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William Mulder

Birth & Formation

• Born in Haarlem, Netherlands, 24 June 1915
• parents emigrated to US in 1920 after joining the Church.
• Lived in NJ for 6 years
• Arrived in Utah in 1926
• 1935-1937 Holland mission
• At U of U wrote for undergraduate publications, the Chronicle, Pen, and Utonian.
• 1940 - Graduated from U of U with BA in English. elected Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Beta Kappa.
• communications officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve on Okinawa during World War II
• Returned to U of U for MA in English, earned 1947.
• Joined U of U English faculty
• Ph.D. studies at Harvard, awarded 1955 "with distinction", interdisciplinary program History of American Civilization.
• Ph.D. dissertation: Homeward to Zion: The Mormon Migration from Scandinavia [University of Minnesota Press (1957)]

Personal Life

• 1938 md Gweneth Gibbs Gates -- later divorced
• 1961 md Helen Louise Thomson Smith
• 1993 31 yo son died in automobile accident

Professional Life

• Continued teaching at U of U while earning Ph.D. -- until 1987 (40 years)
• Director of Graduate Studies in the English Department
• One of founders of U of U's Institute for American Studies and of its Center for Intercultural Studies (now Middle East Center)
• 1957 - Fulbright scholar at Osmania University in India teaching American literature
• 1965-1968 Director of American Studies Research Center in Hyderabad, India, which he developed
• 1970s introduced then-groundbreaking courses in African American literature, American Indian literature, and ethnic minority literature.
• 1979-1982 Returned as Director of American Studies Research Center in Hyderabad, India
• member of the American Studies Advisory Committee for the Fulbright program,
• served on the advisory board of the National Council on International Exchange of Scholars for Fulbright awards in American Studies.
• secretary-treasurer of the American Literature Section of the Modern Language Association,
• editor of the "Western Humanities Review", and was president of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters
• advisory board of the former Weber Studies
• visiting professor at BYU, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Washington, Sonoma State College, and Duke University.
• president of the Utah Academy (in retirement)
• Boards of Reynolds Association, the Maud May Babcock Reading Arts Society, Broadway Stage, Wasatch Westerners, Weber Studies, Dialogue, and Friends of the U of U Marriott Library (chair 1993-95).

Publications

• Homeward to Zion: The Mormon Migration from Scandinavia [University of Minnesota Press (1957)]
• Among the Mormons: Historic Accounts by Contemporary Observers, originally published by A.A. Knopf

Mormon Life

• Swearing Elders
• Later left church saying "the trouble with various theologies is that they build walls around things that should be open."

Honors

• delivered the Reynolds distinguished faculty lecture in 1957 ("The Mormons in American History")
• 1977 U of U Faculty Distinguished Teaching Award
• 1987 Charles Redd Award in the Humanities from the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters Award.
• 1989 U of U Alumni Association Award of Merit.
• 1998 the first Fellow of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters.
• 1999 Honorary Doctorate, University of Utah.
• 1999 Governor's Award in the Humanities from the Utah Humanities Council,
• 2005 Cathedral of the Madeleine Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts and Humanities.

From Archives West Historical note on Mulder: (work on citation -- http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv79547 )) William Mulder (1915-2008) was born on 24 June 1915 in Haarlem, Netherlands. His family emigrated to America in 1920, as a result of his family's conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After having lived in New Jersey for six years, the Mulders moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1940 William Mulder graduated from the University of Utah with a B.A. degree in English. Following service in the U.S. Army during World War II, Bill returned to the University of Utah where in 1947 he earned a M.A. in English and became a faculty member in the English department. Mulder continued his graduate studies at Harvard University receiving his Ph.D. in 1955 in an interdisciplinary program called the History of American Civilization. His doctoral dissertation entitled Homeward to Zion: The Mormon Migration from Scandinavia was published by the University of Minnesota Press (1957) and was acclaimed as a pioneer work in the field of American immigration history. Teaching at the University of Utah from 1947 to 1987, Mulder was instrumental in the founding of the U of U's Institute for American Studies and the establishment of the Center for Intercultural Studies. His administrative talents and scholarly achievements were recognized on numerous occasions. Subsequent to teaching American literature as a 1957 Fulbright scholar at Osmania University in India, Professor Mulder served as Director of the American Studies Research Center in Hyderabad, India, during 1965-1968 and 1979-1982. Indian specialists in American literature composed a festschrift (1976) honoring Professor Mulder's contributions to the promotion of American Studies in India. Active in several national and state scholarly organizations, Bill was a member of the American Studies Advisory Committee for the Fulbright program, served as the secretary-treasurer of the American Literature Section of the Modern Language Association, was editor of the "Western Humanities Review", and was president of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. Among his many honors were the 1977 U of U Distinguished Teaching Award, the 1987 Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters Award in the Humanities, the 1989 U of U Alumni Association Award of Merit, the 1999 Governor's Award in the Humanities from the Utah Humanities Council, and the 2005 Cathedral of the Madeleine Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts and Humanities.

