Last week, the Mormon History Association announced that its 60th annual conference — titled “Junctions & Communities” — will be held in Ogden June 5-8 at the Ogden Eccles Conference Center.

Christine Blythe, executive director of the Mormon History Association, told the Standard-Examiner that the conference, like the organization itself, puts a focus on the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“The Mormon History Association is an academic nonprofit that’s dedicated to studying and understanding all aspects of the Mormon — or Latter-day Saints — past,” she said. “We welcome anyone who has interest in Mormon history. A large portion of our membership, at least those that attend the conference, include historians, academics, public historians, students — both graduate and undergraduate — those working in the public sector, museum curators, librarians — and then we also have a large group of just local public that attend annually.”

Several seminars are planned throughout the conference, including “Indigenous Representation in Mormon Art and Literature,” “The Mormon Military Experience” and “Teaching Mormon History in the K-12 Classroom.” There will also be several special events including a welcome reception the first night of the conference.

This marks the first time the conference has been in Ogden since 1999.

Mormon History Association President Andrea Radke-Moss told the Standard-Examiner said the conference was attracted to Ogden once again because of its rich past.

“We’re really excited to come back to Ogden — it has a great conference center, hotels and was a really great location for us,” she said. “But also because of the diversity of Ogden’s history. We were really fascinated with all of the unique elements of Ogden’s history.”

She said the conference usually draws around 600 attendees each year.

Blythe said a return to Ogden is very fitting.

“We have some great early Latter-day Saints that helped settle the area, both men and women,” she said. “But there’s also this great diversity in Ogden.”

Radke-Moss said there’s an element to the conference that goes well beyond just talking about the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“Our community is pretty close-knit,” she said. “A lot of these scholars have known each other for many, many years. Many have been to graduate school together. Many teach or work together. There’s kind of a shared community around the Mormon History Association, so I think a lot of people really love to come because it’s kind of like a family reunion in some ways. There’s that social-personal element.”

Registration for the conference is open along with registration for several special activities. Special events require registration ahead of time, while attendees can register for the conference itself all the way up to the day of it.

For more information, visit https://tinyurl.com/32j4ptnr.