The Vine and the Oak: Womanhood on the Western Frontier
This is an article I wrote about nineteenth century Mormon Polygamy and was able to present it at the 2024 Mormon History Conference in Kirtland, Ohio.
Reynolds v. United States resides on a “fault line” in the U.S. Supreme Court’s practice of constitutional interpretation.[1] This case was the culmination of a thirty-year debate over the anti-polygamist cultural controversy and the beginning of a decade long discussion surrounding the freedom of religious expression and definition of American citizenship. In nineteenth century America, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the focal point of the anti-polygamist movement specifically targeting the growing threat of Mormon disregard for federal intervention in the Utah Territory, and the Church’s practice of plural marriage. In a time of controversy and violence surrounding slavery and the declination of civilization, cultural pressure spurred governmental intervention in the Western Territories by equating polygamy to slavery as the “twin relics of barbarism.”[2] For Mormon women, external threats and their lifestyle equated to slavery, drew defiant outrage and a flurry of organized resistance against federal authority. This paper argues that while Utah Territorial women lived in a strict religious hierarchy, women utilized extra-institutional tools to carve out space for Mormon women’s political activism, while defending their religion, faith-based lifestyle, and community family.
[1] Sarah Barringer Gordon. The Mormon Question: Polygamy and Constitutional Conflict in Nineteenth Century. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002). 116.
[2] Brent M. Rogers. “Mormons and the Territorial Politics in the American Civil War Era.” A Companion to American Religious History. Editor Benjamin E. Park. (Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2021). 137.
The Backpack: Solidarity in Secrets and Sacrifice
The Legacy of the Relief Society in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Women are deliciously complicated filled with competing tensions between softness and grit, empathy and tenacity, and insecurity and ferocity. Analyzing the behavior and characteristics of a subset of women, especially religious women, becomes especially problematic when there is an idealized notion of perfection and then there is well, reality or the way women actually live religious principles. This reality of lived religion is a fascinating source of scholarship, but I wanted to go deeper than what the archives offered. I interviewed four women who are active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These generous ladies offered their life experiences to enhance my historiographic research on lived religion and women’s relationship to formal religious hierarchical power. I produced this research into a podcast episode. Please enjoy reading and/or listening to this production.
Rumor Has It: The Ghosting of Madame Mountford
As I was researching connections between Islam and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I stumbled on a collection of letters between Madame Lydia Mary Olive Mamreoff Von Finklestein Mountford and Susa Young Gates. Needless to say, I was intrigued. As I continued in my research of Madame Mountford, I stumbled upon a small niche of nineteenth century biblical religious spectacle entertainers.
The Madame (as she liked to be called) claimed to be a native Palestinian so gained notoriety for her panoramic performance which promised authenticity and relatability. Her dramatic performances made the Bible come alive and appealed to the aspiring American middle class who wanted a taste of the Holy Land but couldn’t or didn’t want to travel the distance.[1] Mountford’s religious enthusiasm directly connected with Mormon culture, in the late nineteenth century, and set the tone for a three-decade long relationship. Many scholars have focused on a possible post manifesto plural marriage between Mountford and Wilford Woodruff but ignored the Madame’s career as a traveling “religious spectacle” lecturer. While the Madame fulfilled her self-proclaimed divine calling through a costumed, live interpretation of the Bible, her connection to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Utah elite left behind a cryptic puzzle of unrealized expectations, unpaid invoices, and evaporated friendships.[2]
Enjoy learning about this very unique biblical performer!
[1] Burke O. Long. Imagining the Holy Land.46. [2] As quoted in “Born in Jerusalem.” Washington Star. Washington, D.C. March 12, 1909. Church Archives. MS 2824. Folder 7. Page 2.
