Speak Your Piece: a podcast about Utah's history

Date: April 17, 2023 (Season 5, Episode 12: 1 hour, 7 minutes long).  Click here for the Utah Dept. of Culture and Community Engagement version of this Speak Your Piece episode. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click Here. The episode was co-produced by Brad Westwood, Chelsey Zamir, and Dr. Katherine Kitterman, with sound engineering and post-production editing from Jason T. Powers, from the Utah State Library Recording Studio. In this Speak Your Piece episode, we hear from Dr. Constance Lieber, author and historian, on her book Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon: Suffragist, Senator, Plural Wife (Signature Books 2022), with SYP host Brad Westwood, and co-host Dr. Katherine Kittermann, Utah State Historical Society’s women’s history coordinator. In this episode, Dr. Lieber discusses the subject of her book, Martha “Mattie” Hughes Cannon, who in 1896, became the first elected female state senator in the United States, an extraordinary accomplishment as she was elected 24 years before most women in the United States could vote. A groundbreaking late 19th-century woman, Cannon vacillated between her goals, her public ambitions, being a devout Mormon, a polygamist wife (she was the fourth of six wives), an attentive mother, and a practicing physician.  Cannon was a standout suffragist locally and nationally, a compelling writer and orator, and a pioneering public health leader for the state.In this episode, hear Drs. Lieber and Kitterman discuss a myriad of insightful details compiled by Lieber after many years of research. A statue of Dr. Hughes Cannon is slated to be installed, sometime in 2024, within the U.S. Capitol National Statuary Hall, to represent Utah,  among likenesses of prominent Americans, from across the United States.For the speakers' bios, please click here for the full show notes plus additional resources and readings. Do you have a question? Write askahistorian@utah.gov.

Date: August 29, 2022 (Season 5, Episode 1: 53 minutes long).  Click here for the Utah Dept. of Culture and Community Engagement version of this Speak Your Piece episode. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click Here. The episode was co-produced by Brad Westwood, James Toledo, and Chelsey Zamir with sound engineering and post-production work from Stephen Morris (Studio Underground) and Jason Powers (Utah State Library Recording Studio). The opinions shared in this podcast episode reflect the historical research of the guests and not the official views of the state of Utah.Content Advisory: This SYP series is about Utah’s Native American boarding school era, which spanned from the mid-1800s to approximately 1980s, when Native American children (ages 5 to 18+) were removed, then later encouraged, to leave their families and communities, in order to receive a 1-7 and later K-12 education. This history can be emotionally challenging for any listeners but even more so for those who experienced it, either first-hand or through multi-generational impact. If you or someone you know needs to talk to someone regarding the traumatic effects related to this history, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for Native Americans and Alaska Natives at 1-800-985-5990.This Speak Your Piece episode is the introduction to a five-part series. Historian Farina King takes questions from co-producers James Toledo and Brad Westwood, offering a basic national, then an Intermountain West story, about the Indian boarding school era. The interview offers insights, as both King’s and Toledo’s parents and grandparents were survivors and/or participants in these schools; or the foster-parent and school program known as “the Indian Student Placement Program (ISPP),” which involved tens of thousands of Native American children across the Intermountain West, from 1947 to 2000, in a program offered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As with most history, this is a complex story that cannot be generalized in one or two paragraphs. The SYP series is not an all-inclusive telling; rather it is an initial public conversation and historical inquiry. Further historical studies across Utah are needed. The Department of the Interior’s Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative has preliminarily identified seven Utah Indian boarding or day schools so far (as of 2022); others might be discovered as researchers bring this historical topic into focus.Part 1: Native American Boarding Schools in the Am. West & in Utah (ca. 1870s-1980s) with Dr. Farina King (Diné)  – an IntroductionPart 2: American Boarding School Policies with Native American College Adviser Franci Lynne Taylor (Choctaw) (Season 5: Episode 4) Part 3: Matthew Garrett on “Making Lamanites: Mormons, Native Americans, and the Indian Student Placement Program, 1947-2000” (Season 5: Episode 5)Part 4: Diné Elders Rose Jakub (Diné) and Gayle Dawes (Diné) on Their Boarding School Experiences (Season 5, Episode 6)Part 5: James Toledo on Multi-Generational Impacts from Boarding Schools and on the Need for Healing (Season 5, Episode 11) - Series Conclusion For the speakers' bios, please click here for the full show notes plus additional resources and readings. Do you have a question? Write askahistorian@utah.gov.

Date: September 26, 2022 (Season 5, Episode 4: 54 minutes and 19 seconds long).  Click here for the Utah Dept. of Culture and Community Engagement version of this Speak Your Piece episode. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click Here. The episode was co-produced by James Toledo, Chelsey Zamir, and Brad Westwood, with sound engineering and post-production editing by Jason T. Powers, from the Utah State Library Recording Studio.The opinions shared in this podcast episode reflect the historical research of the guests and not the official views of the state of Utah.Content Advisory: This SYP series is about Utah’s Native American boarding school era, which spanned from the mid-1800s to approximately 1980s, when Native American children (ages 5 to 18+) were forcibly removed, then later encouraged, to leave their families and communities, in order to receive a 1-7 then later a K-12 education. This history can be emotionally challenging for any listeners but even more so for those who experienced it, either first-hand or by its multi-generational effects. If you or someone you know needs to talk to someone regarding the traumatic effects related to this history, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for Native Americans and Alaska Natives at 1-800-985-5990.This Speak Your Piece episode is part two of a five-part series on Native American boarding schools in the Western United States and in Utah. In this episode, Franci Lynn Taylor (Choctaw), former Executive Director of the University of Utah’s American Indian Resource Center, tells a story of Indian educational policies, with series hosts James Toledo and Brad Westwood. Taylor covers the post-Civil War-era boarding school policies inspired by the Carlisle Industrial School of 1879, the Dawes Act (1887), the Indian Relocation Act (1956), the Indian Self Determination Act (1975), and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (1978). Taylor traces policies to the present day, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ schools, tribally-run schools, state-run schools, and state-access schools.Throughout these federal policy attempts at Native American assimilation, Taylor describes a history of resiliency, generation after generation. The love for the community is the thread that weaves through this narrative. She concludes by tracing some of the healing initiatives for Native American communities which Taylor hopes will make sure many will never forget what happened, so history won’t repeat itself. Part 1: Native American Boarding Schools in the Am. West & in Utah (ca. 1870s-1980s) with Dr. Farina King (Diné)  – an IntroductionPart 2: American Boarding School Policies with Native American College Adviser Franci Lynne Taylor (Choctaw) (Season 5: Episode 4) Part 3: Matthew Garrett on “Making Lamanites: Mormons, Native Americans, and the Indian Student Placement Program, 1947-2000” (Season 5: Episode 5)Part 4: Diné Elders Rose Jakub (Diné) and Gayle Dawes (Diné) on Their Boarding School Experiences (Season 5, Episode 6)Part 5: James Toledo on Multi-Generational Impacts from Boarding Schools and on the Need for Healing (Season 5, Episode 11) - Series ConclusionFor the speakers' bios, please click here for the full show notes plus additional resources and readings. Do you have a question? Write askahistorian@utah.gov.

