Maxwell Institute Podcast

In some ways it’s been a lonelier than usual summer at the Maxwell Institute. Since it was founded in 2006 we’ve had the privilege of hosting the Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture, a remarkable research opportunity that is somewhat legendary for the people that have passed through it, like Reid Neilson of the Church History Library, Patrick Mason and Kathleen Flake who hold chairs in Mormon Studies at universities on the east and west coast, and the Institute’s brand new executive director, Spencer Fluhman. Students, scholars, junior faculty—a variety of different people come together to study a particular aspect of Mormon culture or history and then write working papers to share some of the things they discovered and prompt further research. In lieu of the seminar this year the Institute hosted a scholars’ colloquium in honor of Richard Bushman, the Mormon historian who started the Summer Seminar back in 1997 when he was working on his acclaimed biography of Joseph Smith. Richard is still active in his studi