Date: January 13, 2020 (Season 1, Episode 9 — Part 1: 26 min. and 39 sec. long and Part 2: 23 minutes long). Click here for Part 1 and click here for Part 2 of the BuzzSprout versions of these “Speak Your Piece” episodes. Are you interested in other episodes of “Speak Your Piece”? Click here. The above image is of Rensink’s app and website, “Intermountain Histories.” This episode was co-produced by Brad Westwood and Chelsey Zamir, with help (sound engineering and post-production editing) from Conner Sorenson of Studio Underground.
This SYP episode is a conversation with Brigham Young University historian Brenden Rensink with SYP host Brad Westwood, regarding his 2018 book “Native but Foreign: Indigenous Immigrants and Refugees in the North American Borderlands” (Texas A&M University), his website and app “Intermountain Histories,” and his podcast “Writing Westward.” Rensink discusses the central arguments for his book, the inspiration behind his public history website, including a few post examples therein, and what his periodic podcast is all about.
Of note for listeners: as of 2023 there are 650 posted stories on the “Intermountain Histories” site, some of which are part of the 55 different “tours” with unique themes.
Podcast Content:
Part One of Two:
Part Two of Two:
Caption: A camp gathering of the Utah Indian War veterans, Provo Lake Resort. Aug. 14, 1903, Courtesy of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, BYU. This photo is part of the “Veterans of Indian Wars Memorial” post regarding the Provo Pioneer Park Veterans Memorial, one of the stories featured in “Intermountain Histories.”
Bio: Brenden W. Rensink is one of Utah’s most digitally savvy young historians. A true scholar at heart; he also understands how and why scholarly products — studies, books, presentations, etc. — need to make their way into everyday life within the general public. A historian of the North American West (borderlands, indigenous peoples, public history, and Western wilderness and the environment), Rensink earned his Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. He is associate director of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies and associate professor of History at BYU. Photograph courtesy of BYU FHSS Faculty’s page.
Additional Resources and Readings:
- Charles Redd Center app and website “Intermountain Histories.”
- Rensink’s and Charles Redd Center podcast and blog “Writing Westward.”
- Becky Jacobs, “BYU project makes those unknown historic sites we just drive by come to life,” Salt Lake Tribune, Sept. 27, 2021.
- Rensink, Brenden, editor. “The North American West in the Twenty-First Century.” Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2022.
- Rensink, Brenden and P. Jane Hafen, editors. “Essays on American Indian and Mormon History.” Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2019.
- Rensink, Brenden. “Native but Foreign: Indigenous Immigrants and Refugees in the North American Borderlands.” College Station: Texas A&M Press, 2018.
- To see a list of Rensink’s other publications, visit his website: Scholarship & Publications – Brenden W. Rensink (bwrensink.org).
Do you have a question or comment, or a proposed guest for “Speak Your Piece?” Write us at “ask a historian” – askahistorian@utah.gov