JWHA Recap 2025-Whirlwind Trip to John Whitmer Historical Association Conference!

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Gospel Tangents Podcast

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Gospel Tangents explores Mormon History, Science, Theology, and is a resource to learn more about real Mormon History by interviewing historians, scientists, experts, and authors. These podcasts will help generate future documentaries.

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JWHA Recap 2025-Whirlwind Trip to John Whitmer Historical Association Conference!

Gospel Tangents Podcast

30 minutes

1 month ago

JWHA Recap 2025-Whirlwind Trip to John Whitmer Historical Association Conference!

Here is my JWHA recap 2025! I'll show photos and give my reactions to the award winners! Check it out!

Don’t miss our other Tangent Trips! https://gospeltangents.com/mormon_history/gt-trips/

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Fresh off the plane from Kansas City, I wanted to share a recap of my fantastic, albeit hectic, week at the John Whitmer Historical Association (JWHA) meetings in Independence. It’s been a whirlwind of travel lately—from Atlanta to Canada and then straight to JWHA—but the experience was absolutely worth it.
Honoring Legends and Celebrating New Works
The awards ceremony was a major highlight, celebrating the brilliant minds in Mormon History. A truly special moment was seeing Mark Staker, this year's JWHA president, present Grant McMurray with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Grant, a former president of the Community of Christ and one of the founders of JWHA 50 years ago, was in high spirits despite being in a wheelchair, which I hadn't seen before. He joked that with a Lifetime Achievement Award, he didn't need to do anything else in his life, which got a good laugh from everyone.

Congratulations are also in order for several other award winners:

* Matt Harris, the incoming JWHA president, deservedly won the Best Book Award for his incredible book, Second Class Saints. It was great to see him presented with the award. His mother attended the conference too!
* Jason Smith, who runs the JWHA podcast, received the Excellence in Leadership award.
* Cristina Gagliano (formerly Rosetti) won Best Biography for her book on Mormon fundamentalist Joseph White Musser.
* William Perez won for his article "Unholy Waters," and Ryan Davis won for his work on Mormon missionaries and popular music in Spain.
* Katie Rich and Heather Sundahl were recognized for their work on 50 Years of Exponent II. Katie Rich is clearly an impressive historian who has slipped under my radar, and I need to get her on the podcast soon!.

JWHA Recap: Presentations, Pictures, and People
The conference was packed with fascinating people and presentations. I had the opportunity to present with Mark Tensmeyer and Amanda Hendrix-Komoto on Joseph Smith's polygamy and the statistical question of how many children he should have had. We're hoping to get a group together for a follow-up discussion soon.

Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, I missed several presentations I was eager to see, including those by Kyle Beshears (my favorite Baptist pastor), my good friend Newell Bringhurst, Ganesh Cherian, and Jared Halverson. Kyle, an expert on James Strang, was even passing out hilarious Nintendo 64-style stickers of Strang.

It was a joy to reconnect with so many friends and colleagues, including:

* My friend Matt Turner, who helped me with a walking tour of Independence a few years ago.
* Historians and authors like Alex Baugh, Brian Hales,