Sunstone Mormon History Podcast

What was life like if you were stuck in Winter Quarters? Bryan and Lindsay dig into some of the stories of the women who lived there and what their day-to-day life was like. Shownotes: Donate to Sunstone and the History Podcast (leave us a note in the comment section to say hi!) George Q. Cannon: Politician, Publisher, Apostle of Polygamy by Kenneth Cannon Journey to Zion: Voices from the Mormon Trail by Carol Cornwall Madsen

Many people don't realize just how many Mormons were part of the fated Donner/Reed tragedy. In this episode, Lindsay and Bryan discuss the horrible tale of travel gone awry. Shownotes: Donate to Sunstone and the History Podcast (leave us a note in the comment section to say hi!) Register for the Sunstone Summer Symposium The Emigrants' guide to Oregon and California by Lansford Hastings The strange, sad and influential lives of the Donner Party survivors The Mormons and the Donner Party by Eugene E. Campbell Nathaniel V. Jones diary, 1846 July-1847 August The journal of James Frazier Reed CROSSROADS IN THE WEST: THE INTERSECTIONS OF THE DONNER PARTY AND THE MORMONS by Guy L. Dorius

Women were an integral part of the Mormon Battalion story and Lindsay and Bryan share their histories, including the story of a rogue group of women that braved the wild to avoid practicing polygamy. Shownotes: Donate to Sunstone and the History Podcast (leave us a note in the comment section to say hi!) Register for the Sunstone Summer Symposium Women of the Mormon Battalion by Larson, Carl V. and Shirley N. Maynes (comps. and eds.) Five hundred wagons stood still: Mormon Battalion wives by Shirley N. Maynes Mormon Battalion: U.S. Army of the West, 1846-1848 by Ricketts, Norma Baldwin Called to War: Dawn of the Mormon Battalion by Sherman Fleek Army of Israel: Mormon Battalion Narratives by Bigler, David L. and Will Bagley 

In this episode, Lindsay and Bryan discuss the history of the only United States military regiment ever mustered specifically from a religious group: The Mormon Battalion. Shownotes: Donate to Sunstone and the History Podcast (leave us a note in the comment section to say hi!) Register for the Sunstone Summer Symposium Charisma Under Pressure: Joseph Smith, American Prophet, 1831–1839 (Dan Vogel).  From Iowa to Immortality: A Tribute to the Mormon Battalion by Elder Lance B. Wickman The Mormon Battalion's Manifest Destiny: Expansion and Identity during the Mexican-American War by Natalie Brooke Coffman of University of Vermont The Mormon Battalion by Sherman L. Fleek Reddick Allred's journal

The third in a three-part miniseries where Bryan and Lindsay discuss the development of race in Mormon theology through a historical lens. Shownotes: Donate to Sunstone and the History Podcast (leave us a note in the comment section to say hi!) Register for the Sunstone Summer Symposium Charisma Under Pressure: Joseph Smith, American Prophet, 1831–1839 (Dan Vogel).  "The Chosen Seed: Reexamining Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage Forty Years after Official Declaration 2”—Sunstone presentation (Stirling Adams, Matt Harris and Newell Bringhurst). “Mormonism’s Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview”—Dialogue (Lester Bush). Mormonism and White Supremacy: American Religion and the Problem of Racial Innocence (Joanna Brooks).  Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons—DVD (Margaret Young and Darius Gray) 

In this three-part miniseries, Bryan and Lindsay discuss the development of race in Mormon theology through a historical lens. Shownotes: Donate to Sunstone and the History Podcast (leave us a note in the comment section to say hi!) Register for the Sunstone Summer Symposium (Use coupon code HistoryPod for 30% off full or one day registration and active through May 21st) Century of Black Mormons by the University of Utah “I would confine them to their own species,”LDS Historical Rhetoric & Praxis Regarding Marriage Between Whites and Blacks by Connell O'Donovan The Prohibition of Interracial Marriage in Utah by Patrick Mason Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness by W. Paul Reeve Let's Talk about Race and Priesthood by W. Paul Reeve The Mormon Church & Blacks: A Documentary History by Matthew L. Harris and Newell G. Bringhurst

In this three-part miniseries, Bryan and Lindsay discuss the development of race in Mormon theology through a historical lens. Shownotes: Donate to Sunstone and the History Podcast (leave us a note in the comment section to say hi!) Register for the Sunstone Summer Symposium (Use coupon code HistoryPod for 30% off full or one day registration and active through May 22nd) Century of Black Mormons by the University of Utah “I would confine them to their own species,”LDS Historical Rhetoric & Praxis Regarding Marriage Between Whites and Blacks by Connell O'Donovan The Prohibition of Interracial Marriage in Utah by Patrick Mason Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness by W. Paul Reeve Let's Talk about Race and Priesthood by W. Paul Reeve The Mormon Church & Blacks: A Documentary History by Matthew L. Harris and Newell G. Bringhurst