Date: October 3, 2022 (Season 5, Episode 5: 53 minutes 56 seconds). Click here for the Utah Dept. of Culture and Community Engagement version of this Speak Your Piece episode. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click Here. This episode was co-produced by Brad Westwood, Chelsey Zamir, and James Toledo, with sound engineering and post-production editing, from Jason T. Powers of the Utah State Library Recording Studio.The opinions shared in this podcast episode represents the historic research of our guests and does not reflect the official views of the state of Utah.Content Advisory: This SYP series is about Utah’s Native American boarding school era, which spanned from the mid-1800s to approximately 1980s, when Native American children (ages 5 to 18+) were forcibly removed, then later encouraged, to leave their families and communities, in order to receive a 1-7 and later K-12 education. This history can be emotionally challenging for any listeners but even more so for those who experienced it, either first-hand or through multi-generational effects. If you or someone you know needs to talk to someone regarding the traumatic effects related to this history, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for Native Americans and Alaska Natives at 1-800-985-5990.This episode is part three of a five-part series about Native American boarding schools in the Intermountain West and in Utah. In this episode, Western Historian Matthew Garrett discusses his 2016 book Making Lamanites: Mormons, Native Americans, and the Indian Student Placement Program, 1947-2000 (University of Utah Press) with SYP co-hosts Brad Westwood and James Toledo. Garrett’s book focuses on the education of Native American, mostly Navajo (Diné) children, as offered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter LDS Church) from 1947 to 2000. This episode includes a narrative arc from the program’s beginnings in Richfield, Utah, in 1947, to its closure amid changing Native American policies and rights. The podcast addresses why it was supported by some Native American leaders and parents; how it was seen as belated fulfillment of a prophetic obligation by the LDS Church to assist Native Americans in reclaiming an ancient Hebrew/Christian identity. And finally, how a court case propelled the LDS Church leadership into phasing out the program.   Part 1: Native American Boarding Schools in the Am. West & in Utah (ca. 1870s-1980s) with Dr. Farina King (Diné) – an IntroductionPart 2: American Boarding School Policies with Native American College Adviser Franci Lynne Taylor (Choctaw) (Season 5: Episode 4) Part 3: Matthew Garrett on “Making Lamanites: Mormons, Native Americans, and the Indian Student Placement Program, 1947-2000” (Season 5: Episode 5)Part 4: Diné Elders Rose Jakub (Diné) and Gayle Dawes (Diné) on Their Boarding School Experiences (Season 5, Episode 6)Part 5: James Toledo on Multi-Generational Impacts from Boarding Schools and on the Need for Healing (Season 5, Episode 11) - Series Conclusion  For the speakers' bios, please click here for the full show notes plus additional resources and readings. Do you have a question? Write askahistorian@utah.gov.

Date: October 24, 2022 (Season 5, Episode 6: 81 minutes long). Click here for the Utah Dept. of Culture and Community Engagement version of this Speak Your Piece episode. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click Here. The episode was co-produced by James Toledo, Chelsey Zamir, and Brad Westwood, with sound engineering and post-production editing by Jason T. Powers, from the Utah State Library Recording Studio.The opinions shared in this podcast episode represents the historic research of our guests and does not reflect the official views of the state of Utah.Content Advisory: This SYP series is about Utah’s Native American boarding school era, which spanned from the mid-1800s to approximately 2000, when Native American children (ages 5 to 18+) were removed, then later encouraged, to leave their families and communities, in order to receive a 1-7 and later K-12 educations. This history can be emotionally challenging for any listeners but even more so for those who experienced it, either first-hand or through multi-generational effects. If you or someone you know needs to talk to someone regarding the traumatic effects related to this history, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for Native Americans and Alaska Natives at 1-800-985-5990.This episode is part four of a five-part series about Native American boarding schools in the Intermountain West and in Utah. In this episode, Gayle Dawes and Rose Jakub, two Navajo elders, tell their own and their families’ experiences, attending reservation day schools, away-from-home federal boarding schools, and participating in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ (hereafter LDS Church) Indian Placement Program with SYP co-hosts James Toledo and Brad Westwood.  In the recounting of these memories (circa 1950s-1980s) and in the retelling of stories from parents and extended family members (circa 1900 to 1960s), Dawes and Jakub, speak as “primary sources.” Their memories reveal aspects of Native thinking and knowing, culture and language, family life and community, trauma and resilience, all woven in conversation between two longtime friends.Both Dawes and Jakub are exemplary elders and leaders inside and outside their communities. This episode aims to give a voice to those experiences and help listeners better understand the history, major themes, and underlying ideas behind the Native American boarding schools and LDS Church’s Indian Student Placement Program that thousands of Native American children attended. Part 1: Native American Boarding Schools in the Am. West & in Utah (ca. 1870s-1980s) with Dr. Farina King (Diné) – an IntroductionPart 2: American Boarding School Policies with Native American College Adviser Franci Lynne Taylor (Choctaw) (Season 5: Episode 4) Part 3: Matthew Garrett on “Making Lamanites: Mormons, Native Americans, and the Indian Student Placement Program, 1947-2000” (Season 5: Episode 5)Part 4: Diné Elders Rose Jakub (Diné) and Gayle Dawes (Diné) on Their Boarding School Experiences (Season 5, Episode 6)Part 5: James Toledo on Multi-Generational Impacts from Boarding Schools and on the Need for Healing (Season 5, Episode 11) - Series ConclusionFor the speakers' bios, please click here for the full show notes plus additional resources and readings. Do you have a question? Write askahistorian@utah.gov.

