Sample Proposal for Faculty, Student and Independent Scholar Proposals
Sharon Steele
History Department
University of La Sal
La Sal, UT
435-000-0000
ssteele@uls.edu
1. Title of Proposed Project
LDS Church All-Church Basketball Tournament
2. A description of the proposed research question.
From 1922 to 1971, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) sponsored an all-church basketball tournament that brought in teams from throughout the western United States. I am writing my thesis at the University of La Sal on those tournaments. My research questions include: Why did the Church sponsor the basketball tournament? How were teams selected? What was the effects on the boys and men who participated? My preliminary research shows that the Mormons used basketball as a missionary tool and a way to reactivate members. Those who participated credit the program for their church activity.
3. A summary of the project’s relationship to the Intermountain West.
The tournament spans a time period when the LDS Church was a small Intermountain West church. At first all the teams came from that area. Even as the Church grew, the majority of its members and the tournament teams were western. In addition, the Church held all the tournaments in Utah, usually in Salt Lake City. Local newspapers, radio, and television stations carried games. It was the place to be in Salt Lake City each March. The project provides valuable information about how members of a prominent religious group in the Intermountain West used athletics to promote its cause.
4. A summary of the primary sources available and where they are located.
During the 1950s, the Grayson Ward (Blanding, Utah) team went to the all-church tournament six times. I plan to drive to Blanding and interview the team members. The Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University has conducted oral history interviews with basketball tournament participants. I will use the transcripts in Special Collections at BYU. The BYU library also has a complete set of LDS magazines and publications that are not available at my college. While many institutional files are closed at the LDS Church archives in Salt Lake City, there are some circular letters and programs that I will use there.
5. A summary of the secondary literature available.
The only study of Mormon sports is Richard Ian Kimball, Sports in Zion: Mormon Recreation, 1890-1940 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003). My thesis will expand on Kimball’s research by focusing on only basketball and extending past his 1940 cutoff. I will also use studies on the role of sports and religion including Stephen J. Overman, The Influence of the Protestant Ethic on Sport and Recreation (Brookfield, Vermont: Ashgate Publishing Co., 1997).
6. A description of what makes this study unique.
A. Bartlett Giamatti explains in his book, Take Time for Paradise (New York: Summit Books, 1989), 13: "It has long been my conviction that we can learn far more about the conditions, and values, of a society by contemplating how it chooses to play . . . than by examining how it goes about to work." The study of Mormon athletics supports that thesis. Mormons believe that being physically fit strengthens spiritual values and that providing a place for boys and men to play keeps them out of trouble.
7. A summary of the planned use of the research (i.e., publication, presentaiton, exhibit, etc.)
I will use the information to complete my thesis on the LDS Basketball Tournament. I am giving a paper on the subject at the regional Phi Alpha Theta meeting and the Mormon History Association in the spring. The Utah Historical Quarterly has expressed an interest in publishing an article.
8. A detailed budget relating expenses to steps in the research program.
Transportation: $221
Notes: 2 trips from La Sal to Blanding to conduct oral history interviews. I will use my car. My university's standard payment is 32 cents a mile $71 - One trip from La Sal to Provo and Salt Lake City to use interviews, church magazines, and church records, 470 miles round trip @ .32 a mile = $150
Lodging: $280
Notes: I estimate it will take me a week to use the resources in Provo and Salt Lake City. Since there are more materials in provo than Salt Lake and the BYU library is open longer, I will stay there and travel to Salt Lake City one day. I have checked the internet and the best room rate that I can find is a Travelodge for $35 (not including tax) a night, 7 nights @$40 = $280
Per diem: $70
Notes: I will eat out at grovery stores. 7 days @10 a day = $70
Student Wages: $0
Notes: (Only faculty applications can apply for student wages)
Other: $25
List: Xeroxing - to make the best use of my time, I will xerox articles from magazines While it is impossible to know how much xeroxing I will need to do, I think there will approximately 10 pages in each volume of the Improvement Era.
TOTAL: $596
9. Have you been funded by the Redd Center in the past? No
10. Have you already received other funding for this project? No
11. Where else are you applying for funding? The Utah Humanities Council
