Selected Group Correspondence Collections

First Presidency administrative files, 1878–1918 (CR 1 169)

Correspondence and other materials relating to administrative matters directed to the First Presidency from Church auxiliaries and other Church entities. Includes files for the Deseret Sunday School Union, Relief Society, Primary, Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association, Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association, Bureau of Information, Historian’s Office, Deseret Gymnasium, Genealogical Society of Utah, Improvement Era, and Tabernacle Choir. Includes letters from James E. Talmage; Charles W. Penrose; B. H. Roberts; Andrew Jenson; Junius F. Wells; musicians Ebenezer Beesley, Evan Stephens, J. J. Daynes, and J. J. McClellan; artists J. W. Clawson, Edwin Evans, J. B. Fairbanks, Herman Haag, John Hafen, Lorus Pratt, and Dan Weggeland; and women leaders Zina D. H. Young, Emmeline B. Wells, Susa Young Gates, Alice Merrill Horne, and Ida Smoot Dusenberry. There are also a few letters from those employed by the Church in various capacities.

First Presidency missionary calls and recommendations, 1877–1918 (CR 1 168)

Correspondence pertaining to mission calls issued during the administrations of John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, and Joseph F. Smith. Series includes prospective missionaries’ responses to inquiries and official calls and endorsement letters from local ecclesiastical leaders (usually bishops). Also includes letters from stake and priesthood quorum leaders, mission presidents, and members of the Council of the Twelve and the First Council of Seventy submitting names of potential missionaries.

The Relief Society Magazine (M205.1 R382 v. 1-57 1914-1970)

The Relief Society Bulletin began circulation in January 1914 but changed its name to The Relief Society Magazine at the beginning of 1915. It was published for the women of the Church and replaced the privately-owned Woman’s Exponent. The Relief Society Magazine was published until the end of 1970, when it was replaced by the Ensign. Featured letters to and from the women of Church.

Woman’s Exponent (M205.1 W872 v. 1-41 1872-1914)

First published on 1 June 1872, the Woman’s Exponent was a privately published newspaper for the women of the Church. It was published semi-monthly in Salt Lake City, Utah, but eventually transitioned to a monthly release. The last issue of the Woman’s Exponent was dated February 1914. Featured letters to and from the women of the Church.

The Young Woman’s Journal (M205.1 Y81 v. 1-40 1889-1929)

Published for forty years by the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association (Y.L.M.I.A.) under the guidance of Susa Young Gates, The Young Woman’s Journal featured contributions from young Latter-day Saint women.