Date: August 29, 2022 (Season 5, Episode 11: 49 minutes and 18 seconds long). Click here for the Utah Dept. of Culture and Community Engagement version of this Speak Your Piece episode. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click Here. The episode was co-produced by Brad Westwood, Chelsey Zamir, and James Toledo, with help (sound engineering and post-production editing) from Jason Powers (Utah State Library Recording Studio).The opinions shared in this podcast episode reflect the historical research of the guests and not the official views of the state of Utah.Content Advisory: This SYP series is about Utah’s Native American boarding school era, which spanned from the mid-1800s to approximately 2000, when Native American children (ages 5 to 18+) were removed, then later encouraged, to leave their families and communities, in order to receive a 1-7 and later K-12 educations. This history can be emotionally challenging for any listeners but even more so for those who experienced it, either first-hand or through multi-generational effects. If you or someone you know needs to talk to someone regarding the traumatic effects related to this history, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for Native Americans and Alaska Natives at 1-800-985-5990.This Speak Your Piece episode is the conclusion of a five-part series about Native American boarding schools in Utah. In this episode, Brad Westwood, host of Speak Your Piece, speaks with James Toledo, program manager at the Utah Division of Indian Affairs and co-host of the five-episode series, about his thoughts, ideas, and his family’s experiences on Native American boarding schools and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ (hereafter LDS Church) Indian Student Placement Program (hereafter ISPP). In this episode, Toledo touches on how his family’s multi-generational experiences attending boarding schools and the LDS Church’s ISPP directly shaped his childhood growing up in Salt Lake City and impacted his learning and understanding of his Navajo culture. In all, this series has led Toledo to understand his family’s experiences better and has brought to light the very complex history and stories of boarding schools and the LDS Church’s ISPP; stories that are a crucial part of Utah and American history.Part 1: Native American Boarding Schools in the Am. West & in Utah (ca. 1870s-1980s) with Dr. Farina King (Diné) – an IntroductionPart 2: American Boarding School Policies with Native American College Adviser Franci Lynne Taylor (Choctaw) (Season 5: Episode 4) Part 3: Matthew Garrett on “Making Lamanites: Mormons, Native Americans, and the Indian Student Placement Program, 1947-2000” (Season 5: Episode 5)Part 4: Diné Elders Rose Jakub (Diné) and Gayle Dawes (Diné) on Their Boarding School Experiences (Season 5, Episode 6)Part 5: James Toledo on Multi-Generational Impacts from Boarding Schools and on the Need for Healing (Season 5, Episode 11) - Series Conclusion For the speakers' bios, please click here for the full show notes plus additional resources and readings. Do you have a question? Write askahistorian@utah.gov.

Date: May 30, 2023 (Season 5, Episode 13: 54 minutes and 21 seconds long). Click here for the Utah Dept. of Culture and Community Engagement version of this Speak Your Piece episode. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click Here.  The episode was co-produced by Brad Westwood and Chelsey Zamir with help (sound engineering and post-production editing) from Jason Powers, from the Utah State Library Recording Studio.Speak Your Piece Host Brad Westwood hosts Megan Weiss, a Ph.D. student specializing in the history of the American West, at the University of Utah, about the fascinating history of the DUP (the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers); officially known as the International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers.  As one of the last states in the country to establish a state history museum — the Museum of Utah is projected to open in 2026 — Utah has made numerous attempts to tell, officially, Utah’s fascinating yet complex history. The state’s first attempts to conceptualize its history started with the 1897 Pioneer Jubilee, as the state clung to its pioneer narratives and sought to preserve them.  As Weiss tells it, the Jubilee was seen as a “reset” moment for Utah, after pioneers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Saints of Latter-day Saints arrived in the territory in 1847, and finally achieved statehood in 1896. Many of Utah’s history-related organizations and celebrations, still held dear today, were derived from that original 1897 Jubilee festival — the Book of Pioneers, Days of ‘47’ celebrations, the Utah State Historical Society (1897) and the DUP (1901), were all established in its wake. With this intent to preserve the Pioneer narrative, Utahns also started keeping and preserving objects, which also became a means to re-examine the past. The Deseret Museum, established in 1869, was a private enterprise and a menagerie curio hall to begin with, but later the collection became more professionalized. Weiss adds that during this professionalization stage, Utah women started the Daughters of Utah Pioneers in 1901. This coincides with the establishment of female-led historical agencies across the country. Together, these descendants of Utah’s pioneers commemorated their families, focusing primarily on Utah’s “pioneer period” from 1847-1869. Among many social and intellectual endeavors, in the mid-twentieth century, the DUP envisioned and built a Mormon pioneer museum (something of a de facto state museum), with funds gathered widely from private sources, along with funds and a building site, furnished by the Utah State Legislature. Opened in 1950, this prominently placed building serves as the visual terminus looking northward on Main Street.This episode offers a heretofore untold story regarding the public history of Utah; also women’s history, twentieth century politics, and perhaps equally as important, how Utah has constructed and presented history in the past. As Utah prepares to open in 2026, a new, more inclusive, state-funded history museum, this backstory is essential listening. For the speaker's bios, please click here for the full show notes plus additional resources and readings. Do you have a question? Write askahistorian@utah.gov.

