Brad Westwood, Senior Public Historian, Utah Dept. of Culture & Community Engagement

Speak Your Piece: a podcast about Utah's history

History EN ↓ 83 episodes

The past is never truly “in the past.” It’s all around us, it informs us. It speaks to our shared and to our separate identities. “Speak Your Piece” is a podcast where contributors share their insights and discoveries about Utah's 12,000 year (plus) human story. Hosted by Brad Westwood, Senior Public Historian (Utah Dept. of Culture & Community Engagement), and co produced by Chelsey Zamir, a new episode is released every other week, sometimes more, sometimes less. SYP explores the key arguments with new and worthwhile older publications, articles or websites; or delves into a notable museum,...

Author

Brad Westwood, Senior Public Historian, Utah Dept. of Culture & Community Engagement

Episodes

Utah’s Timpanogos Cave & the National Monument’s Centennial Year (1922-2022) (S5 E2) 18.09.2022 57:43

Date: September 8, 2022 (Season 5, Episode 2: 58 minutes long). Click here to see the SYP webpage which includes historical photographs and recommended readings. Caption for the above photograph: early explorers peering out from within a cave formation in American Fork Canyon's Timpanogos Cave. Courtesy of the Timpanogos Cave National Monument (NPS). Are you interested in other episodes of S...

Returning Home: Diné Poetry, Essays, Art & Journalism from Utah's Intermountain Indian School (1950-1983, Brigham City, UT) (S3 E14) 26.08.2022 1:43:27

Date: November 29, 2021 (Season 3, Episode 14: 102 minutes long). Click Here to see the SYP webpage page which includes art from the book, photos of the co-authors, recommended readings and a site plan for Intermountain Indian School, circa 1980s. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece ? Click here . Podcast Content: This episode is about literary and creative expressions--works...

“Soul of God” – the Life & Works of Utah Raised Mexican Muralist Pablo O’Higgins – A Conversation with Susan Vogel, Fanny Guadalupe Blauer and Catherine Aviles (Season 4, Ep. 5) 20.07.2022 1:13:07

Date: Feb. 28, 2022 (Season 4, Episode 5: 73 minutes). Click here for the Utah Dept of Culture & Community Engagement shownotes for this episode. Click here for more SYP episodes . The episode’s focus is on Paul Higgins, a 20th century artist, Utah born and bred (middle class, Presbyterian, his father a mining attorney), who became "Pablo Esteban O'Higgins," a beloved Mexican m...

Utah & the Mormons First Fifty Years Together: A Conversation with LDS Church Historians Matt Grow and Scott Hales (Season 4, Ep. 3) 12.07.2022 1:15:02

January 24, 2022 (Season 4, Episode 3; 75 minutes). Click here for the Utah Dept. of Culture & Community Engagement's versions of this episode. Are you interested in other episodes of SYP? Click here . Just in time for Utah’s July 24th Pioneer Day celebrations , this episode of Speak Your Piece (SYP) offers new research and new approaches, regarding the first forty-seven years (1846-189...

The New Juneteenth Holiday & Utah's Laws on Interracial Marriage (1888-1963) (Season 4, Ep. 9) 20.06.2022 1:04:07

June 2, 2022 (Season 4, Episode 9, episode length: 61 minutes) Click here to read the larger Speak Your Piece shownotes . Women, Race and Marriage: This Speak Your Piece episode involves: (a) Women’s history–this is the 2nd in a series about Utah Women’s History, (b) Utah’s new Juneteenth holiday, and (c) a seminar-like discussion on Patrick Mason’s Utah Historical Quarterly article, entitled: “Th...

The Enduring Value & Big Arguments of Laurel T. Ulrich's Book "A House Full of Females" (2017) (Season 4, Ep. 4) 03.05.2022 1:07:41

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 Y...

A New Flag for Utah? A New Brand, Along With the Familiar (Season 3, Ep. 13) 16.03.2022 31:43

Date: November 15, 2021 (Season 3, Episode 13; 32 minutes long). To see the complete show notes (including "topics discussed in time," and photographs) Click here for the Utah Dept. of Culture & Community Engagement version of this episode. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece ? Click here to see all the episodes. Podcast Content: What is a vexillologist? It’s a...

