Great Books and True Religion: The Relief Society Literature Curriculum, 1914–1970

Abstract

In the 1924 Relief Society General Conference, board member Rosannah Cannon Irvine gave a brief address to introduce Relief Society members to the 1924–25 literature course. At the time, the Relief Society was in the middle of a multiyear survey of great American authors. Alice Louise Reynolds—BYU's first female professor and the founder of the university's literature department—had designed and written these lessons for a Relief Society course based on her own university teaching experience. The course was created, Irvine explained, so that “every woman in our Church, no matter how restricted her advantages, no matter how remote her environment, can have at least a smattering of what our boys and girls are getting in college.” She felt that all women needed and deserved to have the experience of stretching their minds by reading and discussing the best literature that has ever been written. “Mothers lie awake nights planning ways and means to send children to college,” she continued. “If refinement and culture and education are necessary to the younger generation, they are just as necessary to us. The few years’ difference in our ages makes very little difference to us in the vast ages of time and eternity, and our children are proud of us in our effort to gain a knowledge of what they are studying.”1Like many of the women in her audience, Irvine had grown up in a religious environment that prized both literature and education. She turned seventeen during the same month that Orson F. Whitney gave his famous “Home Literature” speech in which he complained that Mormons “are popularly supposed to be enemies of education, despisers of learning, haters of books and schools”—and admonished young Latter-day Saints to read the world's great classics and create their own literary movement in response. To do this, he reasoned, Mormons would need to study and understand the great literary tradition that they hoped to contribute to.2 “Literature means learning,” he continued, “and it is from the ‘best books’ we are told to seek it,” he proclaimed, emphasizing that the best books meant “history, poetry, philosophy, art and science, languages, government—all truth in fact, wherever found.”3Whitney's address articulated an expansive view of Mormonism—a view that drove both the home literature movement that began in the late nineteenth century and the curricular innovations in many of the church's auxiliaries that followed in the early years of the twentieth century. We see this expansive view in initiatives like the traveling library program that the YLMIA started in 1902 and in the annual reading course that the YMMIA began in 1906.4 And we see it very clearly in the Relief Society literature course that lasted from 1914 through 1970 and introduced Relief Society members to hundreds of authors and thousands of literary works. For women like Rosannah Irvine and her colleagues on the Relief Society general board, reading great literature was a logical extension of Mormon doctrine as expressed in the Thirteenth Article of Faith. To be faithful to their own religious beliefs, she reasoned, Latter-day Saints must “accept the good and the beautiful, and the praiseworthy and the virtuous, wherever we find it in life.”5The expansive view of the gospel that drove these programs has always been part of the Mormon tradition. But so has its opposite: the reductive view that because Mormonism encompasses all truth, then the truth and the value of any proposition lies in the extent to which it supports current religious orthodoxy. Rather than expanding one's understanding of the gospel to encompass history, philosophy, and poetry, this view shrinks history, art, poetry, and everything into proofs of a narrow set of religious propositions. For most of its existence, the Relief Society's literature curriculum was a battleground between these two views of the gospel—the first represented by the architects of the program and many of those who oversaw it, and the second represented by the various iterations of the correlation movement and other external interventions that ultimately determined the shape of the curriculum.The first wave of what Latter-day Saints would later call “priesthood correlation” began in the last years of the nineteenth century when the church began to centralize its publications and instructional materials. Before this time, most of the auxiliary publications were private ventures, and most curricular matters were in the hands of stake auxiliary leaders. By 1902, almost all of the church's auxiliaries had an official magazine that published centralized lessons for the entire church.6 Only the Relief Society held on to locally planned lessons and a privately owned, quasi-official publication: the Woman's Exponent—an eight-page newspaper published twice a month from June 1872 through January 1900 and monthly thereafter. Emmeline B. Wells, the longtime editor of the Exponent who became the general Relief Society president in 1910, felt strongly that the individual stakes should develop Relief Society lessons and that the Exponent should continue to be its sole publication.7Wells's position became increasingly difficult to maintain in the face of a churchwide push for curricular standardization. In 1913, apostle David O. McKay led the first church Correlation Committee that included representatives from all the auxiliaries. Church leaders charged the committee to (1) prevent “unnecessary and undesirable duplication of work in the various auxiliary organizations,” and (2) select “suitable dates for the holding of stake meetings.”8 The committee, which included future general