Sep 12, 2026 · 28 min · 12 segments
Dennis Rasmussen ## Program transcript: **Grant Reeher:** Welcome to the Campbell Conversations, I'm Grant Reeher. Upstate New York is rich with history from the abolitionist movement. My guest…
Dennis RasmussenGuestGrant ReeherHostSo I want to come back to talking about this part of upstate New York and get your thoughts about this.
I know that this is not what you wrote your book about, but you've obviously spent a lot of time knee deep in it and thinking about it.
This region of the state was such a hotbed for all sorts of political movements and other movements of great passion, whether it's abolitionism or utopian communities, religious awakenings, millennial movements.
And I've had other authors on the program who have written about some of those things.
And I asked them this question, what is going on with this area? What do you think is the reason why this part of upstate New York has this? It has, you know, the birth of Mormonism.
It's just, you know, is there something weird in the water up here? What's going on? It's a good
I mean, I'd add to your list, the temperance movement, the feminist movement, like Seneca Falls, of course, is right here.
In fact, one of the names for Central and Western New York then was called the Burned Over District.
And that was because of the kind of religious fervor that had swept through the area like a wildfire, you know, earlier in the 19th century.
It's, you know, it makes 19th century New York, Western New York, a fascinating place to look at, though.
One supposition I've heard is a lot of it had to do with the canal and that being a crossroads.
So I want to come back to talking about this part of upstate New York and get your thoughts about this.
I know that this is not what you wrote your book about, but you've obviously spent a lot of time knee deep in it and thinking about it.
This region of the state was such a hotbed for all sorts of political movements and other movements of great passion, whether it's abolitionism or utopian communities, religious awakenings, millennial movements.
And I've had other authors on the program who have written about some of those things.
And I asked them this question, what is going on with this area? What do you think is the reason why this part of upstate New York has this? It has, you know, the birth of Mormonism.
It's just, you know, is there something weird in the water up here? What's going on? It's a good
I mean, I'd add to your list, the temperance movement, the feminist movement, like Seneca Falls, of course, is right here.
In fact, one of the names for Central and Western New York then was called the Burned Over District.
And that was because of the kind of religious fervor that had swept through the area like a wildfire, you know, earlier in the 19th century.
It's, you know, it makes 19th century New York, Western New York, a fascinating place to look at, though.
One supposition I've heard is a lot of it had to do with the canal and that being a crossroads.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.