Polygamy, piousness, and the practice of medicine: Understanding Brigham Young and the predominance of female medical providers in early Utah.

The nineteenth century Mormon Prophet, Brigham Young, has long been lauded as progressive for sending dozens of Mormon women from the Utah territory to receive a formal medical education at The Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania. This manuscript comes to a contrary conclusion through close reading of diaries and journals created by these same women and the public speeches of the Prophet himself. These texts have historically been held up as evidence of Prophet Young's encouragement of women as physicians. This new interpretation of historical texts includes stringent study of his speeches, as they were originally reported, alongside later citations by historians from within the faith that decontextualized his words to fit the Church's predominant narrative. This manuscript concludes that, contrary to Church tradition, the historical record provides evidence of Young's desire to enforce limits and separations along traditional gender lines rather than showing an intent to change those cultural norms.