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''''Will Bagley''' (born 1950) is a historian specializing in the history of the [[Western United States]] and the [[American Old West]]. Bagley has written about the [[fur trade]], overland emigration, [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indians]], military history, frontier violence, railroads, mining, and Utah and the [[Mormons]]. ==Biography== William Grant Bagley was born to Lawrence Miles Bagley and Margene Bailey Bagley on May 27, 1950 in [[Salt Lake City]]. From the age of nine he was raised in [[Oceanside, California]], where his father was a long-serving mayor in the 1980s. His younger brother [[Pat Bagley]] became the notable ''[[Salt Lake Tribune]]'' editorial cartoonist<ref name=brownfam>{{cite web | title=Will Grant Bagley | work=The Life, Times & Family of Orson Pratt Brown | publisher=Orson Pratt Brown Family Organization | location=Park City, Utah | url=http://www.orsonprattbrown.com/OPB-Friends/will-grant-bagley.html | accessdate=2009-01-12}}</ref> and they are the uncles of professional surfer Dusty Payne. Bagley attended [[Brigham Young University]] in 1967–68, and then he transferred to [[University of California at Santa Cruz]] (UCSC), where he obtained his B.A. in [[History]] in 1971. At Santa Cruz Bagley studied writing with [[Page Stegner]] and history with [[John Dizikes]]. He graduated from UCSC between Richard White and Patty Limerick, two of the leading lights of the "New Western History." While at UCSC he received the California State Scholar and President's Scholar awards.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} He considers an integral part of his education a trip he took in 1969, on a homemade raft built of framing lumber and barrels, down the [[Mississippi River]] from Rock Island, [[Illinois]] to [[New Orleans]]. After graduation he spent three years in [[North Carolina]] studying the local [[Bluegrass music]] and culture, and playing in bands. After college, Bagley worked as a laborer, carpenter, cabinet maker, and country musician for more than a decade. In 1979 he founded Groundhog Records to release his long playing record, "The Legend of Jesse James." In 1982 he abandoned music and hard labor to take a writing position at [[Evans & Sutherland]], a pioneering computer graphics firm. He worked in various high-tech ventures until 1995, when he started his career as a professional historian. He has written more than twenty books, and in 2008 historian David Roberts dubbed him the "sharpest of all thorns in the side of the Mormon historical establishment."<ref>David Roberts, ''Devil's Gate: Brigham Young and the Mormon Handcart Tragedy'' (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008), 206.</ref> Although he was raised as a member of [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church), Bagley is no longer a member. He has publicly stated that he "never believed the theology since [he] was old enough to think about it." However, he is friends with believers and considers himself a "heritage Mormon," valuing his pioneer lineage.<ref name=ExMoConf>{{cite web | author=Bagley, Will | title=Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows | work=8th Annual Ex-Mormon Conference | publisher=The Exmormon Foundation | date=October 5, 2002 | location=Salt Lake City, Utah | url=http://www.salamandersociety.com/interviews/willbagley/ | accessdate=2008-10-22}}</ref> In September 2014, the Utah State Historical Society granted Bagley its most prestigious honor as a Fellow, joining "the ranks of such luminaries as Dale Morgan, Wallace Stegner, Juanita Brooks, and Leonard Arrington." <ref>http://heritage.utah.gov/dha/new-fellows-utah-state-historical-society-announced</ref> Bagley lives and works in Salt Lake City, Utah. ==Publications== Bagley has published extensively over the years and is still active. He is the author and editor of twenty books and of many articles and reviews in professional journals, such as the ''[[Western Historical Quarterly]]'', ''Utah Historical Quarterly'', ''Overland Journal'', ''[[The Journal of Mormon History]]'', and ''Montana The Magazine of Western History''. His column, "History Matters", appeared every Sunday for four years (2000–2004) in ''[[The Salt Lake Tribune]]''.