Relief Society Lessons, January 1914

By: J. Stapley - August 24, 2006

With the Seventies offering a unified course for quorum meetings in 1901 and the rest of the priesthood following suit latter that decade, the Relief Society held off until 1914 to unify and centralize their curriculum. The Relief Society Magazine, at that time called the Relief Society Bulletin, was instated for the very purpose of distributing materials to the disperse societies.

The first year’s participation wasn’t mandatory, however, if a group wished to follow their own lessons, they would have to be submitted to Salt Lake for approval by the general board. From the first issue of the Bulletin it was evident that there was some concern that the Relief Society wasn’t meeting the needs of young sisters:

The fact that the lessons which are now to be presented to your consideration dwell more upon the temporal things of the Kingdom than on the spiritual, is not meant to emphasize the temporal side of our work in this Society. For all the fights and learning of the world are valueless when placed in the scale with the pure things of this Gospel. But, sisters, let us seek to make a portion of our meetings sufficiently attractive to call in the bright and eager minds amongst the younger portion of the community, so that when we leave this sphere of action, the younger women will be trained in both the spiritual and practical things of this work. (1)

The Societies were asked to purchase some materials though the bulletin/lessons were provided for free for the first year. The General Board outlined four lessons for each month as follows:

Jan-June and Sept-Jan
I – Work and Business
II – Genealogy and Testimony
III – Home Ethics and Gardening
IV – Literature Art and Architecture

Jul-Aug (“Summer Lessons for Relief Societies which do not Adjourn”)
I – Work and Business
II – Health and Hygiene
III – Health and Hygiene
IV – Health and Hygiene

This post will outline the first month of lessons as outlined in the Bulletin. As the first lesson of the month was an introduction to the new curriculum, no lesson was furnished. For all other lessons, a ten minute segment on current events was to start the meeting. The 10 minutes was to be divided into 3 segments of 3 minutes each for local, national and international events. The suggested events for discussion in January were selected the month before and included:

Local
Utah Day for All Salt Lake City Merchants
Dedication of Mesa Chapels
Utah Marble for Capitol Building
Shop Early
Schools
Theatres and Moving Picture Shows
Town Topics

National
Suffrage Methods in Washington
Denver Lies Under Heavy Mantle of Snow
Shall Religious Songs be Sung in the Schools of the United States?
Does Cold Storage Effect Prices.
Money Markets Unsteady.
Message of President Woodrow Wilson.

The instructions included a strong warning against contention and strife in discussing such topics. Additionally there was significant counsel on the General Boards hopes for the sisters:

It is well to keep abreast of the day in the study of our money markets. We hope to become trained in the administration of our financial resources, whether they be great or small. And we may well begin by following the methods of our brethren, who observe these questions closely. (2)

International
The Mexican Situation.
Votes for Women as An International Issue.
Ludwig of Bavaria – the New King.
Secretary Bryan Negotiating Treaty with Denmark.
Great German Firms Will Exhibit at Panama Exposition.
Emperor William Recovers From Long Illness.

Lesson II – Genealogy
After the sister had the opportunities for testimonies, the topic of discussion was the Spirit of Elijah for twenty minutes.

Lesson III
20 minutes on Home Ethics
Topic 1. Personal Pride in making one’s own homestead clean and beautiful.
Topic 2. Our share and responsibility as citizens in making and maintaining a good water system.
Topic 3. What we could do to improve the streets and thoroghfares near us.
Topic 4. How we can help in making parks and playgrounds.
Topic 5. Our responsibility and share in beautifying the grounds upon which church buildings are erected.

After the lesson, the sisters received assignments such as sketching landscaping for houses and buildings, preparing talks on reforesting clearcut in the mountains or on how to procure clean water for their cities.

20 minutes on Home Gardening for Women
The Relief Societies were directed to procure instructional materials from the Utah State extension which were coupled with the bulletin outlines. After some instructional discussion on plants and soils, the bulletin offered a brief sermon of sorts on the topic.

Lesson IV
Literature – 30 min
The Relief Society procured a large amount of copies of the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin of which each ward was to order at least one copy (30 cents post-paid). The autobiography was used for the entire year.

