An exhibition sponsored by the
Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History
and L. Tom Perry Special Collections

This exhibition took place from 21 January to 4 June 2004
Special Collections gallery on 2nd level of Harold B. Lee Library

“To Tell the Tale” highlighted how women preserved their experiences as sisters, mothers, Relief Society members, missionaries, artists, educators, politicians, and writers—at home, in the
community and abroad. The exhibition’s documents and artifacts provided insight into the faith, struggles, triumphs and daily living of these LDS women.

Collecting Areas | Pamphlet | Photos | Press | Library's Exhibition Page

Music, poetry, art, theater—all preserve the soul, the beauty of life. LDS women have recorded their experiences on the stage, on canvas and on paper, at home, in the studio, and in public.

“The life of the mind, like the life of the spirit, is intangible and thus much harder for the historian to capture or measure. Women’s contributions to the arts, drama, theatre, music, thought, literature, and poetry in Mormon history are immense. Mormon social and cultural history is just becoming an item on the agenda of scholars, and it is sure that this agenda will force historians to deal with the lives and talents of Mormonism’s women.”
(Carol Cornwall Madsen & David J. Whittaker, 1979)

“We had chosen a profession that required our best in brain and brawn.”
( Army Nurse, World War II)

“We did what we had to do.”
(Nurses at War project, L. Tom Perry Special Collections.”)

“These challenges came in many forms, including a lack of acceptance, impossible sanitary conditions, supply shortages, and a general lack of training. Each difficulty produced changes and advances in the nursing field that would affect all future generations of nurses. The methods perfected and the challenges met by these pioneering nurses would set a standard of advancement and excellence in the field beyond anyone’s imagining.”
(M. Purcell, “Angles of Mercy,” 2000)

“I’m sure my mission gave me a background, a foundation. It gave me courage.” (Elva K. Miller Oral History, BYU Special Collections)

Community Outreach

LDS women “have had a feeling that life was incomplete unless through their work and themselves they were able to make a contribution toward the welfare of others.”
(Amy Brown Lyman, “Remarks, Welfare Session of General Conference,” 1941)

“As novelists, poets, and journalists, women found writing a legitimate form of public expression.”
(Carol Cornwall Madsen, “Women’s Traces: The Words They Left Behind,” 1993)

Emmeline B. Wells: “I had found out that women sometimes put their thoughts upon paper, and I conceived the idea of making rhymes, or jingles…and, in time, even a book.”
(“The Old Garrett,” 1888).

Jean Rio Baker: “Some Little Description of My Travels…As you are aware, I am not one to go through the world with my eyes shut.” (1810-1883)

Education informs the beliefs and thoughts of LDS women. Their collections show commitment to learning and to imparting knowledge as students, teachers, and mothers.

Eliza R. Snow: “We should seek to increase our fund of knowledge and to polish the mind….We should study our own natures, our own organizations, and learn to understand the laws of life and health. We should be energetic and ambitious in regard to these things and seek to promulgate the importance which attaches to them.” (Woman’s Exponent, 1872)

Politics

Nineteenth-century Mormon woman suffragists left a legacy of activism, commitment, and achievement. The vote gave a voice to Utah women, allowing them, through political involvement, to preserve their beliefs in community action.

Eliza R. Snow: “It is high time that we should rise up in the dignity of our calling and speak for ourselves.”
(Salt Lake City 15th Ward RS Minutes, 6 January 1870)