Biographical interview in Leaving the Fold (Signature Books) -- http://signaturebookslibrary.org/leaving-the-fold-02-2/ Chapter 3 of Leaving the Fold

Weber Studies: In Memoriam William Mulder, 1915-2008 Utah lost one of its great twentieth-century intellectuals earlier this year. When Dr. William Mulder closed his eyes on 12 March 2008, he also closed a chapter in the intellectual history of a state that profited immensely from his leadership. Born in Haarlem, Holland, in 1915, he immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1920, first to New Jersey and six years later to Salt Lake City. He graduated from the University of Utah in 1940 and was elected Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Beta Kappa. Following a master’s degree in English in 1947, Mulder earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University in American Civilization and returned to a long and distinguished teaching career in the University of Utah’s English Department.

In the 1950s, Mulder became part of a group of LDS intellectuals nicknamed the "Swearing Elders," who met regularly on campus to discuss Mormon issues. Later he drifted from the church, noting that "the trouble with various theologies is that they build walls around things that should be open." Mulder’s teaching was similarly wall-breaking, as he bridged disciplines and broke down boundaries between literature, history, and cultural studies. In the early 1970s he introduced then-groundbreaking courses in African American literature, American Indian literature, and ethnic minority literature.

Paralleling his teaching, Dr. Mulder was a forward-looking thinker, who sought to connect the world in the decades before instant electronic connectivity. Long before "globalization" became fashionable, he sought to internationalize Utah’s mindset by reaching out to other cultures. Among his many cross-cultural achievements, Dr. Mulder founded the University of Utah’s Center for International Studies (which became the Middle East Center); he developed the American Studies Research Center and library in Hyderabad, India; he lectured for the U.S. Information Service in India and visited universities in Japan for the Asia Foundation to assess programs and library holdings; and he served on the advisory board of the National Council on International Exchange of Scholars for Fulbright awards in American Studies. Dr. Mulder’s former colleague and friend, Professor Emeritus Ed Lueders, noted that "Bill and his wife Helen forged international relationships, particularly with India, that continue today thanks to Bill’s acumen and attention to others." Echoing this sentiment, Dr. Candadai Seshachari, Professor Emeritus of Weber State University and another long-time friend, commented that "when I first met Bill in 1956 in Hyderabad, I was amazed how easily he had slipped into things Indian—Indian ways of salutation, Indian ways of doing things, into the Indianness of being. He was one with Indian life and culture. Walls of separation did not exist for him. He joked that perhaps in a previous incarnation he might have been from Hyderabad."

Bill was, indeed, the rarest of gentleman scholars, a mentor, bibliophile, historian and global citizen who embodied the principles of the Humanities in the profoundest sense. As the longtime editor of the Western Humanities Review and the recipient of the Governor’s Award in the Humanities from the Utah Humanities Council, he served for many years on the advisory board of the former Weber Studies and gave generously of his time and knowledge. True to his intellectual grandeur and modesty, he never drew attention to his own greatness. Thank you, Bill.