<ref>{{cite web | title=History Matters - Will Bagley | work=Utah History to Go | publisher=[[State of Utah]] | url=http://historytogo.utah.gov/salt_lake_tribune/history_matters/index.html | accessdate=2009-05-12}}</ref> ==Editorial work== He served as editor of ''News from the Plains'', the newsletter of the [[Oregon-California Trails Association]], for two years.<ref>{{cite web | title=Road from El Dorado, the 1848 Trail Journal of Ephraim Green | work=OCTA Store | publisher=[[Oregon-California Trails Association]] | url=http://octa-trails.org/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=octa&Product_Code=1307&Category_Code= | accessdate=2009-05-12}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> Continuing its hundred-year tradition of letting the people of the West recount their own history, in 1997 the Arthur H. Clark Company launched a new historical series, ''KINGDOM IN THE WEST: The Mormons and the American Frontier''. Bagley is editor of this projected 15-volume series.<ref>{{cite web | title=Western History and Utah History | work=[[Utah State University Press]] | publisher=[[Utah State University]] | url=http://www.usu.edu/usupress/western_utah_history/#3 | accessdate=2009-05-12}}</ref> The series presents essential source documents that look at the West through Mormon eyes and the [[Mormons]] through Western eyes. Published volumes describe the [[Mexican–American War]], the conquest of California and the [[gold rush]], the [[Brigham Young]] pioneer party of 1847, European visitors to "Zion," Mormon [[polygamy]], the Utah War, and the Mountain Meadows Massace. Thirteen volumes have appeared, most recently Richard L. Saunders' ''Dale Morgan on the Mormons: Collected Works Part 1, 1939–1951'' and ''Playing with Shadows: Voices of Dissent in the Mormon West,'' which Bagley edited with Polly Aird and Jeff Nichols. Other significant volumes include Michael W. Homer's ''On the Way to Somewhere Else: European Sojourners in the Mormon West''; B. Carmon Hardy's ''Doing the Works of Abraham: Mormon Polygamy, Its Origin, Practice, and Demise''; William P. MacKinnon's ''At Sword's Point: A Documentary History of the Utah War of 1857''; and Bagley and David L. Bigler's ''Innocent Blood: Essential Narratives of the Mountain Meadows Massacre''. ==Activity== As a member of the Utah Speakers Bureau, Will Bagley has made dozens of presentations throughout the state.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} He has given academic papers at the annual conventions of the [[Western History Association]], the [[Mormon History Association]], [[Sunstone Magazine]], the Oregon-California Trails Association, the Communal Studies Association, and the [[Center for Studies on New Religions]].<ref>{{cite web|author=moreorless - www.moreorless.net |url=http://www.cesnur.org/2005/pa_bagley.htm |title=CESNUR 2005 International Conference - The Press in Utah: A Critical View, by Will Bagley |publisher=Cesnur.org |date= |accessdate=2012-08-03}}</ref> He participated in [[Claremont McKenna College]]'s "The American West" lecture series.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} Mr. Bagley was a Research Associate at [[Yale University]]'s [[Beinecke Library]] in 2000<ref name=ExMoConf/> and was the library's Archibald Hanna Jr. Fellow in American history in 2009. During the 2008 academic year, he and author Stephen Trimble served as Wallace Stegner Centennial Fellows at the University of Utah's Tanner Humanities Center. He has worked as a historical consultant for ''[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]]'' magazine,<ref name=BagleyPapers>{{cite web | title=Summary Description | work=The Will Bagley Papers | publisher=[[University of Utah]] [[Marriott Library]] Special Collections | year=2005 | url=http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/UU_EAD,3307 | accessdate=2008-10-22}}</ref> the [[National Park Service]],<ref name=BagleyPapers/> the [[Wyoming]] State Historical Preservation Office,{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} the