Spencer W. McBride, historian
and documentary editor, The
Joseph Smith Papers

Spencer W. McBride is an historian and writer. He earned his PhD in history in 2014 at Louisiana State University. An expert on the intersections of religion and politics in the early American republic, he is the author of Pulpit and Nation: Clergymen and the Politics of Revolutionary America (University of Virginia Press, 2016).

An historian at the Joseph Smith Papers Project, McBride is currently writing a book about Smith’s ill-fated presidential campaign of 1844 (Oxford University Press), and is co-editing a documentary history of New York’s “Burned-Over District” (Cornell University Press). His writing has been published in several magazines and newspapers, including the Washington Post.

(Note: This biography was up-to-date as of the date of the lecture. Biographies are not updated over time.)

Resources
Banner photo by MHARI SHAW

The Chautauquan Daily lecture coverage:
- Preview
- Recap

Spencer W. McBride

Appearances