Historiographic Review of a Nineteenth Century American Citizen
Are you a citizen? To be a citizen, or to have citizenship, is defined as a person residing in a location and owes allegiance to the governing organization of that jurisdiction. In return for a person’s allegiance or service to the organization, a citizen can generally expect protection from external threats. [1] This definition of a citizen seems straight forward, however the meaning of “citizenship” is layered between complex tensions of being subject to a set of cultural and governmental rules, an expectation of returned benefits for allegiance, and negotiating societal judgement from other citizens. Some individuals are born into citizenship, while other people are required to fulfill requirements to be accepted as a citizen of a specific jurisdiction. When citizenship is acquired, an identity is created and then connected to broader social and cultural acceptance (or rejection) of the formed identity. In the United States of America, citizenship is nuanced by gender, race, and socioeconomic class. To further complicate these distinctions, the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship are driven by cultural agendas and legislative actions that are continually shifting around formally instituted rights, participation in the polity and a sense of belonging. [2]
The American body of citizens is a remarkable collection of diverse cultures, races and ethnicities. This population diversity was evident in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. These time periods are emblematic of a society in the midst of change through conflict, cultural upheaval, and technological advancements. Within these societal changes, the idea of citizenship or “belonging” was also evolving in that and each person living in the United States of America interpreted their citizenship or duty to the republic differently. For some people, citizenship had inherited rights and responsibilities while others had to carve out a space for participation.
To represent the diversity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Ethan W. Clark artistically crafted the following image which represents the profile of the American body politic. Inspired by Leonardo DaVinci’s “Vitruvian Man,” each limb of this figure demonstrates different elements in the American society citizenry. Each part of the profile (eyes, nose, and mouth) as well as the core and limbs are “clickable.” Click on each focus point to read a brief historiographic review on different perspectives of American citizenship and how the meanings of citizenship are received, digested, and structured.
Just as the eyes, nose, and mouth broadly construct the human facial profile, the American citizenship profile can also be constructed through our physical senses. The human eyes make snap judgements on a true citizen’s appearance; this preconceived image is a judgement of how individuals observe others that may be different from themselves. Further as the human nose provides an avenue for the physical body to intake life-sustaining oxygen to our lungs and bloodstream, principles in American society need oxygen to sustain cultural foundations of defined citizenry constructs. People give oxygen to principles through the daily use of assumptions, presumptions, and application of judgement. Lastly, just as our mouths ingest nutrients for bodily functions, people ingest and accept presented ideas as fact lending credence to ideals of worthiness or ability to be a real citizen in the American republic.
As the United States society is diverse, each different limb of the American Citizenship figure is meant to represent a highlighted American demographic in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century. It is important to emphasize that this image is symbolic in nature. Each limb simplifies a broad array of peoples who were individuals seeking new prospects in a land that promised opportunity and guaranteed rights through the symbolic dream of equality and prosperity. The Gilded Age American populous had many different races, socio-economic class structures, religions, and qualities of life. This image is merely a keyhole perspective of how Americans may have seen each other. It is not my intent or desire to generalize lived experiences or minimize the violent legacy of racism.
For the figure, one arm represents American immigrants-specifically Asian immigrant workers, another arm represents the working-class man, while a third arm represents an elite man’s perspective, and the last arm represents women in the American republic. For the legs, Native Americans represent one leg, and the other highlighted leg focuses on a freed enslaved person of African descent. These initial images are how an elite man may have viewed the different demographic segments in the United States. In contrast, each brief vignette will explore how each American citizen interpreted their constitutionally mandated rights, participated in the American republic, and lastly how broader society accepted or rejected each group of people.
While the title of “American citizen” may have been a beacon of hope to many people, citizenship in the United States has a complicated history that is influenced by gender, race, and class and defined by perspective, perception, and judgment.
[1] “Citizen.” Merriam-Webster.com. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/citizen?utm_campaign=sd&utm_medium=serp&utm_source=jsonld. Accessed Nov 24, 2023.
[2] Christine Talbot. A Foreign Kingdom: Mormons and Polygamy in American Political Culture 1852-1890. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2013). 5.
Bibliography
Benton-Cohen, Katherine. Inventing the Immigration Problem: The Dillingham Commission and its Legacy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2018.
“Citizen.” Merriam-Webster.com. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/citizen?utm_campaign=sd&utm_medium=serp&utm_source=jsonld. Accessed Nov 24, 2023.
Cole, Simon A. Suspect Identities: A History of Fingerprinting and Criminal Identification. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002.
Coleman, Arica L. That the Blood Stay Pure: African Americans, Native Americans, and the Predicament of Race and Identity in Virginia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013.
Cornwall Madsen, Carol. A Mormon Woman in Victorian America. Dissertation. University of Utah, 1985.