What was Mormon polygamy like on the trail? Not great. Come listen to the heartbreaking stories of polygamy in Winter Quarters. Shownotes: Donate to Sunstone and the History Podcast (leave us a note in the comment section to say hi!) Register for the Sunstone Summer Symposium (Use coupon code HistoryPod for 30% off full or one day registration and active through April 20th) Book: Personal Writings of Eliza R. Snow (ed. by Maureen Ursenbach Beecher)  Book: Mormons at the Missouri (Richard Bennett) Book: Mormon Midwife (ed. Donna Toland Smart) Book: Winter Quarters (ed. Maurine Carr Ward)

Garden Grove is known as one of the way-stations for Latter-day Saints who were fleeing Nauvoo in 1846-47. But this Winter Quarters encampment was full of tawdry secrets, crime and even a... brothel? Join Lindsay and Bryan as they discuss the Garden Grove branch, bawdy houses, counterfeiting and more. Winter Quarters just got a whole lot more interesting! Shownotes: Donate to Sunstone and the History Podcast (leave us a note in the comment section to say hi!) Register for the Sunstone Summer Symposium (Use coupon code HistoryPod for 30% off full or one day registration and active through April 20th) The Weight of Words: Discourse, Power and the19th Century Prostitute by Yoshan A. Kennedy-Churnac Portrait of a Prostitute: A Feminist Analysis of The Victorian Sex Worker in 19th Century Art and Literature by Marissa Merlino Language Matters, Talking About Sex Work Garden Grove Council Minutes Garden Grove Branch papers relating to reinstatement of branch Mormon Migration Way Stations Bo

Winter Quarters wasn't just snow, cabins and adorable oxen: there was plenty of drama as well! And by drama, we mean liquor, beatings, cheatings and so many naughty farm animals. Join Lindsay and Bryan as they dive into law and order in Winter Quarters. Shownotes: Donate to Sunstone and the History Podcast (leave us a note in the comment section to say hi!) Law and Order in Winter Quarters by Edward L. Kimball and Kenneth W. Godfrey Register for the Sunstone Summer Symposium

He was a friend to Mormons, sure. But was he a Mormon? Who was Thomas Kane and why does he matter? Bryan and Lindsay dive into these important questions about a good, good boy in Mormon history, Brother, er, Mister Thomas Kane. Shownotes: Donate to Sunstone and the History Podcast (leave us a note in the comment section to say hi!) Book: The Prophet and the Reformer: The Letters of Brigham Young & Thomas L. Kane Ben Shaffer's fundamentalist church

Finally, we've arrived at the story of Lyman Wight and his break-off group of Texas Mormons. Join Lindsay and Bryan as they explore the story of Brigham Young's troublesome apostle, Elder "fistacuffs," the Wild Ram himself, Brother Lyman Wight. Shownotes: Purchase the book: An Abundant Life: The Memoirs of Hugh B. Brown edited by Edwin B. Firmage Polygamy on the Pedernales: Lyman Wight's Mormon Villages in Antebellum Texas, 1845-1858-- by Melvin C. Johnson

Join Lindsay and Bryan as they discuss the insane story of James Emmett, the Council of 50 member who started his own frontier break-off-get-back-together sect during the Mormon exodus. Show Notes: Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846; Volume 1, 10 March 1844–1 March 1845-

Today we are talking about Council Bluffs and how Mormons ended up there. The episode with Lindsay and Bryan discusses the controversial land trade Mormons made with the federal government to be able to settle "Winter Quarters" and the tragic consequences of the deal. SHOWNOTES: A typewritten copy of a manuscript titled "Camp of the Saints and the circumstances connected with their exodus from Nauvoo, the City of Joseph West through the wilderness in search of home and place of rest", containing an inventory of the circumstances connected to the LDS exodus from Nauvoo. The manuscript was written by by John D. Lee Young.    The Mormon Battalion's Manifest Destiny: Expansion and Identity during the Mexican-American War by Natalie Brooke Coffman

We kick off a new season leaving Nauvoo and heading into the great unknown. Join Lindsay and Bryan for a fascinating look at the Mormon journey into Iowa, known as Winter Quarters.

The Season of Nauvoo is (finally) in the books. Join Bryan and Lindsay as they discuss the year and the new season ahead.

As we wrap up the Nauvoo era of Mormon history, we focus in on a lesser known figure that had a big impact on Mormonism: Vilate Kimball

In the beginning, Sam Brannan might have been a loyal Mormon leader, but the glitter of gold and the allurements of the world are about to test his mettle. Join Lindsay and Bryan as they talk about the rise and fall of Brigham Young's biggest colonizing competitor, Sam Brannan.

In this episode, Lindsay and Bryan discuss the Mormons' first venture heading west: Samuel Brannan's expedition to the so-called, "Upper California." Special thanks to Matt Riley for the cameo on this episode. Music mentioned and used in this episode: Mormon Symphony & Mormon Youth Chorus - The Upper California

After the death of Joseph Smith, things got even wilder in Nauvoo. Bryan and Lindsay talk about the crazy chaos and sit down with historian Dr. Benjamin Park to unpack it all.