"The Peoples of Utah" - revisited, for USA's 250th anniversary in 2026 (Season 2, Ep. 10)

**Brad Westwood** (0:10)
Welcome to the podcast Speak Your Piece. This is a podcast about Utah's history produced by the Utah Department of Heritage and Arts. I'm Brad Westwood, senior public historian. My job is to make the very best, the most interesting, most accurate history about Utah, accessible to the widest possible audience. If there's one place, one podcast to get your Utah history fix, this is the place.
I have two guests with me today on Speak Your Piece, Dr. Holly George and Dr. Jedediah Rogers. Both serve as co-managing editors of the Utah Historical Quarterly, published by the Utah State Historical Society. Like me and this show, we are all part of the Utah Department of Heritage and Arts. Holly and Jed also serve as Utah senior historians. Good morning, Holly. Good morning, Jed.
In anticipation of America's 250th anniversary, 1776 to 2026, now that's an anniversary that's now just five years away from our next July 4th celebration, the Utah State Historical Society has made a decision to revisit, to do a 2 version of a groundbreaking book entitled The People of Utah, which was published by the Society in 1976 The work of dozens of scholars, the book was edited by Helen Papanikolas, who was a beloved Greek American Utah historian who spent a lifetime exploring and writing about immigrants and ethnographic world of Utah and the American West.
Helen Papanikolas' inner writings made Utah aware of its rich and varied societies, communities, ethnicities, cultural systems, which were all part of Utah but not always told so publicly or known so well. In 2013, Dr. Holly George and in 2014, Dr. Jedediah Rogers took the helm of the quarterly. The mission of UHQ or the quarterly is to seek out to offer to readers the highest quality articles and other works of Utah history that both appeal to scholars as well to everyday Utahns who want to understand and know better Utah's history. Regarding the UHQ, four times a year, once each quarter, these editors meet their intended goal, that of presenting compelling narratives written in clear prose. The UHQ seeks in its reach to be both regional and state specific, reflecting Utah's geographic and cultural position as the crossroads of the West.
Dr. Holly Buck George is a historian of Western United States, with works dealing with the Pacific Northwest and of the Inner Mountain West. She received her PhD in American History from the University of Washington, and her research interests include, as George describes it, as culture high and low, networks of all sorts, social welfare and gender. In today's show notes, you'll find her publications and much more about her research interests. Dr. Jedediah Rogers earned his PhD in American History from Arizona State University. He is also a historian of the American West, the Inner Mountain West, and perhaps best described as an environmental historian. Rogers' books and current research projects can also be found on today's show notes. Holly, will you tell us about your deepest hopes for this project?

**Holly George** (4:05)
My deepest hope for The Peoples Of Utah project is that anyone living in this state can feel connected to the history and feel like they belong here.
That any kid who comes across it, no matter what their background, they'll say, I'm part of Utah and I can feel comfortable here and make it a better place. That's my hope.

**Brad Westwood** (4:31)
I think it's so relevant today. I'm so inspired by this project because I think more than ever, people do need to know if they belong in Utah's canon in its description of its past.
Every community.

**Holly George** (4:47)
Every community. If you live here, you belong here.

**Brad Westwood** (4:54)
If you live here, you belong here. Wonderful.

**Holly George** (4:57)
You're part of the story.

**Brad Westwood** (4:59)
Jed, would you describe the book People of Utah? Why was and is this book such a valuable work of Utah history? Now it was published in 1976
Who are the stories that are being told in this book?

**Jedediah Rogers** (5:17)
Well, you know, Brad, some few works of Utah history are canonized as truly significant and The People of Utah is among them. And I just have to say to answer this question, I've got to say a few words about the writing of our state's history. So up until the mid-20th century, the history produced in the state was frankly unimaginative and hagiographic. That is, it has largely reinforced the narratives that Utahans have told themselves about themselves, primarily through the prism of faith and devotion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
This begins to change at mid-century, when a handful of talented historians like Dale Morgan, Juanita Brooks, Leonard Arrington, they're dedicated to evidentiary objective methodologies, and they brought some depth and texture to the telling of Utah history.