Date: March 10, 2023 (Season 5, Episode 10: 53 minutes long). For the entire show notes and additional resources for this episode, click here. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click here. The episode was co-produced by Brad Westwood and Chelsey Zamir, with sound engineering and post-production editing by Jason T. Powers, from the Utah State Library Recording Studio.This episode is a conversation with Speak Your Piece host Brad Westwood and Gary Bergera, Mormon and Western historian, book publisher and editor, and recently retired managing director of Smith-Pettit Foundation, and former managing director of Signature Books (established in 1981). In this episode, Bergera discusses personal stories as an historian and book publisher. Bergera covers the value of reading and writing history, what sparked his interest in the field of history, and the beginning story of the newspaper the Seventh East Press (1981-1983). Bergera also notes some of the works he’s most proud of, in both writing history and in shepherding history, through the publication process.Bergera’s contributions and nearly fifty years’ work in the field of history, reflect the curiosity and passions of one who has always been intellectually curious. Bergera discusses his years as a Mormon and western historian; the beginning story of his work, publishing and editing and serving as managing director of Signature Books and the Smith-Pettit Foundation, including founders George D. Smith and Scott Kenney; his and Ron Priddis’s book Brigham Young University: A House of Faith (1985); the edited volume regarding Everett Ruess, a young artist and solo-adventurer who disappeared in Utah’s wilderness in 1934, called On Desert Trails with Everett Ruess (Gibbs Smith, 2000); and what Bergera sees as one of his most important contributions, a three-volume edited work Confessions of a Mormon Historian: The Diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997 (Signature Books, 2018). Bergera describes Arrington’s history creating processes; how he was a conscientious diarist, knowing his diaries would be appreciated as a primary source; and finally, Arrington's devotion to his faith, alongside his pursuit of evidence-based scholarship and sound historical methods. This candid conversation is a refreshing reflection on the work of another contributor to the history of Utah. For the guest's bio, please click here for the full show notes plus additional resources and readings. Do you have a question? Write askahistorian@utah.gov.

Date: February 3, 2023 (Season 5, Episode 8: 62 minutes long). For the entire show notes and additional resources for this episode, click here. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click here. The episode was co-produced by Brad Westwood and Chelsey Zamir, with sound engineering and post-production editing by Jason T. Powers, from the Utah State Library Recording Studio.Host Brad Westwood interviews Dr. Todd M. Compton regarding his award-winning book: A Frontier Life: Jacob Hamblin, Explorer and Indian Missionary (University of Utah Press, 2013). In this episode, Compton offers a more fully rendered story of Jacob Hamblin, beyond the long-held popular stories. Hamblin’s life was  filled with constant exploration and resettling,  while he survived many harrowing events; however, he was also a religious seeker, something of a mystic, combining his faith with that of the spiritual life he encountered among Native Americans. Hamblin worked and hunted, rested, recreated, and sought to speak fluently among them, developing a mutual respect and trust. Hamblin’s story starts in Tooele, then he lived for many years in Southern Utah where he aided in the settlement of Santa Clara (Washington County), then Kanab (Kane County), before he moved on to Arizona and New Mexico. Hamblin worked among the Gosuite, Paiute, Hopi and Navajo, and hoped to convert them despite the cultural chasm between them; but equally so – and in conflict with his missionary work – Hamblin was an ardent colonizer, accepting multiple missions from Salt Lake City to identify viable lands for settlement. Compton wrestles with, then helps us understand, the many paradoxes in Hamblin’s life. Hamblin’s dogged work as an explorer and early settler would inescapably lead to the loss of traditional lifeways, and eventually to the dispossession of Native American homelands.For the guest's bio, please click here for the full show notes plus additional resources and readings. Do you have a question? Write askahistorian@utah.gov.

Date: February 6, 2023 (Season 5, Episode 9: 40 minutes long). For the entire show notes and additional resources for this episode, click here. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click here. The episode was co-produced by Brad Westwood and Chelsey Zamir, with sound engineering and post-production editing by Jason T. Powers, from the Utah State Library Recording Studio.In this episode, we talk about growing up Hispanic in Utah. Maria Garciaz (chief executive officer of NeighborWorks Salt Lake, a nonprofit organization created to revitalize Salt Lake City neighborhoods), speaks about growing up in the late 1960s and 1970s Salt Lake City, mostly west of the Jordan River. Lee Martinez (longtime activist, school counselor, and political advisor) speaks of growing up near Clearfield and Layton; for a time in Anchorage, a temporary housing development (1942-1962) built outside of the U.S. Naval Supply Depot. Both Lee and Maria speak of their parents and families, their childhood memories, and how their horizons were expanded, and their life’s work were set in motion, through their pursuit of education, civic engagement, and their involvement in the University of Utah’s Chicano Student Association, and other Hispanic and Latino based organizations, which were established in 1960s to 1980s Utah.Their memories shared include early memories of family life as itinerant farm workers; their lives as temporary renters, moving constantly; their memories of moving in to predominantly white neighborhoods and being treated poorly as their new neighbors resisted their presence; their families working hard, caring for their homes, as a means of demonstrating their equal value; feeling hostilities as teenagers, observing the discrimination their parents and families endured; and growing up Roman Catholic in Utah. For the guests' bios, please click here for the full show notes plus additional resources and readings. Do you have a question? Write askahistorian@utah.gov.

Date: July 7, 2022 (Season 5, Episode 7: 75 minutes long). For the entire show notes and additional resources for this episode, click here. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click here. The episode was co-produced by Brad Westwood and Chelsey Zamir, with sound engineering and post-production editing by Jason T. Powers, from the Utah State Library Recording Studio.This episode of Speak Your Piece is an interview with Barbara Jones Brown, director of Signature Books, and Richard E. Turley, Jr., former assistant Church Historian of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on their book Vengeance is Mine: The Mountain Meadows Massacre and Its Aftermath (Oxford University Press), to be released May 30, 2023, with SYP host Brad Westwood. This book is a sequel to the 2008 Massacre at Mountain Meadows (Walker, Leonard and Turley). In Vengeance is Mine, the authors exhaustively cover the motives that led to the massacre at Mountain Meadows of the 120-plus victims, followed by the complex aftermath that includes cover-up attempts with the entirety of the blame placed on the neighboring Paiutes, as well as governmental and political intrigue. Also detailed are the delayed, if not coordinated, efforts to obstruct justice in indicting the nine key individuals involved. For the speakers' bios, please click here for the full show notes plus additional resources and readings. Do you have a question? Write askahistorian@utah.gov.