Kanigel, Robert. The One Best Way: Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency. New York City: The Penguin Group, 1997.
Kerber, Linda. No Constitutional Right to be Ladies. New York City: Hill and Wang, 1998.
Kitterman, Katherine. “‘No Ordinary Feelings’: Mormon Women’s Political Activism, 1870-1920.” PhD Dissertation, Washington: American University, 2021.
Knight, Louise W. Citizen: Jane Addams and the Struggle for Democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.
Lew-Williams, Beth. The Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien in America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2018.
O’Hara, S. Paul. Inventing the Pinkertons: or Spies, Sleuths, Mercenaries, and Thugs. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016.
Pearsall, Sarah M.S. “Women in the American Revolutionary War.” The Oxford Handbook of the American Revolution. Edited by Jane Kamensky and Edward G. Gray. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Prout, Jerry. Coxey’s Crusade for Jobs: Unemployment in the Gilded Age. Dekalb, Northern Illinois University Press; 2016.
Rogers, Brent M. “Mormons and the Territorial Politics in the American Civil War Era.” A Companion to American Religious History. Editor Benjamin E. Park. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2021.
Rothman, Adam. Beyond Freedom’s Reach: A Kidnapping in the Twilight of Slavery. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015.
Schulman, Vanessa Meikle. Work Cites: The Visual Culture of Industry in Nineteenth-Century America. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2015. 42.
Talbot, Christine. A Foreign Kingdom: Mormons and Polygamy in American Political Culture 1852-1890. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2013. 5.
Updike Toler, Lorianne. “Western Reconstruction and Woman Suffrage.” William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal. Vol 28, Issue 1. 2019.
White, Richard. Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2011.
Wood, Amy Louise. Lynching and Spectacle: Witnessing Racial Violence in America, 1890-1940. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009.
Religious Growth on the Oregon Trail
I attempted a methodological study in R Studio. Please forgive the novice nature of the work as I am still learning this powerful tool.
This is a study of religions on the Western Frontier from 1850 to 1870. Starting in 1790, the United States Census Bureau performs a decennial count of the United States population. Up until the early twentieth century, the Census process included an accounting of the number and types of religious bodies within the United States. Analysis is based on data from the U.S. Census reports on religious congregational bodies for the years 1850, 1860, and 1870 while applying shape data from the National Historic Geographic Information System. It is important to note that this census data does not show the numbers of people affiliated with each congregation but demonstrates the numbers of a sect’s congregation in geographic areas, specifically state and county jurisdictions.
It is fascinating to observe the change in the United States population in the mid-nineteenth century and how their belief systems evolve and progress during westward expansion. Roger Finke and Rodney Stark’s compelling analyses of overlanders’ search for spiritual fulfillment demonstrates the change in American religious economy in the mid-nineteenth century. My argument centers on the idea that while Finke and Stark’s studies are correct in their assessment of religious growth on the eastern coast of the United States, their conclusions do not apply to the Western Frontier during this massive overland settlement of the Western frontier as some religions flourished while others prominence began to decline.
1976 Teton Dam Collapse
This is a delve into the causes behind the 1976 Teton Dam Collapse. I discuss the actual design problems which led to the dam collapse but my primary focus is on the political pressures and institutional hubris which led to design flaws, failures and local tragedies.
My methodology pulls from primary and secondary sources. The idea for this actually stemmed from The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate by Robert Caro who focused on Lyndon Johnson’s career specifically, but more broadly the background from the United States Senate. In Caro’s book, he mentions a relationship between Lyndon Johnson and Idaho Senator Frank Church. Caro discusses a case study with the Hells Canyon Dam and the Civil rights battle in the early 1960s. My argument asserts that the Hells Canyon legislation created a precedent for Frank Church water legislation and his ability to push a project through the congressional maze of law making.
Water legislation was both the initiation of Church’s political career and his ultimate undoing.
The format of research is in podcast form where survivors from the flood recount their experience and listeners can gain a new, interesting, and possibly a different perspective of this man made calamity in 1976 South-East Idaho. Happy listening!
The Scary Tool of Discussion Boards
In 2018, I was asked to present at a professional teaching conference at BYU-Idaho. I researched and spoke to online instructors on affective Discussion Board management to more highly utilize classroom tools to reach students for better curriculum internalization.