Nevada Humanities Council,{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} and for more than a dozen documentary films including A&E Television's ''Mountain Meadows Massacre'' and ''The Mormon Rebellion'', and PBS's, ''The Mormons''. He has worked on historical interpretive design for the [[Bureau of Land Management]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/Elko_News_Archives/2007/trail_center_construction.html |title=TRAIL CENTER CONSTRUCTION MARCHES ON (08/14/2007) |publisher=Blm.gov |date=2009-06-26 |accessdate=2012-08-03}}</ref> ==Leadership== Will Bagley is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Utah Rivers Council,<ref>{{cite web|last=Church |first=Lisa |url=http://www.hcn.org/issues/188/10013 |title=Utah's river kid takes on the water buffaloes — High Country News |publisher=Hcn.org |date=2000-07-03 |accessdate=2012-08-03}}</ref> Westerners International,<ref>{{cite web|title=Full Board of Westerners International |publisher=Westerners International |url=http://www.westerners-international.org/about/board.htm |accessdate=2009-05-12 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/20081005205253/http://www.westerners-international.org:80/about/board.htm |archivedate=October 5, 2008 }}</ref> and the Oregon-California Trails Association.<ref>{{cite web | title=OCTA Officers and Director by Year | publisher=[[Oregon-California Trails Association]] | format=PDF | url=http://www.octa-trails.org/media/pdf/history/officers_directors.pdf | accessdate=2009-05-12}}</ref> He currently serves on the boards of the Friends of the Marriott Library at the [[University of Utah]]{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} and the Utah Westerners. He established The Prairie Dog Press in 1991 to publish ''A Road from El Dorado''. The press eventually expanded into a consulting business that has handled book design and typesetting, publishing, historical research, and contract writing.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} The press has worked with the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the [[J. Willard Marriott Library|Marriott Library]], the [[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]], and PBS.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} ==''Blood of the Prophets''== Bagley's book ''[[Blood of the Prophets]]'' deals with the [[Mountain Meadows massacre]] and has won numerous awards, including a Spur from Western Writers of America and best book awards from the Denver Public Library and the Western History Association. ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'' described the study as "an exhaustive, meticulously documented, highly readable history that captures the events and atmosphere that gave rise to the massacre, as well as its long, tortuous aftermath. Bagley has taken great care in negotiating the minefield presented by what remains of the historical record."<ref>{{cite journal | author=Fraser, Caroline | title=The Mormon Murder Case | journal=[[The New York Review of Books]] | volume=49 | issue=18 | date=November 21, 2002 | url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/article-preview?article_id=15814 | accessdate=2009-05-21}}</ref> According to [[Robert M. Utley]], "[e]ver since 1857, the Mormon Church has vehemently exempted itself and Brigham Young from any complicity in this crime against humanity. Church-approved histories embrace this interpretation when they mention it at all. The official church historians and custodians of the massive church archives have carefully avoided the issue. Parts of the archives have been 'lost,' restricted, sanitized, and even manufactured. Mormon historians who probe beyond the prescribed limits face isolation at best, excommunication at worst.&nbsp;... Such is the prospect for Will Bagley.&nbsp;... Will Bagley has made a major contribution to western American history. Already, the church counterattack has begun.&nbsp;... He is likely to take some painful personal hits, but his scholarship will withstand the professedly scholarly hits."