Date: September 19, 2022 (Season 5, Episode 3 - 35 minutes long). Click Here for the Utah Dept. of Culture & Community Engagement version of this Speak Your Piece episode.  Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click Here.Here are two audio samples from the October 26, 2022 state history conference "WATER AT THE CONFLUENCE OF PAST & FUTURE'' (Provo Marriott Hotel & Convention Center, 101 West 100 North, Provo, Utah). To join Utah's annual history fest click here. In this episode director of Utah's Indian Affairs Dustin Jansen and ethnohistorian Dr. Sondra Jones, offers sneak peeks into their conference session “Native Utahns: The Struggle to Get and Use Water."  This episode was co-produced by James Toledo (Program Manager, Utah Division of Indian Affairs).Jansen relates the recent history of Westwater, San Juan County, Utah, a rural Navajo community on the edge of Blanding, Utah, which has struggled for fifty years to get water and electricity. Jansen speaks to the combined efforts to overcome long standing obstacles, led by Utah Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson, along with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Utah State Legislature. Jones speaks of the very long road (1861 to the present) for the Ute people gaining access, then losing by forced sales (eminent domain) and finally gaining ownership to water flowing through the Uinta & Ouray Reservation. This includes the backstory to the Strawberry Valley Reservoir–Utah's first public works project drawing water from the Colorado River drainage system–and the beginning of the federally funded Central Utah Project. The Utah Division of State History and Utah Museums Association are combining their conferences this year (back to back -- museum conference October 24-26 and the Utah history conference October 26). Bio: Dustin Jansen has been since 2019 the director of the Utah Division of Indian Affairs. Originally from Coyote Canyon, New Mexico, he was born and raised on the Navajo Reservation. Attending school at Utah Valley University (UVU, Orem, Utah), BYU (Provo), and at the University of Utah, Dustin then graduated with a Juris Doctorate from the S.J. Quinney College of Law. From 2006 to 2015 he served as a tribal judge at the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation. In 2015 he was appointed program coordinator for the American Indian Studies program at UVU. Photo courtesy of the S.J. Quinney School of Law, University of Utah. Bio: Dr. Sondra G. Jones has a PhD in history from the University of Utah in American and Native American History. Sondra is an adjunct professor in the History Department at Brigham Young University, and is the author of Being and Becoming Ute: The Story of an American Indian (2019).  She is also the author of numerous other books and articles on the history of the Ute Nation.  Do you have a question or comment, or a proposed guest for “Speak Your Piece?” Write us at “ask a historian” – askahistorian@utah.gov 

Date: September 8, 2022 (Season 5, Episode 2: 58 minutes long). Click here to see the SYP webpage which includes historical photographs and recommended readings. Caption for the above photograph: early explorers peering out from within a cave formation in American Fork Canyon's Timpanogos Cave.  Courtesy of the Timpanogos Cave National Monument (NPS). Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click here.Next month on October 14, 2022 Utah’s Timpanogos Cave–which actually includes three linked caves-–will celebrate its 100th anniversary as a protected national monument. It was in 1922 that President Warren G. Harding signed Proclamation No. 15040, under the authority of the American Antiquities Act of 1906, to protect the caves for their "unusual scientific interest and importance." Before the monument closes this season on October 16 (or when it reopens in May 2023), we urge you to visit Timp Cave, and join in monument’s centennial celebrations.  Ranger Cami McKinney (program manager over stewardship & interpretation at the Timpanogos Cave National Monument, NPS) is Utah’s leading historian concerning the American Fork Canyon monument. She is the author of Heart of the Mountain, a History of Timpanogos Cave.  A digital version may be available soon here, a hard copy version is available at the Timp Cave store. McKinney started to work at the caves in 1997, and has loved digging into its history ever since. This episode includes the caves’ natural history, its human history–within and surrounding the caves–and finally its speleology. Ranger McKinney wants all of us to learn this word, which is a composite science, involving a cave’s geology, hydrology, biology, cave morphology and its changing microclimate.  Speleology is also all about the stalagmites, helictites, speleothems and anthodites – all the stunning formations created by millions of years of permeating water and minerals. Recently the monument has offered different kinds of tours including lantern tours early each morning. To learn more, look for “Centennial Lantern Tours” on the main page. Topics discussed in this light and engaging SYP episode include: (a) The history of timber harvesting, lumber mills, mining claims, mining towns, even the railroad up American Fork Canyon. (b) The 1887 to 1921 discoveries and rediscoveries of the caves. (c) The history of the NFS, and later in the NPS, and their work in protecting (It was a threatening mining claim which was a catalyst for calls for federal protection). (d) The Native American history surrounding Timpanogos Peak and Cave. (e) The history of the geological, thermal, and other physical forces which created the underground spaces.(f) The early 20th century hiking clubs, including both the men and women, who were instrumental in the cave’s discovery and protection. (g) The early local (Timpanogos Outdoor Committee) and federal partnership which built the trails, set up electrical lighting and more, for the cave.(h) The legends and stories about Timpanogos Mountain and the caves.  (i) The multi-generational, Utah families and individuals, who have served to protect, guide and interpret within the caves for one hundred years.  Bio: Ranger Cami McKinney, is the Program Manager for Resource Stewardship and Interpretation at Timp Cave. She had been a ranger for 25 years. During this journey she also received her Masters Degree in Natural Resources at Utah State University. McKinney began working at Timp Cave in 1997, and has loved digging into the history of the cave and its canyon ever since. She is the author of Heart of the Mountain, a history of Timpanogos Cave. 

