Template:Did you know nominations/Death in 19th-century Mormonism

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The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Yoninah (talk) 22:47, 15 November 2020 (UTC)

Death in 19th-century Mormonism

Death masks of Joseph and Hyrum Smith
Death masks of Joseph and Hyrum Smith
  • ... that death in 19th-century Mormonism involved making plaster death masks (pictured) to remember the deceased? Source: "For some, death masks filled the void. These plaster casts ... played the role ... of capturing the dead forever" ([1])
    • ALT1:... that death in 19th-century Mormonism involved keeping locks of hair, death masks (pictured), or coffin canes to remember the deceased? Source: "Hair ... was a portable memorial ... death masks ... played the role ... of capturing the dead forever ... the coffins used to transport the bodies of Joseph Smith Jr. and Hyrum in 1844 became canes" ([2])

Created by Cstickel(byu) (talk). Self-nominated at 21:08, 30 October 2020 (UTC).

  • I will be claiming this for review and hope to finish it within the next few days (as the article is fairly long, the checks could take a while). For now, the focus is on the two proposed hooks. ALT1 is somewhat more unusual as death masks (the focus of ALT0) weren't unique to Mormons and indeed have been relatively common historically; meanwhile, coffin canes seem more unusual (indeed I have personally never heard of them before). As the sources are mostly offline, I am assuming good faith on their reliability; nevertheless the hooks are cited appropriately inline. As a possible alternative option, perhaps a hook about the "beautiful death" practice could also be proposed, as that appears to be more distinctively Mormon and perhaps unusual in relation to present practices of other cultures. Narutolovehinata5 tccsdnew 02:57, 1 November 2020 (UTC)
  • Proposing ALT2:... that death in 19th-century Mormonism involved the desire for a slow, dramatic, "beautiful death" with plenty of witnesses? Source: "By modern standards, these scenes would appear crowded, but such was the desired norm: one of the greatest fears of Americans traveling westward was the thought that they would die without an audience...Such foreknowledge of death was vital to allow the dying to achieve the requisite calm in the face of death. The deathbed script could not be initiated without forewarning." ([3])
  • Or ALT3:... that death in 19th-century Mormonism involved making canes from the wood of coffins to remember the deceased? Source: "The coffins used to transport the bodies of Joseph Jr. and Hyrum in 1844 became canes" ([4])
Cstickel(byu) (talk) 18:58, 5 November 2020 (UTC)
  • Article is new enough, long enough, and adequately sourced. It is free from close paraphrasing, and the hooks are cited inline. AGF on their reliability since they're offline. QPQ has been done. ALT0 has been struck as death masks are not an LDS-specific practice. ALT1, ALT2, and ALT3 are all approved as suitable; the final choice of hook is left to the promoter. The image is properly licensed but is only suitable for ALT1. Narutolovehinata5 tccsdnew 10:33, 7 November 2020 (UTC)