Art and Architecture – 10 min
The Bungalo. The lesson included a study of the etymology of the word and instructions on how to adapt it to mountain living. Assignments were included as part of the lesson.

_______________________

  1. Address to be Read at Work and Business Meeting (1914) Relief Society Bulletin. vol. 1 no. 1 pg. 1.
  2. Relief Society Bulletin. vol. 1 no. 1 pg. 4.

11 Comments

  1. J. You rock! What do you know about authorship? I’m assuming Emmeline B. Wells’ fingerprints are all over this, as she was the RS president and a stunningly prolific writer. I’m immersed in some of her writings write now, and what you’ve posted here and at BCC has a similar feel.

    Thanks for posting this — there’s a delightful passion and energy in this lesson sequence. Sometimes it feels like topics are done to death in the current RS manuals. Last week, the teacher in RS began by saying, “This is another lesson on the importance of marriage and family. I don’t know quite what to say since we’ve talked about it so much recently, so let’s read the quotes and see if anyone else has comments.”

    Comment by Deborah — 8/26/2006 @ 8:00 am

  2. Thanks Deborah, and that is a great question. I’m not sure that we know who wrote the lessons, though I’m lookinging into it. There is no masthead for the January or Feburary, 1914 Bulletin; however March does include one as follows:

    Editor: Mrs. Susa Young Gates
    Business Manager: Mrs. Janette A. Hyde
    Assistant Manager: Mrs. Amy Brown Lyman
    Advisory Committee: Mrs. Clarissa S. Williams; Mrs. Julina L. Smith; Mrs. Rebecca N. Nibley

    It was published by the General Board of the Relief Society.

    Comment by J. Stapley — 8/26/2006 @ 11:36 am

  3. In my day, (yes the phrase is as archaic as I am), our Relief Society’s curriculum included lessons on Spiritual Living, Literature, Social Science and Work/business. These meetings were on weekdays. There were few working women in those days and the Relief Society was a social outlet for many of the sisters. I remember Shakespeare being taught. We studied current events and other countries. Literature was taught from a series of “Out of the Best Books” as it became “Cultural Refinement” (and yes there were many jokes made about that appellation). Social Studies became more of a Spiritual Living lesson and finally someone quoted a General Authority stating that all lessons in the R.S. should be Spiritual. When Relief Society became part of the three hour block on Sundays this became a moot point. Do I miss those days? Yes! But in a way it was just a painful to sit in a class and listen to a teacher who was ill-equipped to teach something current or cultural as it is to be in a class these days and listen to a teacher try to instruct on another lesson on “the importance of marriage and family”. Having taught in both worlds, the experience is in the prayer of preparing, the love of the sisters and the listening for the spirit. As for the culture etc. we are on our own.

    Comment by jns — 8/27/2006 @ 7:36 am

  4. Another awesome one J. It just keeps blowing my mind, again and again, how different my church is from my grandmother’s church.

    Comment by fMhLisa — 8/28/2006 @ 4:56 pm

  5. I’m assuming Emmeline B. Wells’ fingerprints are all over this, as she was the RS president and a stunningly prolific writer.

    Actually, I understand that Wells objected to the implementation of standardized lesson outlines, and it was Julina Smith who successfully pushed for the appointment of a seven-member committee to prepare the lessons.

    The outlines received a positive response among members, but Wells continued to express concern that the outlines took women away from the spiritual side of the RS’ work and from the principles that gave rise to the organization of the Relief Society.

    Comment by Justin — 8/28/2006 @ 8:22 pm

  6. Thanks for chiming in Justin. Madsen’s public life biography of Well’s is sitting in my queue. I’ve gotten a little bit read, but not far at all (enter distraction). I’m looking forward to it though.

    Women of Covenant cites RS General Board minutes noting that Wells was against the unified curriculum and that after they were published she:

    expressed the fear that in these outlines we are getting too far away from the spiritual side of our great work, and from the thought that inspired the first organization of the Relief Society. The Society stands first for spirituality, and then for charity and mercy.

    The Bulletin was also the coup de grace to the Exponent, which was Wells’ baby.