Stories by Ken Sanders: SLC's Book Trade, 1960s-70s Counterculture and Reciting Wendell Berry (Season 3, Ep. 12) 12.01.2022 1:16:55

Date: 09.13.2021 (Season 3, Episode 12, 77:00 min.) To read the complete Utah Dept. of Culture & Community Engagement show notes for this episode (including topics in time, photos and recommended readings) click here . Interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece ? Click here for more episodes. Podcast Content: No scripts, no advanced questions, just a conversation; that’s what Ken Sand...

Sojourners to the Mormon West: Historian Michael Homer on Seeing Mormonism and Utah through European Eyes (Season 3, Ep. 9) 16.12.2021 1:03:31

Date: 08.02.2021 (Season 3, Episode 9, 01:03:32 min.) To read the complete Utah Dept. of Culture & Community Engagement show notes for this episode (including topics in time, photos and recommended readings) click here . Interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece ? Click here for more episodes. Podcast Content: In this episode of Speak Your Piece, historian Michael W. Homer speaks of...

Utah's National History Day (Season 3, Ep. 10) 04.12.2021 54:12

Date: 08.09.2021 (Season 3, Episode 10, 54:13 min.) To read the complete Utah Dept. of Culture & Community Engagement show notes for this episode (including topics in time, photos and recommended readings) click here . Interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece ? Click here for more episodes. National History Day, along with Utah’s affiliate program, Utah History Day, offers a year-long...

“Rails East to Ogden:” Abandon Cultural Landscapes, Historical Archaeology and One of USA’s “Unknown National Treasures” (Season 3, Ep. 8) 24.11.2021 1:20:11

Date: 07.12.2021 (Season 3, Episode 8, 1: 20:00 min.) To read the complete Utah Dept. of Culture & Community Engagement show notes for this episode (including topics in time, photos and recommended readings) click here . Interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece ? Click here for more episodes. Podcast Content: What can be encountered on one of the United State’s most austere and vacant...

SLC's Latinx Population, Environmental Racism: A West Side Story, Past & Present (Season 3, Ep. 11) 09.10.2021 49:25

Date: September 20, 2021 (Season 3, Episode 11; 49:26 minutes long). Click here for the Utah Dept. of Culture & Community Engagement version of this Speak Your Piece episode which includes topics discussed in time, photos of guest speakers and additional resources and readings. Podcast Content: Former Utah State University (USU) student Emma Jones and USU Assistant Professor of Environment and...

“Run it up the Flagpole...” Utah Considers a New State Flag (Season 3, Ep. 7) 24.08.2021 55:28

Date: June 21, 2021 (Season 3, Episode 7; 55:28 minutes) . Click here for the complete Speak Your Piece shownotes for this episode. Podcast Content: In this Speak Your Piece episode, three guests: political historian Ronald Fox, State Representative Stephen Handy and State Senator Daniel McCay, discuss the idea of a new flag for Utah . Law SB-48 which was passed during the last legislative sessi...

“We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout:” The Life of W. W. Phelps with LDS Historian Bruce Van Orden (Season 3, Ep. 3) 18.08.2021 57:46

Date June 7, 2021 (Season 3, Episode 3: 57:47 minutes). Click here to go to a complete set of shownotes for this episode. Podcast Content -- Drawing on decades of research and analysis, Dr. Bruce Van Orden offers the “life and times” of Willam Wines Phelps (1792-1872) , one of the LDS Church’s and early Utah’s most influential figures. In this fast paced interview Van Orden weaves a myriad of new...

Utah's Story - 150 Years of Photography from the Salt Lake Tribune (Season 2, Ep. 18) 09.08.2021 53:45

April 12, 2021 (Season 2, Episode 18: 53:46 minutes). Click here for the Utah Department of Culture & Community Engagement show notes for this Speak Your Piece episode. The show notes includes additional links and sources. Podcast Content: In celebration of the Salt Lake Tribune’ s 150th anniversary (1870-2020) as continuous newspaper published in Salt Lake City the “ Trib ” published in 2020...

Mormon Laborers, Working on the Transcontinental Railroad (1868-1869) (Season 3, Ep. 6) 16.07.2021 59:06

June 28, 2021 (Season 3, Episode 6: 59 minutes). Click here for the Utah Department of Culture & Community Engagement show notes for this Speak Your Piece episode. The show notes includes additional links and sources. On this 24th of July (Utah’s Pioneer Day) the Golden Spike National Historical Park is inaugurating an annual event to celebrate and recognize the Mormon contribution to the wor...