<ref>{{ cite journal | last= Utley |first= Robert M. |author-link= Robert M. Utley |title= Review of Blood of the Prophets |journal= [[The Journal of Military History]] |volume= 67 |issue= 2 |date= April 2003 |pages= 568–569 |doi= 10.1353/jmh.2003.0181 }}</ref> ==Work in progress== Bagley is currently working on "The Whites Want Every Thing: Native Voices from the Mormon West," Volume XVI of Kingdom in the West: The Mormons and the American Frontier, which will end the Arthur H. Clark series. He is also engaged in his most ambitious project, a projected four-volume study of overland trails and western expansion "Overland West: The Story of the Oregon and California Trails." Two volumes are now available. The first installment, ''So Rugged and Mountainous: Blazing the Trails to Oregon and California, 1812–1848,'' appeared in 2010. It won several awards, and The Atlantic selected it as its Editor's Choice in September 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/09/bitter-crossing/8610/|title=The Atlantic Web Page Article: Bitter Crossing}}</ref> ''With Golden Visions Bright Before Them: Trails to the Mining West,'' the second volume, appeared in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oupress.com/ECommerce/Book/Series/0/SeriesVolumeNumber/False?query=series%3D42 |title=Series |publisher=Oupress.com |date= |accessdate=2012-08-03}}</ref>"As usual, Bagley delivers hard truths in shimmering prose, lifting the veil of romance that surrounds so much of the American West," The Salt Lake Tribune commented shortly after its release. "It's no secret that those who packed up their life's belongings for a new shot at life on the frontier suffered and struggled, but Bagley reveals it all through meticulous research that gives it depth and meaning."<ref>{{Cite news | last = Fulton | first = Ben | title = Will Bagley's continuing Overland odyssey | page = C3 | newspaper = [[The Salt Lake Tribune]] | location = Salt Lake City, Utah | date = 3 October 2012 | url = http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/54861363-80/oct-book-author-utah.html.csp | id= 5486136380}}</ref> Based on his professional experience in the computer business, Bagley has written a history of [[LexisNexis]] with the company's first general counsel. If the book is a success, he plans to write a trilogy about the computer revolution, "The Machine of Time: Chronicles of the Computer Age," which he jokingly calls his "DigitIliad."{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}} ==Honors== * 1991 Evans Manuscript Prize.<ref>http://www.law.utah.edu/_webfiles/stegner/newsletters/fall08.pdf</ref> * Wagon Award 1993. Highest award for service to the Utah Crossroads Chapter of the Oregon-California Trails Association (OCTA).{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} * 1997 Steven F. Christensen Best Documentary Award from the [[Mormon History Association]].<ref name=MHAawards>{{cite web | title=MHA Awards | publisher=[[Mormon History Association]] | year=2007 | url=http://www.mhahome.org/awards/07_Awards.pdf |format=PDF| accessdate=2008-10-22}}</ref> * 1997 T. Edgar Lyon Award for Best Article of the Year from the Mormon History Association.<ref name=MHAawards/> * 1998 First Place, Non-Fiction Book, and Publication Prize, [[Utah Arts Council]] Original Writing Competition. * 1999 National Certificate of Appreciation for special efforts in historic preservation, Oregon-California Trails Association. * 2000 Steven F. Christensen Best Documentary Award from the Mormon History Association.<ref name=MHAawards/> * 2001 Utah Military History Award from Utah State Historical Society. * 2002 For the book ''[[Blood of the Prophets]]''. Utah Arts Council's Original Writing Competition Publication Prize, the [[Western Writers of America]]'s [[Spur Award]], the [[Denver Public Library]]'s Caroline Bancroft History Prize, Westerners International's Best Book Award, the [[John Whitmer Historical Association]]'s Smith-Petit Best Book Award, and the [[Western History Association]]'s [[Caughey Western History Association Prize|John W. Caughey Prize]] for the year's most distinguished book on the history of the American West. * 2007 Utah Arts Council Original Writing Competition, Second Place, Biography, ''Always a Cowboy: