Mormon Women: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

By Danielle Stockton

About the author:
Danielle Stockton is a recent graduate of the Madeira School, where she was the co-editor-in-chief of both the school newspaper and the literary and arts magazine. She will be a freshman at Brigham Young University intending to double major in Political Science and English.

Although a diverse background and a keen sense of curiosity do not always produce fine historians, these traits have certainly played a key role in Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s career as a historian. When I read about her story published in Mormon Women: Portraits and Conversations, I was fascinated about how various familial and academic experiences have shaped Ulrich’s view on Mormonism and her ability to follow education. As a result, Ulrich found her own personal way to successfully follow her calling.

Ulrich’s own family history is unique, to say the least. Although the majority of her family came from Idaho, the background commonality stops at this fact. Ulrich’s mother was the only one active in the LDS faith on her side of the family. Conversely, even though Ulrich’s father was not even a member of the Mormon Church, the rest of his family was actively participating in the Mormon religion. Ulrich appreciates this dissimilarity within her family because it caused her to be “prepared to live in a world where not everybody was Mormon.” After garnering a national scholarship, Ulrich decided to break conventionality and expand her intellectual horizons. Instead of attending Ricks College, “renamed BYU-Idaho in 2001” (89), where most of her family and town chose to attain their college degree, Ulrich decided to go to the University of Utah. Just as she had anticipated, Ulrich was pleased with the amount of academic variety in the institution and personal differences among the students.

At the time Ulrich married her husband Gael, she did not plan or expect to further expand her academic career in the future. Thus, when she and Gael moved to Massachusetts, Ulrich decided to channel her intellectual energy into helping the Cambridge Ward Relief Society with various group projects, which included putting together a church pamphlet that got positive publicity from the Boston Globe and editing an issue of the Dialogue magazine. Nevertheless, although Ulrich found participating in this work to be rewarding, she felt that she was called to do something more. Ulrich encapsulates her sentiment in her statement “At some point you realize all your energy is not going to fit into that little package of teaching once a month in Relief Society” (93). As a result, when her husband was a faculty member in the University of New Hampshire, Ulrich decided to study history part-time there. In the period of twenty years, Ulrich not only attained an M.A. in English, but also a PhD in history. During this time of both learning and raising her children, Ulrich learned to balance her priorities. Together, Ulrich and Gael “figured out that Gael was perfectly capable of making breakfast and getting them out to school. That seems like such a simple thing now. We laugh about it, but it was hard” (97). This arrangement enabled Ulrich to have more time to write. In addition to Gael providing Ulrich with valuable time, he also taught the children the irreplaceable principle of independence. Ulrich’s children pitched in because “they had to. And they are just terrific people. They can do anything.” (98).

However, when she had three children in college at the same time, Ulrich decided to take an adjunct position in the University of New Hampshire and to write with her fellowship with the National Endowment for the Humanities. During this time, Ulrich wrote her first book, Good Wives: Images and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750. Shortly after this publication, Ulrich received her first full-time, paid position as part of the faculty in the University of New Hampshire and wrote her second book, A Midwife’s Tale, which won many awards including the Pulitzer Prize and the MacArthur Award. As Ulrich states, “I had almost every award that you could get for that one book, which is sort of bizarre” (99)

The way Ulrich has handled her successes is characteristic of one who embodies the principles of the LDS faith. She used the MacArthur Award in part to serve others instead of keeping it to herself. Specifically, she generously used the award money to employ students as research assistants. Moreover, Ulrich’s humble nature comes through in the way that although she is an exceptionally accomplished woman, she appreciates and genuinely values the work of a wide variety of women from all times in history. I share Ulrich’s view that “Women have always worked. I just can’t say that loud enough or long enough.” (102). Ultimately, Ulrich exemplifies the Mormon faith by integrating it into her studies. Currently, Ulrich is a 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard University. As Charles L. Cohen stated in the University of Utah’s 50th conference of the Omohundro Institute of Early American Culture, which was later published in the Mormon website “Today in the Bloggernacle” Ulrich’s recent research about Mormon history inexorably blends the line between “scholars of Mormons, and scholars who are Mormons” (http://www.juvenileinstructor.org/guest-post-charles-l-cohen-on-laurel-thatcher-ulrich/ ).

To find out more about how Jim Kimball and Kent Miles capture some of the lives of Mormon women, please read their collection: Kimball, James N., and Kent Miles. Mormon Women: Portraits & Conversations. Salt Lake City: Handcart Books, 2009.

Also, please visit the following websites related to this book:
http://www.kentmiles.com
http://www.handcartbooks.com/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=101103385311&ref=mf
http://twitter.com/MormonWomenBook