    Comment by J. Stapley — 8/28/2006 @ 8:53 pm

  7. Thanks for the citation, J. My source was Janath Cannon and Jill Mulvay Derr, “Resolving Differences/Achieving Unity: Lessons from the History of Relief Society” in Mary E. Stovall and Carol Cornwall Madsen, eds., As Women of Faith: Talks Selected from the BYU Women’s Conferences (SLC: Deseret Book, 1989), but after looking at Women of Covenant, I see that the discussion in the two sources is, as to be expected given common authorship, quite similar.

    It’s interesting that “Resolving Differences” seems to play up Wells’ opposition a bit more, noting that

    for several years the general board had considered publishing a standardized course of Relief Society lessons, but Emmeline B. Wells and some older board members objected. At Relief Society general conference in April 1910, Emmeline “explained why the Relief Society did not have a general outline of Mother’s work for the entire society, and stated that it was to help educate and develop the sisters in their own locality by doing the thinking and studying of the subject required, which is helpful to the mind and heart.” 10

    The proposal continued to be agitated during 1912 and 1913, but eighty-five-year-old Emmeline stalled decision on the matter, tabling the motion time after time or promising she would bring it up for a vote of stake Relief Society presidents. Finally, on 4 September 1913, her second counselor, Julina Smith, asked the privilege of appointing a committee on outlines. This was granted, and one month later the seven-member committee, composed primarily of younger women, reported that the outlines would be ready for publication in January. The 1914 Guide featured lessons in genealogy, home ethics, home gardening, literature, art and architecture, and health. Beginning in 1915 lessons were carried in the successor to the Woman’s Exponent, the Relief Society Magazine, edited by Susa Young Gates, a key proponent of standardized lesson outlines. 11

    The response to the new material was overwhelmingly positive. Emmeline never attempted to thwart or sabotage the new endeavor, but she did continue to articulate her uneasiness, expressing her “fear that in these outlines we are getting too far away from the spiritual side of our great work, and from the thought that inspired the first organization of the Relief Society. The Society stands first for spirituality, and then for charity and mercy.” Seeking to accommodate this concern, the board voted to give President Emmeline Wells space in each month’s magazine to emphasize these aspects of Relief Society work. 12

    While this anecdote is not particularly dramatic, it offers some insight into the process of working in concert. The board wrestled with the question of general outlines from 1910 to 1913. Even after tension started to mount, resolution was not easily obtained. One is struck by the respect the board showed for the aged and experienced Emmeline. Indeed, their respect was charity which “suffereth long, and is kind; . . . is not easily provoked, . . . [and] endureth all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7.) Changing the course of the institution was a slow and laborious process. In this case, however, once the board had made the decision to change they moved forward quickly with implementation. The dissenting voice of Emmeline, once the obstacle to change, became a useful warning, a wise balancing voice as sisters pursued a new direction. Anyone who has listened to a Relief Society teacher read a thirty-minute lesson straight from the manual knows standardized lesson plans can, in fact, get us “far away from the spiritual side of our great work.”

    (pp. 124-26).

    Comment by Justin — 8/29/2006 @ 9:13 am

  8. Thanks for that excellent excerpt. I haven’t yet read a lot in this area, and I appreciate the reference. I guess I am not surprised that Women of Covenant was dailed down a bit. I understand that there was significant controversy in the COB over it.

    Comment by J. Stapley — 8/29/2006 @ 9:41 am

  9. “Madsen’s public life biography of Well’s is sitting in my queue.”

    I just finished it and recommend it heartily.
    Thanks, Justin, for the background. This Well’s bio is a thorough treatment of the suffrage work but has little on RS work — that will come in the second volume, I assume.

    Emmeline’s warning about standardized lessons feels remarkably current — it’s been so long since I’ve attended an R.S. lesson with life (and I’m an unabashed RS fan).

    Comment by Deborah — 8/31/2006 @ 8:26 pm

  10. I would like to know all of the past General Relief Society Presidents…thank you

    Comment by Janet Stark — 9/16/2006 @ 8:27 pm

  11. Here you go, Janet. Barbara Smith gets the vote for most impressive hair. Belle Spafford the vote for most timeless appearence.

    Comment by J. Stapley — 9/16/2006 @ 9:30 pm

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