Date: July 7, 2022 (Season 4, Episode 15: 63 min. & 52 sec. long). For the entire show notes and additional resources for this episode, click here. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click Here. This episode was co-produced by Cassandra Clark, Brad Westwood and Chelsey Zamir. Post-production editing was completed by Cassandra Clark and Kennedy Oringdulph.This SYP episode is part of an ongoing series about women’s history in Utah. It involves a discussion with SYP host Brad Westwood, Dr. Cassandra Clark (at the time of this recording, Utah Division of State History’s first named women’s historian), Alice Faulkner Burch (director of special events for Sema Hadithi Foundation), and Tiffany Greene (education director for Better Days and team leader of the research group for the Black Women Working Group at Sema Hadithi Foundation) about the mural unveiled in Richmond Park (444 East 600 South, Salt Lake City) in summer 2022 as part of Utah’s Juneteenth celebrations. This episode will better acquaint listeners to the historical significance, the personal stories, and the broader context surrounding the lives of these four remarkable Black women featured on this mural: Jane Elizabeth Manning James (1821-1908), Elizabeth “Lizzie” Taylor (1873-1932), Elnora Dudley (1883-1956) , and Mignon Barker Richmond (1897-1984). The partnering organizations for this mural were the Sema Hadithi Foundation, African American Heritage and Culture Foundation, and Better Days 2020 (rebranded to Better Days). Wasatch Community Gardens, the Utah Division of State History, and the Utah Division of Arts and Museums were also part of this important effort.Greene, Burch, and Clark conclude this conversation by summarizing the influence these women have made. Greene notes that these four women bring to the forefront of what it really means to establish Utah history – they each played an important role being here in the state. Burch hopes that this mural means something to Black American women in Utah, that they can look at this mural and see that Black women have been in this state since the 1800s and have had such an immense impact and can say “I, too, belong here.”This mural is open to the public in the community garden at Richmond Park. The women’s names and date ranges of their lives are on the mural. We encourage listeners, after finishing this episode, to please visit the mural and enjoy it with some context. For all of the speakers' bios, please click here for the full show notes. Do you have a question? Write askahistorian@utah.gov.

Date: June 27, 2022 (Season 4, Episode 14: 59 minutes & 21 seconds long). For the entire show notes and additional resources for this episode Click Here. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click Here. This episode was co-produced by Brad Westwood and Chelsey Zamir, with help (sound engineering and post-production editing) from Jason Powers from the Utah State Library Recording Studio.Dr. Gregory E. Smoak, longtime director of the American West Center (Univ. of Utah) and associate professor of history, discusses with SYP host Brad Westwood his 2021 book entitled, “Western Lands, Western Voices: Essays on Public History in the American West,” (The University of Utah Press). Smoak describes the U of U American West Center, and its 50 plus years of public facing history work. Smoak also defines, in this series of essays, what makes up “Public History.” The essays explore the American West and the academic or formal interpretation of it. The book is a wonderful collection of defensible and peer-reviewed writing on public history. The collection aspires to address the questions most perplexing to Smoak’s history colleagues: what makes public history “public” and what makes a “public historian?” Sometimes, public history is wrongly conflated with “popular history,” often reducing it to a matter of audience, and associating it with a “lesser” type of history. The essays address questions and ideas via collaboration with many historians’ contributions to the collection. This book, Smoak hopes, will educate the public on what public history really is in hopes of inspiring a positive effect on communities. What is the American West Center? Founded in 1964, it’s one of the oldest regional studies centers in the country in the pursuit of western history. It was founded by two professors Russ Mortensen and C. Gregory Crampton as a partnership with the Western History Association to produce a second journal/magazine on the American West. That endeavor only lasted for a couple of years, which left the American West Center (hereafter AWC) needing a solid reason for existing which was filled by the tobacco industry heiress, Doris Duke, who in 1967, gave sizable financial grants to several universities including the AWC, to conduct hundreds of oral histories with Native Americans across the Intermountain West. The AWC became the manager of this massive oral history undertaking, available here. Today, the AWC focuses on oral history projects; provides research assistantship positions to students during their masters and doctoral studies; and conducts contracted research projects related to Native American treaties, environmental, architectural and water rights history. Work completed by the AWC is available to the public via the Marriott Library, Special Collections Department.  Bio: Dr. Gregory E. Smoak is an associate professor of history at the University of Utah, the director of the American West Center since 2012, and 2021 president of the National Council on Public History. Dr. Smoak focuses on public history, Native American history, and American West history with special interest on water rights. Do you have a question? Write askahistorian@utah.gov.

Date: June 15, 2022 (Season 4, Episode 13: 1 hour, 11 min. & 50 sec. long). For the entire show notes and additional resources for this episode Click here.  Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click Here.  This episode was co-produced by Brad Westwood and Chelsey Zamir, with help (sound engineering and post-production editing) from Jason Powers from the Utah State Library Recording Studio.This episode is with Brent F. Ashworth, someone who knew Mark W. Hofmann, well, or at least among those collectors and dealers that frequently bought and sold with him. Ashworth met, traded and wrangled with Hofmann, every week or every other week in person, meeting either at Hofmann's home or at a bench outside Walden Books in the Crossroads Plaza Mall in Salt Lake City (replaced in 2012 by the City Creek Center) for over four years.“Swinging for the fences,” as the old sports analogy goes, Hofmann was not content to forge and fool collectors of just Mormon, Western Americana and literary materials, he sought to deceive the nation's most distinguished and respected historical institutions, subject specialists, and rare book and antiquity dealers. He may very well have completed his diabolical transactions except for what unfolded in Salt Lake City in fall 1985, including the murders of Steven Christensen and Kathy Sheets. For a basic historical context and timeline see: David J. Whittaker, “The Hofmann Maze, the Book Review Essay With Chronology of the Hofmann Case,” BYU Studies, Vol. 29, Issue 1 (Jan 1, 1989).  Ashworth opens the discussion by explaining his first interaction with Hofmann in May 1981. Ashworth had been in the SLC bookstore and head shop, the Cosmic Aeroplane, the day before he met Hofmann. A friend who worked at the store mentioned that Mark Hofmann had come in the day before and sold what he described as samples of Joseph and Hyrum Smith’s hair, which piqued Ashworth’s interest. At the time, Ashworth had been a well-known collector for nearly 20 years, and so he called Hofmann the next day and introduced himself as a collector and had been hoping to track down a letter signed by Joseph Smith. As it turned out Hofmann said he just so happened to have a holographic letter, signed by Joseph Smith to his wife, Emma Smith. Ashworth made a deal to obtain the letter, and the following day he received it in the mail. Ashworth now unintentionally sees that he had “ordered up” this, and many other forgeries he acquired from Hofmann.  What was Hofmann’s motive for his forgeries? According to a statement given by Dorie Hofmann, Mark Hofmann’s wife, "he wanted publicity and money." According to Ashworth, he believes Hofmann was trying to negatively affect Mormon history, and by extension the church he had been born and raised in. Bio: Brent Ashworth is the owner of B. Ashworth’s Inc., a Provo, Utah rare book, document, and artifact company, which opened in 2006. Ashworth has been a collector of rare historical materials since childhood. Concurrent to a lifetime of collecting, Ashworth has served as general counsel for a series of personal health and supplement corporations. Do you have a question? Write askahistorian@utah.gov.