Salt Lake Tribune Obituary: Dr. William Mulder 1915 ~ 2008 Gentleman scholar, mentor, bibliophile, Mormon historian, English and American Studies professor and advocate of Indo-American scholarship and understanding, Dr. William Mulder died at home March 12, following a stroke. He was born June 24, 1915, in Haarlem, Holland, the son of Albertus and Foekje (Fanny) Visser Mulder, who immigrated to the United States in 1920. After L.D.S. High School and a Holland mission (1935-37), Dr. Mulder graduated from the University of Utah in 1940 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. While a student, he wrote for undergraduate publications, the Chronicle, Pen, and Utonian. After service as a communications officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve on Okinawa during World War II, he returned to the U of U for his Master's Degree in English in 1947. He pursued graduate studies at Harvard University in an American Civilization program and was granted a Ph.D. "with distinction" in 1955. His dissertation was published in 1957 by the University of Minnesota Press as Homeward to Zion: The Mormon Migration from Scandinavia. In 1958, he edited, with the late A. Russell Mortensen, Among the Mormons: Historic Accounts by Contemporary Observers, originally published by A.A. Knopf and still in print in Sam Weller's Western Epics imprint. Dr. Mulder taught in the English Department of the U of U for 41 years, with several leaves of absence, including a 1957 teaching Fulbright at Osmania University in Hyderabad, India. That experience led to his being asked to lecture in India for the U.S. Information Service and to develop the American Studies Research Center in Hyderabad (1965-68; 1979-82). With Hyderabad as a second home for the family, the years in India, full of travel, teaching and cultural exchange, led to rich memories and lifelong friendships. He was also visiting professor at BYU, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Washington, Sonoma State College, and Duke University. In 1977 he visited seven universities in Japan for the Asia Foundation to assess programs and library holdings in American Studies. For four years Dr. Mulder served on the Advisory Committee of the National Council on International Exchange of Scholars for Fulbright awards in American Studies, and for three years served as secretary-treasurer of the American Literature Section of the Modern Language Association. He delivered the Reynolds distinguished faculty lecture in 1957 ("The Mormons in American History") and received many honors and awards including: a 1976 festschrift publication entitled, Studies in American Literature (New Delhi, Oxford University Press); in 1977 the Faculty Distinguished Teaching Award from the U of U; in 1987 the Charles Redd Award in the Humanities from the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters; in 1989 the Award of Merit from the U of U Alumni Association. He was named the first Fellow of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters in 1998. In 1999 the University awarded him an Honorary Doctorate and the Utah Humanities Council selected him to receive the year's Governor's Award in the Humanities. In 2005 he was the recipient of the Madeleine Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts and Humanities. He served at the U of U as editor of the Western Humanities Review and was founding director of both the Institute of American Studies and the Center for Intercultural Studies (now the Middle East Center). He was Director of Graduate Studies in the English Department and anonymous writer on various assignments for the Olpin and Gardner administrations. In retirement Dr. Mulder remained active in academic circles as president of the Utah Academy and as a member of several boards on campus and in the community, including the Reynolds Association, the Maud May Babcock Reading Arts Society, Broadway Stage, Wasatch Westerners, Weber Studies, Dialogue, and Friends of the U of U Marriott Library (chair 1993-95). In addition, he contributed to several statehood centennial publications. He supported various social, cultural, and environmental causes as well as employees and struggling scholars he and his family had encountered in India. Although he was a sympathetic observer of the local scene and wrote extensively about Mormon culture in the context of American history and literature, Dr. Mulder was not a churchgoer and expressed his views in Leaving the Fold, edited by James Ure (Signature Books, 2000). Dr. Mulder was first married in 1938 to Gweneth Gibbs Gates and later divorced. The surviving children of that marriage are R. Richard (Kathryn), Layton; J. Thomas, Salt Lake City; and Barbara Thompson (Fred), Wetumpka, Alabama. In 1961 he married Helen Louise Thomson Smith, who survives him. Their firstborn, William J. was killed at age 31 in a road accident in 1993. Surviving children, Paul M. (Darlene Casanova), Salt Lake City; Alice E. (Daniel Bedford), Ogden; former daughter-in-law, Stephennie Fullmer Mulder (Yoav di Capua), Austin, Texas; stepchildren, Emily Smith (Michael Hoffman), Salt Lake City; and Charles Smith, Ogden; grandchildren (Robert, Christopher, Jennifer, Tristan, and Skylar). Also survived by brother, Albert Mulder, Jr. (Laura), and sisters Mary Ence (Carlton) and Patricia Shoemaker (Herbert). He was preceded in death by his sister Anne Glissmeyer (Roy). The family extends deep gratitude for the comfort and care given by Jennifer, Carlos, Danny and others from Caregiver Support Network. A memorial gathering will be held at the U of U Alumni House (155 Central Campus Drive) March 29, 2008 at 2 pm. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the U of U Marriott Library.

Published in The Salt Lake Tribune from Mar. 23 to Mar. 26, 2008.