archival letters from pioneer women
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challenges faced by frontier wives
community mutual-aid traditions
cultural tensions in frontier towns
domestic economics on the frontier
domestic life on the American frontier
early Mormon domestic culture
emotional costs of long-distance marriages
emotional labor in faith communities
Ephraim Utah heritage
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faith-driven family sacrifice
forthcoming
frontier gossip networks
frontier women's voices
gender expectations in nineteenth-century America
handwritten records of everyday life
historical letters from Utah
historical portrayal of loneliness and endurance
household survival strategies
insights into frontier childcare
intercultural relations in frontier settlements
intimate historical documents
LDS women's history
lived religion in the American West
missionary-era family struggles
Mormon family correspondence
nineteenth-century community dynamics
nineteenth-century Utah narratives
personal accounts of religious separation
pioneer motherhood experiences
pioneer social pressures
pioneer-era marriage dynamics
rural Western social history
Scandinavian settlers in Utah
struggles of early Mormon households
Western Americana women's studies
women supporting missionary spouses
women's interior lives in religious history
women's perspectives in religious communities
women's resilience in isolated communities
women's unpaid labor in religious movements
Product details
- ISBN 9781647692858
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 14 Aug 2026
- Publisher: University of Utah Press,U.S.
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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A rare firsthand account of LDS mission history through the voice of a woman providing crucial support from home
While Latter-day Saint missionary work has been extensively studied, the experiences of the wives left behind remain relatively absent from the scholarship. We All Must Be Crasy helps fill this gap, offering a glimpse into the lived experiences of Mormon women and families during the late nineteenth century.
Through more than one hundred candid letters to her missionary husband, Sarah (Sanie) Peterson Lund reveals the private costs of missionization: strained marriages, economic hardship, shifting gender roles, and the constant need for community support. Sanie’s correspondence conveys her frustrations, anxieties, and fears alongside her pride in her children, devotion to her family, and longing for her absent husband. Her letters also show daily life in Ephraim, Utah: town gossip, vulnerabilities and ethnic tensions among residents, and reflections on plural marriage. This collection illuminates experiences only previously sketched in broad strokes, enriching our understanding of women, faith, and community in the American West.
While Latter-day Saint missionary work has been extensively studied, the experiences of the wives left behind remain relatively absent from the scholarship. We All Must Be Crasy helps fill this gap, offering a glimpse into the lived experiences of Mormon women and families during the late nineteenth century.
Through more than one hundred candid letters to her missionary husband, Sarah (Sanie) Peterson Lund reveals the private costs of missionization: strained marriages, economic hardship, shifting gender roles, and the constant need for community support. Sanie’s correspondence conveys her frustrations, anxieties, and fears alongside her pride in her children, devotion to her family, and longing for her absent husband. Her letters also show daily life in Ephraim, Utah: town gossip, vulnerabilities and ethnic tensions among residents, and reflections on plural marriage. This collection illuminates experiences only previously sketched in broad strokes, enriching our understanding of women, faith, and community in the American West.
Jennifer L. Lund is an independent historian and museum consultant. She is the former director of the Historic Sites Division of the Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She is the 2024 winner of the Leroy S. Axland Best Utah History Article Award from the Utah Historical Society.
Elizabeth Oberdick Anderson is an independent historian and editor. She is the author of Cowboy Apostle: The Diaries of Anthony W. Ivins, 1875–1932, recipient of the Mormon History Association’s Best First Book Award and the Utah Division of State History Board’s Best Documentary Book in Utah History Award.
Elizabeth Oberdick Anderson is an independent historian and editor. She is the author of Cowboy Apostle: The Diaries of Anthony W. Ivins, 1875–1932, recipient of the Mormon History Association’s Best First Book Award and the Utah Division of State History Board’s Best Documentary Book in Utah History Award.