Relief Society presidents Clarissa Williams and Amy Brown Lyman, “successfully prodded the Relief Society general board to change its educational program and implement a unified course of study.”9 Other board members had been pushing this change for years, including Susa Young Gates, who wrote (but apparently did not send) a letter to Joseph F. Smith complaining about Wells's intransigence on this issue and offering to resign from the board.10In 1913, the Correlation Committee directed each auxiliary to create standardized central curricula that did not duplicate each other's work.11 The Woman's Exponent published its final issue in February 1914. In 1915, the Relief Society Magazine began its fifty-five-year run with Susa Young Gates as its first editor. During the transition year of 1914, the Relief Society Board distributed thirteen thousand free copies of Gates's edited thirty-two-page Relief Society Guide, supplemented by a monthly sixteen-page, ad-supported Relief Society Bulletin.12 The 1914 Bulletin unveiled an ambitious new Relief Society curriculum with six topics to be studied over four weeks each month: current events, genealogy, home ethics, home gardening, literature, and art. The publication allocated more time each month for the literary lessons than for any of the other topics, and over the course of the year, members of the Relief Society read and discussed the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, aided by a series of lessons that Gates created and published in the Bulletin.13While the Correlation Committee provided the impetus to standardize the curriculum, the choice to make literature one of the standard subjects likely reflected another concern. By 1914, literary clubs were among the most popular and well-organized women's organizations both nationally and in Utah.14 Many LDS women participated in organizations such as the Reapers’ Club (1892), which “featured discussions of literature, political science, and current events,” and the Authors’ Club (1893), which “focused on great authors and their works.”15 When church auxiliaries first began to standardize their curricula at the turn of the century, President Joseph F. Smith penned an editorial in the Improvement Era urging the church's organizations to fill the needs that some members saw in these external organizations: There is no call for individuals to organize clubs, or special gatherings in social, educational, or national capacity, in order to express wishes or desires for reforms that can always be expressed in the organizations that already in the There is to do in the general Church to fill all to all and to develop the of the is necessary to organizations individual by the Church to and and is not in the of members of the Relief Society general board, including Susa Young Gates and Amy Brown Lyman, had participated in these literary the early women to make the part of the Relief Society curriculum to Mormons in remote to experience the they in great literature and to prevent women in from the church for the Relief Society Bulletin became the Relief Society Magazine in 1915, it the curriculum with a of the years, the literature lessons and Gates's own The of as the literary of the magazine in and a series of lessons written by Mormon and of literature professor time with lessons for the of each month during The literature lessons in and to make for work in the of the In the monthly literature lessons and the literature curriculum became the monthly lessons in and to a of Relief Society that from through Louise was the the first of Relief Society literary She was the first woman to other than and at Young She the literature and in she became the first woman at and the second woman in to the of the in the of when she was years She studied for two years at the of and at the of in the of at and began curriculum for the Relief Society in and was to the Relief Society general board, and as editor of the Relief Society in She became the editor in which her to to a position at and she wrote most of the lessons from through first set of literary lessons for an entire year to a literary She followed these lessons up with two years of lessons about first year about LDS and the second about from the tradition. through she created an course on American literature that introduced to of American who would have to her audience, such as one of the American of the late twentieth century and the the lessons from American literature to a literature that included and American six Mormon women had or national and who were at the of the Mormon home literature The final of this published in was which the of an woman who her that her has been on In a published in at from through her at this in her of as it the of a that Alice Louise was for including she to the Magazine both her as a and and her to the LDS She would have no in among Mormon women about the and by over as the editor in she began to the of two two in January she to be as the of the And in the board that Alice Louise had as the editor to to teaching at Before as with her and in the to create the lessons for the course. was followed by a in and who wrote the course in and the of the at who wrote the lessons from When her the board to the lessons from through he in of he had the lessons for the course on the a longtime professor of at the of one of wrote the from Alice Louise and her the literature lessons their most expansive The for the lessons from and who were their the of studied in the women's clubs of the were that the value of reading for its own such as of and in lessons did not from literature to religious when they did so in or was that the literature and articulated a for the course in her 1924 that the value