Judge Wilson McCarthy and the Rescue of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad'' * 2008 Utah Arts Council Original Writing Competition, Second Place, Novel, ''River'' * 2008 Wallace Stegner Centennial Fellowship from the Tanner Humanities Center at the [[University of Utah]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Recognizing U | publisher=[[University of Utah]] | url=http://www.unews.utah.edu/enwiki/static/awards.html | accessdate=2008-10-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Current Fellows | work=Tanner Humanities Center | publisher=[[University of Utah]] | date=October 1, 2008 | url=http://www.thc.utah.edu/?pageId=230 | accessdate=2008-10-22}}</ref> * 2009 Archibald Hanna Jr. Fellowship in American History, [[Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library]] at [[Yale University]].<ref>{{cite web | title=2009–2010 Visiting Fellow | work=Educational Programs: Fellowships | publisher=[[Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library]], [[Yale University]] | url=http://www.library.yale.edu/beinecke/brbleduc/brblfellow_vis09_bagley.html | accessdate=2010-04-05}}</ref> * 2010 Merrill Mattes Award for Excellence in Writing, The Oregon-California Trails Association, with Rick Grunder, for "'I Could Hardly Hold the Pen': Phebe Ann Wooley Davis's Hard Road to Utah and Back, 1864–1865." Overland Journal 27:3 (Fall 2009). *Choice Magazine's Outstanding Academic Titles of 2010, So Rugged and Mountainous: Blazing the Trails to Oregon and California, 1840–1848. * 2011 Western Heritage Award (The Wrangler), for So Rugged and Mountainous: Blazing the Trails to Oregon and California, 1840–1848. * The John Whitmer Historical Association's Smith-Pettit Best Book Award in Latter Day Saint History, 2011, for David L. Bigler and Will Bagley, ''The Mormon Rebellion: America's First Civil War, 1857–1858 '' <ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.oupress.com/MediaRoom/AwardwinningBooks.aspx |title= Award-winning books |publisher= [[University of Oklahoma Press]] |accessdate= 2012-04-17}}</ref> * 2012 Spur, Best Western Nonfiction Historical, Western Writers of America for ''The Mormon Rebellion: America's First Civil War, 1857–1858 '' <ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2012-spur-awards-honor-best-westerns-143800986.html |title= 2012 Spur Awards Honor Best Westerns |publisher= [[PR Newswire]] |date= March 22, 2012 |accessdate=2012-04-17 }}</ref> * Utah State Historical Society, Amy Allen Price Military History Award, 2012, for David L. Bigler and Will Bagley,''The Mormon Rebellion: America's First Civil War, 1857–1858 '' <ref name="history.utah">{{cite web |url= http://history.utah.gov/historical_society/annual_meeting/awards.html|title=Utah Historical Society - Utah State History Awards }}</ref> * Utah State Historical Society, Smith-Pettit Best Documentary History, for Jeffrey Nicols, Polly Aird, and Will Bagley, ''Playing with Shadows: Voices of Dissent in the Mormon West ''<ref name="history.utah" /> * 2013 Spur, Best Western Nonfiction Historical, Western Writers of America for ''With Golden Visions Bright Before Them: Trails to the Mining West, 1849–1852''<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wwa-announces-2013-spur-award-winners-198999371.html |title=WWA Announces 2013 Spur Award Winners |date=March 19, 2013 |publisher=Western Writers of America}}</ref> * 2013, Members of the Western Writers of America pick ''[[Blood of the Prophets]]'' as the sixth best Nonfiction book of the last 60 years.