Last Monday, the Interpreter Foundation and Redbrick Filmworks released the first episode of their not-for-profit series of mini-documentaries titled Becoming Brigham. Additional episodes become available each Monday.
In “Episode 2—Shorthand & Bloodstains, Part One,” host Camrey Fox visits with 19th century shorthand expert LaJean Carruth and finds out some surprising things about the differences between previously published statements by Brigham and the actual original transcripts. Meanwhile, host John Wilson meets with Sam Weston, an expert on the assassination of Joseph Smith.
Watch episode 2 below. If you want to be notified when new episodes are published, just click Subscribe on the Becoming Brigham YouTube channel.
The episodes are hosted by Camrey Bagley Fox (who portrayed Emma Smith in the Interpreter Foundation’s films Witnesses and Six Days in August), John Wilson (who played Brigham Young in Six Days in August), and Daniel C. Peterson (president of the Interpreter Foundation and retired BYU professor of Islamic studies and Arabic). Each episode features footage shot on location in New York, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Utah, as well as extensive interviews with Latter-day Saint historians who are experts on the subjects being discussed. The series is rooted in scholarship. The list of contributors includes historians trusted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Why this docuseries? Many people are aware of Brigham Young as a pivotal figure in American religious and frontier history, but Brigham is also often misunderstood, seen as a larger-than-life caricature rather than as a man. Who actually was Brigham as a man, a father, a husband, and a prophet? The video web series Becoming Brigham debunks fictions and provides surprising new insights into the real Brigham Young. Learn more in the article “Becoming Brigham: The Video Series Premieres.”