The Peoples of Utah

 It was a history-filled week. I mean, of course every week is, since that's my job, but this week especially.

A few weeks ago, my parents told me they got tickets to the Manti Temple open house on a Monday. I don't usually like to take a day off like that. But since I work in Utah history, I thought I had good reason to take the time off to go see it. I did get to do an endowment session there back in 2017. After visiting every county seat in Utah back in 2018, Manti might be my favorite.

We met my uncle and aunt and their granddaughter there. I was surprised for how busy it was on a random weekday. I really love these nineteenth-century buildings, and they had a few old artifacts inside. 

Of course, the murals were the best part. The Creation Room had prehistoric animals in it, but the volunteers were herding us through. And of course, the World Room has beautiful paintings from Minerva Teichert. Like, I can't believe they were actually considering removing them! I'm glad they reconsidered. I would have liked to have spent more time in the World Room, but my family seemed to be rushing through. 

And I had to play Cherie Call's song about the Manti Temple. 

Last week, my Utah Historical Society inbox kept getting messages from the Church History Library inviting people to an event announcing a new online publication, Journals of Early Sister Missionaries. So I went there on Tuesday morning. My work there ended less than three months ago, so it was very familiar, but it was a little weird to be there on behalf of UHS instead. It was good to see some of my old colleagues, and one woman remembered me and called me by name during the Q&A, even though I only helped her briefly with one project. (But one didn't seem to recognize me, but I didn't work closely with him. Maybe it was the beard and the lack of glasses?)

Then Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, my days were mostly identical. I would work one job on one laptop. And then I would switch to another job on another laptop. Then I went running on the Wild Rose Trail. And then I would come home and work on the freelance book project for Faith Matters, which I finally finished editing last night.

It was good to be back on Wild Rose, my first time running there since Thanksgiving (though I did some snow hiking there in January). No flowers yet. 

On the way home Wednesday, a black cat crossed my path, which I think is good luck. 

Then Saturday, the Utah Historical Society hosted a symposium for the Peoples of Utah Revisited. Back in 1976, the UHS published a book called The Peoples of Utah, which showcased the histories of various communities in Utah. Fifty years later, we're doing a new version called the Peoples of Utah Revisited, or POUR. Various historians—both professional and amateur—are working on contributions for POUR, many of which will end up in Utah Historical Quarterly (UHQ). I'm on the public history team for UHS, so we helped with the symposium. (I initially applied to the position of the person in charge of organizing POUR, and thankfully I did not get the job, because the person they hired did a better job than I would. But then they invited me to apply to my UHQ position instead, which worked out better for everyone.) 

I put this sign out, but I had to tie it to a tree with a lanyard. It didn't stay up all day.

In the morning, I participated in a discussion group for contributors who are writing queer histories. In the afternoon, the editor of UHQ presented about historical argumentation, and then I, as assistant editor, followed with a presentation about writing. It was fun to present, even though I'm not good at public speaking. 

It's wild to me that here I am, working as a historical professional, when I only got a 2 on the AP US history test, and my worst grade in college was in a history class. I guess there's a lesson in that: try new things! Don't expect to always be the same person you thought you were!