Date: March 7, 2022 (Season 4, Episode 7: 59 min. & 28 sec. long). For the entire show notes and additional resources for this episode Click here. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click Here.  This episode was co-produced by Brad Westwood and Chelsey Zamir, with help (sound engineering and post-production editing) from Jason Powers from the Utah State Library Recording Studio. This episode is an interview with Dr. Brandon Plewe, BYU geographer and cartographer, with SYP host Brad Westwood. It involves a discussion about Plewe’s 2022 Utah Historical Quarterly article entitled “Placing Immigrants in Salt Lake City, 1900,” Utah Historical Quarterly, (Winter, 2022: Vol. 90, No. 1).Why use geography and cartography to tell this story?  Plewe describes that geography, particularly spatial data or mapping of locations, offer researchers entirely different ways of seeing and thinking about history.  In this case, Plewe and his BYU students mapped the exact addresses of those picked up in 1900 Census data. In mapping these addresses, they discovered a pattern of immigration across downtown SLC. In order to discover the larger picture that this data would tell, they examined the distribution of immigrants, the different countries they emigrated from, and where exactly in SLC they settled. This geographical data renders an otherwise undetected picture that shows Mormons were seen through a racial lens. This research fits into that which was pioneered by Dr. Paul Reeve – Mormons, at this time, were seen as different from other Americans. The Mormon Church was successful in bringing many immigrants from Great Britain, Western Europe and Scandinavia, and assimilating them into Utah’s existing dominant culture. Less effective were their attempts to assimilate immigrants from Italy, Spain, Ireland, Poland, etc., into Utah society. The latter group of immigrants were considered “less white,” and Mormons were viewed by many Americans as “less American.” Obsessed with their national image, the members of the Mormon Church aspired to be seen as equally American and concurrently predominantly white. Unknowingly or at times knowingly, SLC society segregated certain “less white” groups to specific areas, so as to differentiate themselves from these communities.  Plewe concludes in this discussion that religion, race, economics, and the way each population of immigrants had different influences on SLC. English, German, and Scandinavian immigrants primarily migrated for religious purposes and were actively assimilated into the culture and, therefore, spatially distributed. Whereas, non-English speaking and Irish immigrants emigrated not for religious purposes, but for economic and labor reasons and for cheaper housing.Bio: Dr. Brandon S. Plewe, an associate professor of geography at BYU (Provo), has been teaching there since 1997. Plewe is a committed trail preservationist and his research focuses on mapmaking and map uses related to Mormonism and the American West. To experience Plewe’s most recent mapping ideas go to #30DayMapChallenge on his Twitter feed. Do you have a question? Write askahistorian@utah.gov

Date: April 11, 2022 (Season 4, Episode 12: 55 min. & 40 sec. long). For the entire show notes and additional resources for this episode Click here. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click Here.  This episode was co-produced by Brad Westwood and Chelsey Zamir, with help (sound engineering and post-production editing) from Jason Powers from the Utah State Library Recording Studio.This SYP episode is an interview with Mary Dickson, a Downwinder and thyroid cancer survivor, with SYP host Brad Westwood. The episode details Dickson’s personal history and her research regarding the implications of America’s nuclear testing. This captivating and devastating story outlines the historical intersections between Utah, the Intermountain West, and the US’s nuclear government testing, mostly done at the Nevada Test Site (300 miles from SLC), during and after America’s Cold War (1947-1991). Dickson explains the historical context of the western USA during the era of the Cold War. A nation on edge due to the “Red Scare,” the USA rushed to win a nuclear arms race after Russia announced it has the technology necessary to build its own nuclear capabilities. Wanting to build a nuclear arsenal in response, the USA sought out a permanent bomb test site, finally landing on Utah’s neighbor, Nevada (the Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range), where the Nevada Test Site would come to be. Starting in 1951-1962, nearly 100 atmospheric nuclear tests were conducted, some of these bombs even more powerful than the bombs that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Health claims from the surrounding population started to pile up including miscarriages and other largely unexplained ailments. In an attempt to tamper down concerns, the US government released a statement: these blasts aren’t harmful and, in fact, so safe that people were encouraged to watch the blasts. Behind the scenes, the actual story was kept a secret for nearly forty years. Overall, throughout the eleven years of testing, as Dickson noted, about 160 million Americans suffered the consequences, knowingly or unknowingly becoming Downwinders, what Dickson defines as one who has been exposed, and/or lived downwind from the nuclear tests and became ill from the radiation.Dickson concludes that many people today still do not fully understand the fallout from America’s nuclear testing. The knowledge of how widespread the exposure really was is still not widely known.  She’s also worked with many community members to advocate for the passage of the US congress bill that will expand Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (bills S.2798 and H.R.5338). After several years of advocacy work, Dickson compiled a series of monologues that consisted of interviews from fellow Downwinders and meeting minutes from the Atomic Energy Commission into a playwright titled “Exposed” which was picked up by Plan B Theater Company and continues as stage readings to this day.Bio: Mary Dickson is a former KUED TV creative director (now retired) and is the host of Contact with Mary Dickson on PBS Utah. She is an award-winning writer and playwright for “Exposed,” and is an internationally recognized advocate for survivors of nuclear weapon testing.Do you have a question? Write askahistorian@utah.gov

