Kofford Authors Presenting at MHA 2025 May 29 2025
Have a favorite Kofford author? You might be able to hear them present at the 60th Annual Conference of the Mormon History Association next week. Held June 5–8, 2025, at the Ogden Eccles Conference Center in Ogden, Utah, the conference has a theme this year of Junctions and Communities in honor of the history of Ogden, nicknamed “Junction City” when it became the connecting point between numerous railroad lines. Below are the Kofford authors who will be participating at the conference. (And if you are attending, please be sure to stop by the Greg Kofford Books table and browse our titles!)
Thomas G. Alexander will be honored (and comment) in Session 1A: “Thomas G. Alexander and His Contribution to MHA and Mormon History” (Ballroom B, 10:30 AM – Noon Friday). Thomas taught at Brigham Young University for four decades, where he was the Lemuel Hardison Redd Jr. Professor of Western American History and director of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies. He is the author of several books, including Mormonism in Transition.
Reid L. Neilson will present “The Incarceration of Latter-day Saint Polygamists at Home, 1879–1887” during Session 1F: “Being Subject: The Crossroads of Religion and Law” (Meeting Room 203, 10:30 AM – Noon, Friday). An assistant academic vice president at BYU, Reid previously served as Assistant Church Historian and Recorder for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the managing director of the church's history department. He is co-editor of The Annals of the Southern Mission.
Newell G. Bringhurst will present “Heber Bennion: Forgotten Proponent of Mormon Fundamentalism” during Session 1H: “Persistence of Post-Manifesto Polygamy” (Room 102, 10:30 AM – Noon, Friday). Professor Emeritus of History and Political Science at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California, Newell is the author of many books on Latter-day Saint history, including Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People Within Mormonism. He is also the co-editor of Excavating Mormon Pasts: The New Historiography of the Last Half Century.
Craig L. Foster will present “Second Echelon Latter-day Saints and the Perpetuation of Post-Manifesto Polygamy” during Session 1H: “Persistence of Post-Manifesto Polygamy” (Room 102, 10:30 AM – Noon, Friday). An accredited genealogist, Craig is the author of Penny Tracts and Polemics: A Critical Analysis of Anti-Mormon Pamphleteering in Great Britain, 1837-1860 and A Different God? Mitt Romney, the Religious Right, and the Mormon Question.
Caroline Kline will present with Nancy Ross “Global Mormon Women and Work: Discourse and Lived Experience” during Session 2B: “Gender Beyond the Pulpit: Women’s Words, Women’s Worlds” (Ballroom C, 2:15 PM – 3:45 PM Friday). Caroline is the assistant director of the Center for Global Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University. She is the co-editor with Claudia Bushman of Mormon Women Have Their Say: Essays from the Claremont Oral History Collection.
Patrick Q. Mason will present “Reading Mormon History Nonviolently” during Session 4I: “Crossroads of War and Peace” (Room 103, 10:30 AM – Noon Saturday). Co-editor of War & Peace in Our Time: Mormon Perspectives, Patrick is a historian specializing in the study of the Latter-day Saint movement. His other books include Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt and Mormonism and Violence. Since 2019, he has held the Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University.
Joseph M. Spencer will present “On ‘Leaders to Managers: The Fatal Shift’” during Session 5C: “Latter-day Eloquence Part 2: Orating Mormon Identity in an Incredulous World” (Ballroom E, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM Saturday). Joseph is a philosopher and an assistant professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University. He is the author or editor of several books, including For Zion, The Vision of All, The Anatomy of Book of Mormon Theology (2 volumes), and Perspectives on Mormon Theology: Scriptural Theology.
Ardis E. Parshall will present “Josephine de la Harpe Ursenbach: Family Connections Linking Napoleon, the Russian Tsar, and a Handcart Pioneer” during Session 6A: “Genealogy, History, and Broadening the Study of the Past” (Ballroom B, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM Saturday). Ardis is a historian, author, and freelance researcher specializing in Mormon history. Among other works, she is the co-editor of The Mormoness; Or, The Trials Of Mary Maverick: A Narrative Of Real Events, Boadicea; the Mormon Wife: Life Scenes in Utah, and Dime Novel Mormons.
Richard L. Saunders will present “WPA Cultural Projects and the Latter-day Saints” during Session 6F: “A New Deal for Zion: Saints and the State in the Great Depression” (Room 203, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM Saturday). The author of The 1920 Edition of the Book of Mormon: A Centennial Adventure in Latter-day Saint Book History, Richard is a social historian, academic librarian, and former Dean of Library Services at Southern Utah University.
Michael Austin will present “Bernard DeVoto’s Mormons and the Possibility of Mormon Regionalism in the 20th Century” during Session 6G: “Mormonism in a Dull Mirror: Bernard DeVoto and the Possibility of Mormon Literature” (Room 101, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM Saturday). Michael is the provost and vice president for academic affairs at Snow College. He is the author of Re-reading Job, and is the co-editor of The Mormoness, Boadicea, and Dime Novel Mormons.
Conan Grames will present “Unique But Not Different: Latter-day Saints in Japan” during Session 6I: “Pacific Junctures: Asian, Oceania, and America” (Room 103, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM Saturday. Conan will also present the lecture at the Global Mormon Studies Breakfast: “Pioneer Women in the Early Church in Japan” on Friday, June 6, from 7:15 AM - 8:15 AM [Please note that a registration is required for the breakfast event.] An international lawyer who has lived and worked in both the US and Japan, Conan is the co-author of Unique But Not Different: Latter-day Saints in Japan.