<I was> we were persuaded <to abandon this topic> by B. H. Roberts in an interview that Darryl Shakes <Chase> and I had in his office in the church office building in 1931, <when> we <came> went home for the vacation after the first year, so <in> September 31 <of 1931, Brother> Roberts let us have an interview with him<,> and he asked what we were trying to write about in our research, and we both thought we might . . . I could have given <done> my Ddoctor's thesis on the same general topic <dissertation the Mormon topic my professor was encouraging to do,> but he said, "Young man, don't ever write a thesis on the <a> Mormon subject; I<i>f you do, you'll be cut off from the church." He said, "Half the people in the church would apostac<s>ize if they knew the true history of the church." And he had a kind of puckish smile as he said that <while in> in his shirt sleeves and his stockings (one foot having been half cut off he had diabetes). he said, "My best works will never be published." He said, "I do not have complete freedom to do the writing I would like to do."