Podcasts about female relief society

February 7, 2022 (Season 4, Episode 4: 67 minutes long), click here for the Utah Department of Culture & Community Engagement's fuller version with complete show notes, for this Speak Your Piece episode.American historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's influential 2017 book A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women's Rights in Early Mormonism,1835-1870 (Vintage Books, New York), is the focus of this part-conversation, part seminar discussion, between pubic historians Dr. Cassandra Clark and Brad Westwood. The purposes for this discussion: (a) offer an exchange of ideas regarding Ulrich's book; (b) highlight the author's thesis and arguments or at least a selection of Ulrich's arguments; and (c) draw out important through-lines not often understood by the general public concerning 19th century Mormon women's history. All of this to understand better Utah's history. This is the first episode in a series on Utah women's history where the Utah Division of State History's public historian Dr. Cassandra Clark, discusses important books and articles on Women's history in Utah.  Topics discussed in this episode include: Clark's take on Ulrich's thesis and arguments; 19th century Mormon/Utah womens' medical activities–how spiritual, medical and healing knowledge were largely treated together; a more complex story regarding the Mormon priesthood (women's actors included); women laying the foundation for their church's global successes; how women's activities and networks supported proselytizing; how plural households and extended communities of women functioned as incubators for female activism (religious and political); and how the Utah-Mormon woman's story fits into the larger 19th c. American story.  Topics discussed, continued: How and why Mormon women worked differently within separate gender spheres; womens' writing, editing and publishing; how Utah women's large “Indignation Meetings” (1870s to 1890s) offered public support of plural marriage and attempted to defend the practice against broad national anti-polgyamy sentiments; why and how Utah women were prepared to interact in a broader American Suffrage Movement; how the future of Utah's history requires uncovering or discovering women's voices from traditional and non-traditional records; a more accurate story regarding the mid-1860s official return of the Female Relief Society organization; and finally, how Ulrich's book encourages historians to uncover more about the broader Utah women's experience beyond Mormonism.   Pulitzer prize winning Dr. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (Harvard University) specializes in early American history and history of women. In the 1970s Ulrich coined the oft quoted line “Well-behaved women seldom make history.”  To read more see the American Historical Association Laurel Thatcher Ulrich Biography.Dr. Cassandra Clark (University of Utah, 2020) has been since November 2021, a public historian and coordinator for the State of Utah's Women's History Initiative. Her email address is: cassandraclark@utah.gov. To purchase a copy of A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women's Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835-1870 search on

This week, we want to honor the stories of our ancestresses as genealogy and baptism for the dead take center stage. We begin walking through the birth and formation of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo. Then, we tell a fuller story of the first recorded baptism for the dead by Jane Neyman and Vienna Jaques. Finally, we close by talking about the unifying links of family history and genealogy work through baptism for the dead. For a full transcript, visit us online at thefaithfulfeminists.com

  Woman’s Relationship to Priesthood, Chapter 1 of Holy Priesthood Volume 3  http://ogdenkraut.com/?page_id=124 I [Joseph Smith] met the members of the “Female Relief Society,” . . . and gave a lecture on the Priesthood, showing how the sisters would come in possession of the privileges, blessings and gifts of the Priesthood, and that the signs should follow them, . . . (DHC 4:602) * * * And for the information of all interested in this subject I [John Taylor] will say, it is not the calling of these sisters to hold the Priesthood, only in connection with their husbands, they being one with their husbands. (JD 21:367-368)   November 1994 PREFACE This series of books on the Holy Priesthood would certainly not be complete without including one on the relationship of women to the Priesthood. Since shortly before Joseph Smith’s organization of the Relief Society in 1842 until the present time, the questions have been asked: “Do women really hold the Priesthood?” “What is their true relationship to Priesthood?” “What did the early Church leaders think and teach about this subject?” “Should LDS sisters ask to be given the Priesthood today?” Answers to these questions range from one extreme to the other, with many variations in between. And, unfortunately, all the correct solutions will certainly not be found within the pages of this book, nor probably any other at present, since the Lord has not seen fit to give us sufficient definitive answers. It is the intent of the author, however, to compile and present enough information so that the reader can at least be better informed about the issues involved, providing a better foundation and background on this controversial subject.

The founding of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo - Margaret Cook’s desire to contribute to the effort of building the Nauvoo Temple leads to the organization of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo.

Jane H. Neyman was denied membership in the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo. Rather than becoming bitter, Neyman went on to lead her local Relief Society in Beaver Utah.

The founding of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo - Margaret Cook's desire to contribute to the effort of building the Nauvoo Temple leads to the organization of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo.

Jane H. Neyman was denied membership in the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo. Rather than becoming bitter, Neyman went on to lead her local Relief Society in Beaver Utah.

The founding of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo - Margaret Cook’s desire to contribute to the effort of building the Nauvoo Temple leads to the organization of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo.

On this episode, the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo is finally established. We walk through the set and setting of Nauvoo in early 1842 being built on nothing more than credit. Men are the providers, while women are tasked with home chores, raising children, and maybe doing a small money-making hobby on the side to keep the house afloat. We discuss women’s roles in 19th-century America and how early feminism caused small movements to rise long before the official beginning of the Women’s Era. We read through the meeting minutes of the foundation of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo when Emma Hale Smith was elected President. We speculate on Joseph’s intentions when it was first organized and opine on how stagnant and solidified Mormon doctrine today is in comparison to Nauvoo Mormonism of 1842. What does it take to change Mormon doctrine today? We invite on Kate Kelly to discuss her history with the Ordain Women movement.   Links:   Relief Society minute book http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/nauvoo-relief-society-minute-book/1#ft-historical-intro   History of Relief Society http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Relief_Society   Joseph Smith Journal May 1842 http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/journal-december-1841-december-1842/25#source-note   Ordain Women into priesthood https://ordainwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/34WomenandPriesthoodQuotes.pdf   Masonic Adoption rite http://www.masonicdictionary.com/adoptive.html   Mormon Law of Adoption https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/law-adoption-one-phase-development-mormon-concept-salvation-1830-1900   Emmeline B. Wells A Voice for Mormon Women by Carol Cornwall Madsen https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1R_F9XDNepwuxB_KJUeuTmy895QDNqPtx   Women in Masonry http://www.masonicinfo.com/women.htm   History of Women’s Freemasonry http://womenfreemasonusa.com/history.html   Order of the Eastern Star Robert Morris 1850 https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:411520/   Kate Kelly http://www.katekellyesq.com/   The Fern Foundation Short Creek Service Project http://thefernfoundation.org/donate   Show Links: Website http://nakedmormonismpodcast.com Twitter @NakedMormonism Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Naked-Mormonism/370003839816311 Patreon http://patreon.com/nakedmormonism Music by Jason Comeau http://aloststateofmind.com/ Show Artwork http://weirdmormonshit.com/ Legal Counsel http://patorrez.com/