global Mormon studies.
