2025 Conference Season Review

Church Historian’s Press authors and staff have been busy at conferences and symposia this summer and fall. Many historians, editors, and writers presented research, and several took home awards.

Most recently, the Church History Department hosted a conference titled “I Am in Your Midst”: Jesus Christ at the Center of Church History. As keynote speaker, Church Historian and Recorder Kyle S. McKay illustrated a model for centering Jesus Christ as the main character in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. CHD staff presented at and moderated sessions throughout the conference. In one session, three historian-writers, Spencer McBride, Scott Hales, and Brittany Chapman Nash, talked about how faith impacted their experiences on projects like the Joseph Smith Papers, Saints, and Carry On. Together, they agreed that studying history and studying doctrine are compatible, concluding that both entail an honest commitment to truth.

CHP projects made popular subject matter for sessions at several other conferences as well. Brigham Young University’s annual Education Week held four sessions covering the CHP’s most recent print publication, Carry On: The Latter-day Saint Young Women Organization, 1870–2024, in which authors James Goldberg, Lisa Olsen Tait, and Amber C. Taylor discussed the research and stories behind the book. At the Mormon History Association conference, historians Robin Jensen and Jeffrey Mahas and editor Keaton Reed gave a sneak peek into the upcoming book featuring William Clayton’s Nauvoo journal, which is being published through Yale University Press. They explained that in addition to already published information about plural marriage found in the journal, readers may be interested in Clayton’s detailed perspectives on the final years of Joseph Smith’s life, the performing arts and social history of Nauvoo, the construction and financing of the temple, and the succession crisis.

CHP authors and staff presented at various other conferences around the country, including the John Whitmer Historical Association conference; the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing conference; and a joint conference of Mormon Scholars in the Humanities and the Association for Mormon Letters.

At the Mormon History Association, our Global Histories team was honored with the Ardis E. Parshall Public History Award. Congratulations to the several other Church Historian’s Press historians and writers who took home awards for personal projects:

• Christopher Rich and LaJean Carruth (and coauthor): MHA’s Best Book for This Abominable Slavery

• Michelle Graabek: MHA’s Best International History Article for “Regarding the Mormons,” published in the Journal of Mormon History

• Brent Rogers: Wyoming Historical Society’s Best Biography Award for Buffalo Bill and the Mormons

• James Goldberg (and coauthors): Association for Mormon Letters’ novel winner for Tales of the Chelm First Ward

We also celebrate beloved colleague Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye, who was posthumously recognized by the Association for Mormon Letters for her essay “A Church That Is Real.”

Congratulations to our historians and staff for their publishing and presenting efforts this year!