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Best works during WWA's first 60 years |journal=Western Writers of America Roundup Magazine |volume=20 |issue=5 |date=June 2013 |page=18}}</ref> ==List of books by Will Bagley== * Editor, ''A Road from El Dorado: The 1848 Trail Journal of Ephraim Green.'' Salt Lake City: The Prairie Dog Press, 1991. ISBN 0-9627804-2-1. * Editor, ''Frontiersman: Abner Blackburn's Narrative.'' Salt Lake City: [[University of Utah Press]], 1992. ISBN 0-87480-401-9. * [[Roderic Korns]] and [[Dale L. Morgan]], eds., ''West from Fort Bridger: The Pioneering of Immigrant Trails across Utah, 1846–1850'', revised and updated by Will Bagley and [[Harold Schindler]]. Logan: [[Utah State University Press]], 1994. ISBN 0-87421-350-9. * [[Pat Bagley]] and Will Bagley, ''This is the Place: A Crossroads of Utah's Past.'' Carson City, Nevada: Buckaroo Books, 1996. A children's book exploring Utah history. ISBN 1-885628-25-0. * Editor, ''The Pioneer Camp of the Saints: The 1846 and 1847 Mormon Trail Journals of Thomas Bullock'' (Spokane, Washington: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1997). ISBN 978-0-87062-276-2 * Bagley, Will, ''Scoundrel's Tale: The [[Samuel Brannan]] Papers'' (Arthur H. Clark Company, February 1999) ISBN 978-0-87062-287-8 * Editor, with [[David L. Bigler]], ''Army of Israel: Mormon Battalion Narratives '' Spokane, Washington: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 2000. ISBN 978-0-87062-297-7 * Bagley, Will, ed. ''"A Bright, Rising Star": A Brief Life and a Letter of James Ferguson, Sergeant Major, Mormon Battalion; Adjutant General, Nauvoo Legion''. Spokane, Washington: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 2000. * Bagley, Will. ''Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows''. Norman: [[University of Oklahoma Press]], 2002. Paperback ISBN 978-0-8061-3639-4 * Bagley, Will. ''Always a Cowboy: Judge Wilson McCarthy and the Rescue of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad''. Logan: [[Utah State University Press]], 2008. ISBN 0-87421-716-4. * Editor, with David L. Bigler, ''Innocent Blood: Essential Narratives of the Mountain Meadows Massacre'' Norman,Oklahoma: Arthur Clark Co, 2008. Hardcover ISBN 978-0-87062-362-2 * Bagley, Will. ''So Rugged and Mountainous: Blazing the Trails to Oregon and California. 1812–1848''. Volume I of the Overland West: The Story of the Oregon and California Trials" series. Norman: The University of Oklahoma, 2010. ISBN 978-0-8061-4103-9 * Bagley, Will, with David L. Bigler. ''The Mormon Rebellion: America's First Civil War, 1857–1858''. Norman: The University of Oklahoma, 2011. Hardcover ISBN 978-0-8061-4135-0. Paperback ISBN 978-0-8061-4315-6 * Editor, with [[Polly Aird]] and [[Jeffrey Nichols]], ''Playing with Shadows: Voices of Dissent in the Mormon West'' Norman, Oklahoma: Arthur Clark Co, 2011. ISBN 978-0-87062-380-6 * Bagley, Will. ''With Golden Visions Bright Before Them: Trails to the Mining West, 1849–1852.'' Volume II of the Overland West: The Story of the Oregon and California Trials" series. Norman: The University of Oklahoma, 2012. ISBN 978-0-8061-4284-5 * Bagley, Will. '"South Pass: Gateway to a Continent." Norman, Okla: University of Oklahoma Press, 2014. ISBN 978-0-8061-4442-9 * Bagley, Will. '"Across the Plains, Mountains, and Deserts: A Bibliography of the Oregon-California Trail, 1812–1912." Salt Lake City: The Prairie Dog Press for the National Park Service, 2014. Digital copy at http://www.nps.gov/cali/historyculture/upload/NPS-HRS-Biblio-Master-February2014_WillBagley.pdf. ==References== {{Reflist|2}} == External links == * {{worldcat id|id=lccn-n92-51143}} * [http://historytogo.utah.gov/salt_lake_tribune/history_matters/index.html "History Matters"], Bagley's ''[[Salt Lake Tribune]]'' column * [http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/UU_EAD,3307 The Will Bagley Papers] at the [[University of Utah]]'s [[Marriott Library]] * [http://mormonexpression.com/?p=620 Mormon Expression interview of Will Bagley part 1] * [http://mormonexpression.com/?p=624 Mormon Expression interview of Will Bagley part 2] * [http://mormonexpression.com/2011/09/13/156-dale-morgan-lecture-will-bagley/ Dale L. Morgan Lecture] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Bagley, Will}} [[Category:1950 births]] [[Category:American historians]] [[Category:Brigham Young University alumni]] [[Category:Historians of the Latter Day Saint movement]] [[Category:Historians of Utah]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:People from Oceanside, California]] [[Category:People from Salt Lake City, Utah]] [[Category:University of California, Santa Cruz alumni]] [[Category:University of Utah people]] [[Category:Writers from Utah]] [[Category:Former Latter Day Saints]]'