of literature the and of the the that lie at the of all that we to be most in our and us to understand more this that we have to it is one of the most and subjects that we can she it is the study for church lessons because it us to and to for the of the the Relief Society's and as like university as their make with in their created the and to read a to the of Amy Brown Lyman, who became the general Relief Society president in of oversaw the curriculum with was a at the of In church leaders her to on the Relief Society general She the curriculum from the very She the Relief Society's best in the and that in were a part of the Relief Society She was a later the of Alice in the Relief Society lessons and felt strongly about the of the than any of her had in her with church She had a with church president as more with first who the correlation of the In the of all of the auxiliaries and a the of that directed the to and the work of the to on gospel and not and directed the Relief Society to their to of and In the Relief Society was more Relief Society is the to the of in on work for the of he is the to it the to it the to all The social, and educational must be to other with the entire Relief Society curriculum from and other general the literature lessons a lessons were by the they represented the of that The course that it the as and did not up matters which would be in a religious one of the in the course and through the Relief Society was The which was based on the of the which in as the of likely had in when he wrote to in of that is that those who are lessons for our Church have of a knowledge of which they not to is almost to that they have ever into our own Church or in June of with a of the lessons in need of To the the general education turned to who had just as an professor at The of in the do not the that expressed in a letter to that have been in over a during many years of in Relief Society than was over the literature lessons the we into the for and she did understand the she he had a understanding of the Church so she felt that not some of the we had last the the about what those have in a that his lessons have been by the Committee and that they the lessons be very and free from our Committee to was in of letter that it had been in at least of was about of into Church and he set up a committee of general to and all auxiliary lessons they be The committee was by Joseph Smith and included B. and In a letter to these four general the of the charged to that in a church publication to that it and gospel to these all in the church should the set or be with the of the free from any of and free from the of the knowledge and have their they must to so in and as to to that with the of the which must be expressed and not to by the for the of books or lessons for by any of the organizations be with and by written and lessons are to the of those who or such must have they are by any of the organizations of the letter no to a that would read all and make to the The of these would be to these little that the of the literature lessons would have to change to a new would no be to study literature because it was or The expansive view of Mormonism that saw all truth as part of the gospel gave to the reductive view that all knowledge by the extent to which it be to current The letter not have been on this knowledge it be so set as to the The study of other religious can be in the church for the of and the truth of the and the of the other of the And and be with great and and for the sole of that when supports the Committee on the Relief Society In the was on the of the the literature was on the and the as on the of for the first time in the of the each with its in a and all of the authors were The literature lessons would continue for another years and would continue to find and ways to introduce Relief Society to the classics of with a of was a member of the Relief Society general a new were not by a member of the Relief Society or by any other to create lessons on literature in and he designed and wrote a course in its Literature” for the who was the president of the wrote a course on the literature of the and for the at the of the Relief Society board, to a course on of the Latter-day The first of this published in with literature during the of Joseph The second with the literature of the and was in who as a when became the general Relief Society a letter that have in such a as makes it to change the of our literature study course for that the change was by a need to to the Committee that the literature lessons more religious in the for the that the board in getting literature lessons by the in of the education that it has been necessary to change the literature course for and the literature committee had been to a new course. She O. of the literature committee, to its The committee a or course on great as of from all over the who had various of President that as of be a more for the course and that it would be necessary to make of authors and books to with Latter-day some was expressed as to such a course would be by the Church it was that great have many of our own Church leaders and that a great many of our leaders had expressed a to study great course through more iterations during the planning In that the literature committee in with a course on as of which it would be to She a course “Literature as to develop a they an for a to a literature which was and the board set to find a first for so they president to a from the professor a at studied Alice who he later as a on his education. she was great and and great the she became the most of literature lessons in the Relief Society curriculum that wrote all of the lessons from through February a of years and