Recording History Live from Nauvoo

By Kevin V. Hunt

BLOG #41

Yes, here you have it! Reporters recording history live from Nauvoo!

From the earliest days of the Church, Joseph Smith and other church leaders were anxious to record and disseminate the news of the church. Various publications through the years were established.

Note: All of the material about publications (shown below) came from an article on the Church site https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org All very interesting!

The first “semi-official” newspaper published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was “The Evening and the Morning Star” was published beginning in June 1832 in Independence, Missouri. The news was stopped and later resumed in Kirtland in December 1833 for a short time. It ceased publication in September 1834. This publication included many of the revelations given to Joseph Smith and most of these became canonized sections of the Doctrine and Covenants.

The “Latter-day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate” was printed from October 1834 to September 1837 in Kirtland, Ohio. This succeeded The Evening and Morning Star as the church newspaper. It carried Church news, doctrinal essays, official statements from Church leaders, and other content related to the restored Church.

The “Elders’ Journal of The Church of Latter-day Saints” only ran for four issues – in October and November 1837, and July and August 1838, in Kirtland. This was published at Far West, Missouri. The news included Church news, meeting minutes, doctrinal essays, and similar content.

A newspaper was created in May 1844 to advocate Joseph Smith’s candidacy for president of the United States. “The Prophet” was published in New York City from May 1844 to May 1845.

There was a need in Europe to communicate the news of the church in America in Europe. “The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star” began publication In the United Kingdom in 1840 and was published until 1970! Wow! The title was ultimately shortened to “The Millennial Star”. It covered news and articles from Church members throughout Europe!

Ever heard of “The Zion’s Watchman”? This was published from 1853 to 1856 and was published monthly in Sydney, Australia. It carried news from Utah and the Australian Mission, as well as articles about the Gospel and Church doctrine.

In February 1855, John Taylor began the publication of “The Mormon”. It served as a platform to defend the church, and ran weekly until September 1857.

Beginning in January 1853, “The Seer” was printed monthly in Washington, D.C. Later the publication moved to Liverpool, England in July 1854. It was discontinued the next month. The Seer focused on defending polygamy, which was practiced by the Church at the time.

The “Times and Seasons” began publication in Nauvoo in 1839. This periodical was originally a private enterprise by Don Carlos Smith (brother to the Prophet, Joseph) and Ebenezer Robinson. They began publishing the news in “an abandoned warehouse” that was dingy, wet and just overall bad. Both men became ill from the circumstances and Don Carlos succumbed (at age 25) from the situation.

Later, Ebenezer created a new building at the corner of Bain (not Main) and Water streets, near Joseph’s Red Brick Store. That building’s underground limestone foundation is still visible even today.

And still later, the Church purchased the James Ivins building located on Main Street. There John Taylor later became the editor. At that time, there were two publications. The Times and Seasons was published beginning in July 1839. It was renumbered and restarted in November of that year. The publication ceased in February 1846. During its run, the newspaper carried news, Churchy minutes, and important documents, such as the Wentworth letter and the Book of Abraham translation and facsimiles.

In 1842, Joseph Smith said that the official church publications (then and now) should come under the direction of the Apostles. And even Joseph Smith served as Senior Editor of the “Times and Seasons”. John Taylor was acting editor and he became the voice of the Church and of Nauvoo. At this time, many of the Apostles were being sent off on missions. Joseph Smith, however, wanted John Taylor to remain at home – and close to him. He said, “I believe you can do more good in the editorial department than preaching. You can write for thousands to read, while you can preach to but a few at a time. We have one else we can trust the paper with.” (John Taylor – as writer and editor – is one of my greatest heroes! By Kevin)

The “Times and Seasons” was published bi-weekly. Concurrent with its publication, “The Nauvoo Neighbor” was published each Wednesday. This was the local news and it covered articles from returning missionaries, local gossip – like “who’s new in pink and blue”, who was getting married, who had moved into town, immigrants, and more. An important element of the newspaper was news reports of “You’ve Got Mail”. They had no mail delivery and there were no addresses at the time. Towns people rushed to get the newspaper each Wednesday to see if they had received mail that was waiting for their pick-up at the post office. (In today’s Print Shop” we show copies of “Neighbor” issues that show the mail list and I was pleased to find that several of my own ancestors were receiving mail. Fun stuff!

From the beginning of the Church, Oliver Cowdery and John Whitmer and other were commissioned by Joseph Smith and the Lord to write the history of the Church. At the time of the Martyrdom, Willard Richards was an executive secretary to the Prophet Joseph and he worked with Joseph to create his own personal history as well as a history of the Church. After the death of Joseph, Willard continued to help create the Church history – mostly at his own home. He was frequently visited at his home by Brigham Young and Wilford Woodruff as together they worked to create the current history.

RECORDING NAUVOO HISTORY IN THE CURRENT TIME

Sister Hunt and I are not official church recorders, but maybe we are. We were called by our mission leaders, President Daniel and Sister Rebecca Mehr to be the official news reporters and historians for our mission – the Illinois Historic Sites Mission. We will serve in this role through the rest of our mission – and maybe even beyond to help create the history.

Our Historian mission is kind of 3-fold. We are to create an annual history of the mission – to be submitted to the Church History Department at the end of the mission. And we are to create a “Reader’s Digest” condensed version of key points for Church leaders. And in the process of creating the annual history, we also monthly publish the happenings of the mission. This is published as the “mission newsletter”.

Sister Hunt and I work together in this role. I do all of the computer work but she is actually quite helpful. She is the chief photographer and she takes photos of everything that goes on around us. She creates a list of noteworthy events and activities and presents this to me. This helps me know what to write about. We make a good team.

We recently published our January edition (and actually the February also … but we are awaiting approval from mission leaders before it is published). I specifically asked President Mehr if the news/history can be published on social media and he replied, “Yes, it is history!” So, this is great!

And that means that we can share it with you. We are happy to do so. Here is what we came up with … We hope that you enjoy it! Elder and Sister Hunt.