What'sHerName

Mary Lemist Titcomb was a pioneering librarian at the turn of the 20th century, when public libraries were first appearing in America. Believing strongly in the power of books, especially for children in far-flung places, she invented America’s first Bookmobile: a horse-drawn, specially constructed book-wagon to bring books to remote farms in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Her triumphs over prejudice and disaster resulted in nationwide bookmobile programs that continue to affect the lives of millions globally.

*Correction–in this episode Glenn stated that Titcomb was only four feet tall. She misspoke, Titcomb was actually five feet tall.

Katie inverviews Sharlee Mullins Glenn, award-winning author of Library on Wheels: Mary Lemist Titcomb and America’s First Bookmobile, and many other books, and is the founder and former president of Mormon Women for Ethical Government.

Music featured in this episode by Marc Nelson, Andy Reiner, Jon Sousa, Jeff Cuno, Darol Anger, Bruce Molsky, and the Berklee World Strings.

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[episode remastered in Oct 2026] Pearl DeVere was one of the most famous and successful madams in the history of the American West. From a suitably mysterious background, this so-called "sinful woman" built a thriving business that became one of the most famed parlor houses in the country. Her incredible business acumen, celebrated beauty and charm, and extraordinary kindness and generosity to the downtrodden has ensured that her legend endures to this day in the historic gold rush town of Cripple Creek, Colorado.

Recorded with our guest Charlotte Bumgarner on-location at the Old Homestead House Museum in Cripple Creek.

Music featured in this episode provided by Half Pelican, The New Hot 5, Daniel Henderson, Amanda Setlik Wilson, and the Earth Stringband.

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Margaret Clitherow’s life – and death – were shaped by the religious upheavals of the Protestant Reformation in Elizabethan (16th century) England. A devoted Catholic in a time and place where Catholicism was illegal, she played a powerful role in a kind of “spy” network secretly harboring Catholic priests in the city of York. When a young boy living in her household exposed her secrets, she was imprisoned and then executed by the gruesome method of being pressed to death. She is now Saint Margaret Clitherow, one of only 3 female martyrs of the English Reformation–the other 197 are male.

Katie interviews renowned Reformation Historian Peter Marshall, Professor of History at the University of Warwick in England, and co-editor of Oxford’s English Historical Review. He is one of the world’s preeminent scholars in Reformation history and winner of the Harold J. Grimm Prize for Reformation History. His books include 1517: Martin Luther and the Invention of the Reformation (2017), The Oxford Illustrated History of the Reformation (2015), Heretics and Believers: A History of the English Reformation (2017), The Reformation: A Very Short Introduction (2009), and Mother Leakey and the Bishop: A Ghost Story (2007).

Music featured in this episode provided by the Weber State University Choirs and Orchestra.

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Committed to reclaiming forgotten history, What’sHerName podcast tells the stories of fascinating women you’ve never heard of (but should have). Hosted and produced by academic sisters Dr. Katie Nelson and Olivia Meikle, What'sHerName brings back the “lost” women of history through compelling interviews with guest historians, writers, and scholars. Fascinating and funny, thought-provoking and thoughtful, What’sHerName restores women’s voices to the conversation.

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