Jessica Nelson

Jessica Nelson is a historian and documentary editor for the Joseph Smith Papers. She completed a BA in American studies at Brigham Young University and an MS in history at Utah State University, where she held the Milner/Butler Editorial Fellowship at the Western Historical Quarterly. Her thesis, titled “‘The Mississippi of the West’: Religion, Conservatism, and Racial Politics in Utah, 1960–1978,” was awarded the Lester E. Bush Best Thesis Award by the Mormon History Association in 2018. Previous to joining the Joseph Smith Papers, she worked as a research assistant for the women’s history team at the Church History Department.