individual more than of the literature course created in the twentieth century. correlation push into the with the of David O. McKay to the church had a than did in lessons the as he were a set of survey his lessons through the of a set of designed for in such followed his on literature with a course on in to and of his literature lessons into that were in a and at the to that members of the church from the to for a of and gospel from to February a survey of American literature just as and just as as his survey of And it had just as an which all were to and on American literature was in the when most saw it as to literature and of in the had the first American literature at in the late But it had been part of the Relief Society curriculum from the very with the first year of the literature course reading the Autobiography of Benjamin and with Alice lessons from many of the same authors and topics that in the years, a series of literature and the for of in and American as this on they like in The were and the reading for each course was both and In the for studied of The of and with of by and and a by would be a difficult for an in American was in a Relief Society with and with little in and some members of the board for new ways to their to the most in the of the Relief Society's literature the early the Relief Society board had that the literature lessons were not Alice a member of the board and the of president the of the with she had as an the that he gave to in their first that in the the lessons had on literary or on the of with on authors and their for the most the women in the had not that had two that would make the more and more for was that the be on the literature than on or the of authors. The other was that the should be that copies be for the women to have and to that the church was that a of choice be and to the Relief Society with both and with his weeks this she on of the board to he would be to develop the program he had and an of literature that would be published by the church for in all Relief Society he his as a and the board The was the of the curriculum and that the Relief Society literature lessons from through the of the Relief Society Magazine in of the lessons began in the issue of the Relief Society with the in late of the same was from the that the would for two the lessons on topics than authors or literary and each or brief from works. The authors the than the literature the of the and most topics for For the was over two lessons in and and four by by of the by and of by and in the as by by and by that the church published and to these and to an of than had In June the entire had been and a letter from the that The committee the and to the of literature than LDS and they complained that the authors literary than gospel see in this course which is and LDS and which to the gospel of so in all that was to in a letter to “If the is as as the letter to then is a it to be was By it had already thousand and the course was for a second and a and up a of for in the and The final in from all had a special as and and the on in the second and the of the Correlation Committee for Before February all of the lessons the and as through and the lessons into topics like and of in and the of the lessons the of in to and the and such topics as the and of discussing the later expressed at the of by the Correlation In January wrote a letter to complaining about the to have been very he wrote to between a reading committee that a need to the women of the Church that or be and a reading that urging us that face and make us In the same he on to reading committee to be of and all which are the of us one of literature to work which is and was more about the to because they to the because a of a based on and had been in and of the to its the the of the of the and of the Relief Society literature curriculum not because of or because these lessons did not the needs of the church with more members of the than The literature program was created for women in the American at a time when for women were almost on literature and on the of the American middle church in an with the literature lessons were those into the and work for The entire Relief Society curriculum was in when both the Improvement Era and the Relief Society Magazine their and were into the the church's sole magazine for from through Relief Society's literature curriculum in the of in between the first and second of of the were no and were as that the correlation of 1970 and in some refinement lessons did literary topics, they included art, and about other In the refinement were from the curriculum for the same that the literature lessons were a At that time, Relief Society general president did not the needs of The lessons were difficult to and many such as the literature and poetry, to other the other of the Relief Society curriculum in the twentieth century, the literature are of their time and be of When they began in 1914, the of Latter-day Saints in or very to was a educational or The church was the of teaching literature, or most other to who from the When the literature lessons in the Church of of Latter-day Saints was a had and and for education. no to in literature that were difficult to no in the Mormon and did not gospel in more than years, and by authors from other religious by some who were not as that have religious by or The architects of the Relief Society curriculum had an expansive view of saw it as a of all truth, the work of and as a part of as the of Joseph Smith or the And the curriculum that they created for a than any curricular in the church's lessons us of that we should not for most of the twentieth century, a of Latter-day Saints saw literature as a part of the of