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Kate Holbrook was the managing historian of women’s history at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints history department. She served a mission in Russia, earned a BA in English and Russian Literature from Brigham Young University, and went on to earn her masters degree in World Religions at Harvard Divinity School and her PHD from Boston University in Religious Studies. Kate was co-editor of three books, The First Fifty Years of Relief Society, and At The Pulpit: 185 years of Discourses by Latter-Day Saint Women, and Women and the LDS Church: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, and also published her own essays and book chapters. She passed away August 20, 2022. 
Highlights
8:33 While Kate was working on her PHD she worked on a comparative project where she examined women, food, and religion in the LDS religion and the Nation of Islam. She studied how our emphasis on self sufficiency helped shape our recipes. She is working on publishing this book. 10:53 Kate’s first task while working for the Church was helping to publish The First Fifty Years of Relief Society. She worked on this for the first 4 years of her employment. 11:35 In early Church history adult women had to apply to become a member of the Relief Society. 12:10 Membership cards for Relief Society were distributed in early Nauvoo. 12:14 It was not until the 1970’s when you automatically became a member of the Relief Society if you were a female adult member of the Church. 12:30 When the Relief Society was first founded it was referred to as the women’s quorum. 12:59 The early years of Relief Society the women were very involved in the local board and local Red Cross. As the Church grew, that fell away and they focused on ministry to a global church. 14:00 The authors of the book wrote introductions to each discourse and gave biographical information on the speakers. 16:07 In the early years of the Church the women would speak at sacrament meetings and cottage meetings, Talks could also be found in the Women’s Exponent Newspaper. These were all looked at as they studied which talks to included in the book. 19:24 Eliza R. Snow was a champion in helping women to stand up and find their voice. 19:49 Belle S. Spafford’s picture is on the cover of this book. She was the General Relief Society President for 30 years (1945-1975). She was also on the General Relief Society Board for 40 years. 26:39 The criteria for this book was timeless well written talks, and talks that engage doctrine, and inspire. 27:51 The women in the book had a strong vision of their potential. They were going to save the world, not just the Mormon world but the whole world. 28:02 The support the women had for the suffrage movement was to restore women to her rightful place so her voice can be part of the running of the world. 29:57 The talk they included from Sheri Dew explains how to learn the language of revelation when the Spirit talks to you. 30:39 The early sisters in the Relief Society were very organized and great at mentoring the coming generation.
Links
The First Fifty Years of Relief Society At the Pulpit: 185 Years of Discourses by Latter-day Saint Women Church History site: At the Pulpit: 185 Years of Discourses by Latter-day Saint
Great interview! Can’t wait to read the book!
I agree with Nikole. I’m inspired to read this book and also to go back through Sis. Okazaki’s talks. There’s so much to read, but this book is moving to the top of the list. Thanks for the interview.
Thanks for the review. This is an amazing resource. I love to hear the words of my sisters in the gospel. I appreciate whenever speakers and teachers quote their wisdom in church, as well.
Follow-up:
I’m making my way through this book, and I love it.
I’m about half-way through, and some of the insights I’ve received are profound.
Elsie Talmage Brandley’s talk “The Religious Crisis of Today” (in 1934!) is an amazing talk that is important for any parent or youth leader. She offers profound counsel to go with our youth on their knowledge journeys – don’t wait for them to come to us; and also that when we listen to what they say, we “forget our own convictions in listening to them; remember your convictions only when you come to make a reply.” In other words, suspend our judgment as we listen to others’ journeys to keep communication open and shame-free.
Francine Bennion’s discourse entitled “A Latter-day Saint Theology of Suffering” was beautiful and profound and thought-provoking. I would never have run across this discourse without this book, since I’m not the type to follow the extra-church conferences. I feel like I have enough to learn without them. But, wow, what wisdom. It is less a talk related to leadership as to striving to reach a deeper understanding of God.
Thanks again for reviewing this book. I would never have run into these insights without your review.