The Sum of Our Past: Revisiting Pioneer Women

A Ford van is about the same length as a covered wagon and about a foot wider. On a journey taken by Judy Busk and her husband, Neal, to retrace the Oregon and Mormon trails, horsepower comes in the form of a combustion engine, a plastic cooler takes the place of wooden trunks, and the bedding consists of futons rather than feather ticks. With these conveniences in place, they seek a connection to the past in museums, archives, and at historical sites.

What most surprises Judy is what she finds about pioneer women. In her lively and informative, sometimes poignant, humorous, but always reflective narrative, she moves beyond polar stereotypes of Victorian women who were always proper and Calamity Janes who drank whiskey, cursed, and carried guns. She finds a spectrum of attitude, education, occupation, and family, black women and Native Americans, healers, women motivated by their religious beliefs, and forerunners of the modern women's movement. She parallels the past with experiences in the present.