Talk:Mormon handcart pioneers

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Mormon handcart pioneers is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.

This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on December 14, 2006.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
August 1, 2006	Peer review	Reviewed
August 23, 2006	Good article nominee	Listed
September 30, 2006	Featured article candidate	Promoted
Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on June 9, 2007, June 9, 2008, June 9, 2010, June 9, 2014, June 9, 2016, and June 9, 2020.
Current status: Featured article

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FAC copyedit

Hi page-watchers, as part of WP:URFA/2020 I am conducting a copyedit and review of this article. Please review my edits to ensure that I did not unintentionally change the meaning of any sentences. If you do revert anything, please comment below and explain why so I can improve my copyediting. I also have some questions below that I hope someone can answer or clarify; responders can answer underneath each bullet point to keep the conversations organised. Please keep in mind that I know very little about this subject:

"caused the body of the church to move from..." What does the body of the church mean? Is this a physical building, the upper religious figures of the organisation, the religion's congregation, or something else?
"Brigham Young said that he had received divine direction to organize the church members" When did this happen?
"Contributions to expand the fund were encouraged." Anything notable about donating to the Perpetual Emigration Fund? Most religious organisations encourage their members to donate to their charitable causes. Or is this sentence worth deleting as too much detail?
"The response was overwhelming– in 1856 the Perpetual Emigration" How was it overwhelming? Did it increase migration, or donations, or both?
"("Iowa hickory or oak");" Why is this in quotation marks?
"Ellsworth had a member of the company "tin" the wooden axles and also installed "thick hoop iron skeins"" What do these terms mean, and can the quotation marks be removed?
"[T]his was in the month of september [1856] and our dear" Why is part of this bolded?
"The emigrants would eventually go to Latter-day Saint settlements throughout Utah and the West." When did this happen? In the spring?
I have cut a lot from the "1856: Willie and Martin handcart companies" section, and will probably continue to do so. I suggest that this article WP:SPINOUT into its own article.
I would like to divide the "Disaster and rescue" section into two. Any recommendations on where to split?

A general thought: I am concerned about the overreliance of "Hafen and Hafen (1981)" and a lack of variety of sources for this article. I did a JSTOR search of "Mormon handcart pioneers" and found 306 references, including this, and this. I am sure that if I continued looking for the names of the companies, I would find more information. There's also this book, this book and this book which can also be consulted. While I don't expect every source to be consulted on this topic (as I think they are far too numerous) I do think that not enough sources and expert perspectives are present and this article needs additional research. Is anyone interested in working on this? Pinging SandyGeorgia, as they pinged me to review this article. Z1720 (talk) 03:55, 4 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Z, BRMo (the original nominator) is still active, but only sporadically editing, so a response may be delayed. Another editor who may be able to answer some of the questions, or opine on the additional sources, is Rachel Helps (BYU). Here is a diff of your cumulative edits plus my minor MOS changes. Thanks ! SandyGeorgia (Talk) 15:14, 4 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Z1720 and SandyGeorgia - Thank you for reviewing and editing this article. I'll take a look at your edits and try to address your questions. BRMo (talk) 22:20, 4 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]