The featured speaker will be Dr. Ronald Dennis, discussing the honor he received in August 2018 at the National Eisteddfod of Wales. He was invited to join the “Gorsedd”, also known as the “Bardic Circle” in recognition of his research, publications, and website about the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Wales, and the history of Welsh Saints who moved to the United States.
Dr. Dennis’s half-century of work includes authorship of 14 books on “a topic to which virtually no one in Wales or the Untied States has ever given serious attention.” This work began through research on his own family history, with a story about William Howells’ encounter with Dan Jones in 1847. In order to read some of the documents, he had to learn Welsh.
He found the language to be “darn hard” compared to the Portuguese, Spanish, German, French, and Latin he had studied. Undeterred, he moved to Wales with his family for six months. After many return visits over the next several years, he was finally able to translate the documents he wanted to read.
D.L. Davies, who nominated Dennis for the award said, “He has opened up this field of study to an infinitely wider number of scholars, students, and general readers by using his mastery of the Welsh language and his incisive critical and editorial skills.”