Date: April 27, 2022 (Season 4, Episode 11: 1 hour, 12 minutes & 49 seconds long). For the entire show notes and additional resources for this episode Click Here. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click Here. This episode was produced by Brad Westwood with help (sound engineering and post-production editing) from Jason Powers from the Utah State Library Recording Studio. Utah and Western historian John Sillito, saw many things to admire in his subject B. H. (Brigham Henry) Roberts (1857-1933). His dogged resistance to embracing women's suffrage [women’s right to vote] was definitely not one of them. A quote in Sillito’s book on Roberts however, underscores how beloved and respected, and tells of his amazing oratory skills, even among those who were staunchly opposed to him. “It took him some time to gather himself but once he did he was an oratorical avalanche. A stream of language, potent and pleasing, flowed from his lips and caught his listeners until even those who were most bitterly opposed to him were compelled to pay compliment to his power with rapture supplies…the suffragists themselves could not but admire his courage, and when he had finished they crowded around him and shook his hands enthusiastically.” “Suffrage is the Theme,” Salt Lake Herald, May 29, 1895. There are, to John Sillito’s count, three other pre-existing biographies of Roberts. This did not stop Sillito, in writing an entirely new biography; and for this we are grateful. Yes, this is a “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” story; however, it is almost equally a Utah story; and even more so, a personal story about a scrappy, near-illiterate immigrant child, who in an Horatio Alger-like effort, reached the highest levels of religious, political and intellectual accomplishment in late 19th and early 20 c. Utah.   Sillito’s biography offers loads of insights into a rapidly changing Utah (circa 1880-1930s), and besides Robert’s childhood life in England and then 1860-70s Utah, and his personal life and friends, the larger themes include local and national politics, the abandonment of a central religious tenet (polygamy), Utah gradually joining national markets (intellectually and economically), and Utah and the LDS Church imbracing larger political trends including Jim Crow (a body of statutes that legalized racial discrimination and segregation).  Roberts is best known as a church historian and one of Utah's most beloved public intellectuals, some of his published works include:The Life of John Taylor, Third President… (1892); The History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (7 vol., 1919); The Mormon Battalion; its History and Achievements (1919), and The Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (6 vol., 1930).Bio: John Sillito, Emeritus Professor, Weber State University (1977- 2018), is a native Salt Laker, and besides this book in discussion, he is the co-author of A History of Utah Radicalism: Startling, Socialistic & Decidedly Revolutionary with historian John S. McCormick (Utah State Historical Society’s Best Book in 2011). John’s edited collection of B. H. Roberts diaries—published as History’s Apprentice—received the Mormon History Association’s best documentary award in 2005. Sillito is the recipient of a lifetime service award from CIMA (Conference of Intermountain Archivists) in 2013

Date: March 28, 2022 (Season 4, Episode 10: 52 min. & 8 sec. long). For the entire show notes and additional resources for this episode Click Here. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click Here.  This episode was co-produced by Brad Westwood, Chelsey Zamir, and Cassandra Clark, with help (sound engineering and postproduction editing) from Jason Powers from the Utah State Library Recording Studio. This SYP episode is part of an ongoing series about women’s history in Utah. It involves a discussion with Dr. Cassandra Clark about Miriam B. Murphy’s 2015 Utah Historical Quarterly article, entitled: “‘If Only I Shall Have the Right Stuff’: Utah Women in World War I,” (Fall, 1990: Vol. 58, No. 4).Miriam Murphy sums up her argument: this article explores the Utah women who participated in a range of war-related activities in “direct participation with the military or with civilian organizations that took them to the battlefront.” (pg. 336) A longtime editor for the UHQ, Murphy states that many of these women’s activities and accomplishments to the war effort went largely unnoticed.Due to gendered ideas in the early 1900s, many women were still limited within the organization of war. Nonetheless, women were involved from the front of the war effort with involvement in nursing and transporting wounded soldiers, all the way to the back with clerical and canteen workers and were responsible for funding their own participation. Two women by the names of Maud Fitch and Elizabeth McCune were ambulance drivers but were responsible for purchasing their own vehicles, providing their own living expenses, and McCune became a certified mechanic to repair the ambulance herself. Dr. Clark describes that the best way to understand what is going on in the US at this time is a country in shift. Many questions of identity, brought on by the war, were explored. Initially, the US, and by extension Utah, were reluctant to get involved in a war considered a European issue. Once officially involved, many Americans found themselves asking the question of what it looks like to be an American, what does that identity entail? Concerns arise around particular groups of people (immigrants, African Americans, Native Americans) not being “American enough” and the need for an “Americanization” class.Clark concludes in this discussion with SYP host Brad Westwood, that women did, in fact, have the “right stuff” as the title of the article alludes. Women fully embraced participating in the war, often funding their own involvement. Unfortunately, once the war ends, what is highlighted and remembered is men’s participation, and what’s lost to the annals of history, is the full story of women’s involvement, especially that of working-class women and women of color [whose stories are beyond what is described in this article]. Miriam B. Murphy was the Associate Editor of the Utah Historical Quarterly from 1970-1997, and in the same unappreciated way helped shape the UHQ into a respected state history journal. Murphy is now considered a pioneer in bringing to the fore women's history in Utah.  Dr. Cassandra Clark (University of Utah, 2018) was, at the time of this recording, Utah Division of State History’s first named Womens’ Historian. In early fall of 2022, Dr. Clark became an assistant professor of history at Utah Tech University (St. George, Utah). Do you have a question? Write askahistorian@utah.gov