Blast from the Past...Relief Society Magazine!

 Relief Society Magazine...Part of our Heritage.

Back to School Issue 1939

 

Did you know that the Relief Society had it's own magazine?  When I was a young girl I remember seeing copies at home and at my grandmothers' houses.  I didn't find them very interesting...since there weren't any comics...but I would look through them now and then

 



This is how I remember the magazine...this is 1963

 

The Relief Society Magazine, including the Relief Society Bulletin of 1914 was the official publication of the Relief Society organization from 1915 to 1970.  It replaced the privately owned Woman's Exponent which began publication in 1872.  The magazine was important to Utah women as a publishing outlet...in fact it was run by women editors.  The magazine featured stories, articles, poetry and tips and outlines for upcoming lessons.  One lesson topic I got a kick out of was about teaching youth the evils of Hallowe'en pranks...with an emphasis on respect for property and seeking out "seasonable and wholesome pleasures."

 



August 1926...one of two issues I own.

 

Susa Young Gates...editor from 1915 to 1922

 

The two issues I found on eBay a few years ago were August 1922 and August 1929.  I bought them because one of the magazines featured a story about hiking up to Timpanogos Cave...which would have been a lot more tricky back in the 20's. The 1922 issue was full of farewells to Susa Young Gates who retired that year.  I don't know if you are familiar with the writings of women in the early 20th century, but it is full of flowery prose and fairly awful poetry.  Sister Gates was lauded as "Thou gifted daughter of a mighty seer" and "From early youth thy pen so free and bold, hath fed the hearts of numbers manifold."  It's a fascinating glimpse into a time gone by.

 

 

Pages of Advertisements...

 

Photo of Alpine Loop in 1926.

 

The article about Timpanogos Cave was titled "The Ante-Room of Heaven."  The author's prose is extra flowery and she gives her companions cutesy names like "The Charming One," "The Little Maiden," and "The Guest-From-Berkley."  She writes, "...in a high-powered Fierce Sparrow, we glided away over the great, broad highway bordered on either side with sunflowers, goldenrod, poplar trees, green fields, ripening grain and clover blossoms, through the thriving town of American Fork, past Utah Lake, shimmering like a sheet of gunmetal in the sunlight, then a little south and east to American Fork Canyon, a savage gorge cut deep in the mountains by a wild stream; scenic grandeur that offers the tourist thrills worth traveling across the continent to enjoy, and where Mount Timpanogos, scarred by age-old torrents, yet majestic in his rugged grandeur, rears his regal head twelve thousand feet above the sea and looks down upon us smilingly, serene, a symbol of the mighty power of the Eternal; reverential joy and an ever increasing love for Utah filled my heart. "  That was one sentence...lol!  There were photos of a few cave features and somebody's baby.  I absolutely loved it!

 

Good old Deseret Book.

Several ads for garments...made by different companies.

For some reason we had a similar one of these...my sisters stored their dolls in the cabinet once we ran out of needles and the records were lost or broken.

 

The December 1970 issue of The Relief Society Magazine" was the last.  The Church discontinued the magazine as part of the implementation of the "Priesthood Correlation Program."  This magazine and several others were combined and replaced the Ensign.

 

Sisters, I hope you enjoyed this little piece of Relief Society History.