"Are We There Yet?" - Mid 20th Century Vacations, Highways, Motels, Neon Signs... (Season 3, Ep. 4) 23.06.2021 1:11:23

June 14, 2021 (Season 3, Episode 4; 72 minutes long - 1 hour and 12 minutes). Click here for the Utah Department of Culture & Community Engagement version of this Speak Your Piece page. The main title for this episode is based on historian Susan Rugh's 2008 book, Are We There Yet?: The Golden Age of American Family Vacations (University Press of Kansas). Now that the COVID-19 restrictions...

"Topaz Stories: Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration" (Season 3, Ep. 2) 17.06.2021 48:05

June 2, 2021 (Season 3, Episode 2, 48 minutes). Click here to read the Utah Dept. of Culture & Community Engagement show notes for this Speak Your Piece episode. This episode of Speak Your Piece is based on a digital exhibit Topaz Stories: Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration , and includes selected readings of some deeply personal and painful stories written and gathered by both...

History of Water in Utah: "The Most Complicated Plumbing System..." (Season 3, Ep. 1) 27.05.2021 1:31:43

April 19, 2021 (Season 3, Ep. 1: 1 hr & 32 min.) Utah Dept. of Culture & Community Engagement version of this SYP episode . This link will get you to some Speak Your Piece EXTRA materials not included here. Utah Humanities ' Megan van Frank and The American West Center 's Gregory E. Smoak speak about a remarkable public history effort, built in partnership with the Smithonian I...

"My Life in [1950's] Carbon County [Utah]:" A Conversation With Dr. Ronald G. Watt (Season 2, Ep. 15) 14.04.2021 1:15:12

3.15.2021 (Season 2: Episode 15; 76 minutes) Click here for the Utah Dept. of Heritage & Arts Show Notes for this Speak Your Piece episode. I ntroduction: In this episode of Speak Your Piece , historian Ron Watt describes his latest book, which is part memoir, part county history and part geography tour of 1950s Carbon County. First envisioned as a childhood history to be read only by his fam...

"Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders" -- a Conversation with Co-author Allen D. Roberts (Season 2, Ep. 16) 26.03.2021 1:01:52

3.22.2021 (Season 2: Episode 16; 62 minutes) To read the show notes includng a listed of related materials and the guest's bio, click here -- Utah Department of Heritage and Arts' Speak Your Piece Podcast. Podcast Introduction: The Netflix documentary Murder Among the Mormons (released March 3, 2021, IMDb ) has created much national interest, or should I say renewed national interest, in...

The Youthful Workforce of the North Rim, Zion, Bryce & Cedar Breaks: "Singaway: Working and Playing for the Utah Parks Company, 1923 to 1972" (Season 2, Ep. 14) 12.03.2021 1:02:31

March 1, 2021 (Season 2, Episode 14, 63 minutes) To see the Speak Your Piece shownotes incluidng the bios of this episode's guests, click here . From 1923 to 1972 the Utah Parks Company (a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad based in Cedar City, Utah) hosted nearly every visitor that came through Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument and the No...

"The Peoples of Utah" - revisited, for USA's 250th anniversary in 2026 (Season 2, Ep. 10) 16.02.2021 41:56

January 11, 2021 (Season 2, Episode 10, 42 minutes); to read the full Speak Your Piece podcast show notes, including guest bios, click here . It has been forty-five years (1976-2021) since Utah historian Helen Z. Papanikolas published her book The Peoples of Utah (Utah State Historical Society, 1976) with funding from the Utah American Revolution Bicentennial Commission . The book tells the stor...

Utah's Archaeological Past and the "Utah Cultural Stewardship Program" (Season 2, Ep. 12) 11.02.2021 53:29

Recorded on 01.25.2021 (Season 2: Episode 12; 54 minutes long) this episode of Speak Your Piece is about how you can learn, how you can experience the wonder, and how you can offer a few hours a week to preserve and protect Utah's archeological and historical resources. State Public Archaeologist Elizabeth Hora, and Utah Cultural Stewardship Program Coordinator Ian Wright, talk about a physic...

Utah’s Small Museum Landscape (Season 2, Ep. 11) 07.02.2021 1:02:38

The guests in this Speak Your Piece episode live and work in three dispersed regions of Utah: LeeAnn Denzer in east central Utah (Ashley Valley), Diana Call in the southwest corner (Little Valley) and Jami Van Huss in northeast Utah (Cache Valley). What they have in common is a deep interest in their audiences (you and me), a professional commitment to museum studies, and a love for their subject...