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Woman's Exponent (1872 to 1914)
September 15, 1880 issue
TypePeriodical
EditorLouisa Lula Greene (1872–1877)
Emmeline B. Wells (1877–1914)
Founded1872
Ceased publication1914
HeadquartersSalt Lake City

The Woman's Exponent was a semi-official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that began in 1872. It published articles advocating for women's suffrage and plural marriage, in addition to poetry and other writings. Lula Greene Richards and Emmeline B. Wells were its editors until 1914, when the Exponent was dissolved. While it had no direct successor, the Relief Society did launch its own magazine, the Relief Society Magazine, in 1915.

A new publication, independent of the church but part-inspired by the earlier magazine, Exponent II, began in 1974, and continues, along with a semi-autonomous blog site and a program of annual retreats.

The Woman's Exponent

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Goals and approach

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The Woman's Exponent (A Utah Ladies' Journal) was a periodical published from 1872 until 1914 in Salt Lake City with the stated aims of defending and inculcating right principles, and sharing useful knowledge, and to "discuss every subject interesting and valuable to women."[1] Its goals have been summarized by later commentators as uplifting and strengthening women of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)[2] and educating those not of the faith about the women of the Church. It was not an official publication of the Church, and throughout its run was owned, operated and edited by women of the Church in a private capacity, but was closely tied to its women's organizations, the Female Relief Societies, unified as the Relief Society.[3] It was approved by the General Authorities of the Church,[3] and often published news of Church events and essays relating to doctrine,[4] but was editorially independent.[3]

Throughout the time of its publication, the newspaper, as it was generally described, covered many topics.[3] It was a strong voice in support of woman's suffrage. It also actively supported plural marriage, which was a religious practice of the Church at the time. Home, family, and the overall role of women were also frequent topics.[5] The Exponent both expressed that the "woman's sphere" in the home was a noble construct of society and encouraged women to expand beyond it; education for women was often encouraged.[4] In addition to these social and political topics, the Exponent included poems and stories, tidbits of humor or wisdom, current news.[6] Recipes and other housekeeping tips, and notes on dress, were also published.[4] Reports from meetings of Relief Society bodies, and other auxiliary organizations such as young women’s and primary groups, and Retrenchment Associations, were also published,[1] and even though it was a private publication, women of the Relief Society were actively encouraged to subscribe, as well as contribute to the paper.[7]

Format and circulation

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The newspaper was generally issued semi-monthly at first[4] and later monthly, on quarto paper in three columns.[3] Its circulation was estimated by the Pacific States Newspaper Directory as 4,000 in 1888, and its readership probably exceeded that number as the Exponent was used in women's meetings and exchanged with papers outside of Utah.[8] It was credited with considerable influence in Utah, and was quoted in other journals.[3]

History

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The editor of the Salt Lake Herald, Edward L. Sloan, originally intended to create a woman's column in the Herald itself. When the staff refused to support his idea, and having heard of the idea of a journal for women circulating in the Relief Society,[3] Sloan decided to start the Exponent as a separate publication.[8] He recruited Louisa Lula Greene as editor, and she accepted the position after she secured the approval of her great uncle[9] — Brigham Young, the president of the LDS Church,[4] who assigned it to her as a mission.[3] Greene moved to Salt Lake City in April 1872, and originally worked from a room in the house of another great uncle, but later moved to a purpose-built office with living quarters.[1] The first issue was published on 1 June 1872.[1]

emmeline b wells writing at a desk
Emmeline B. Wells, second editor of the Woman's Exponent

Emmeline B. Wells, who would later become general president of the Relief Society, joined Greene as co-editor in the 1 December 1875 issue. They are both listed as editors on page 100 of vol. 4 no. 13;[10] The two worked together to edit the magazine until Greene decided to take some time for her family in July 1877. She is last listed as editor on page 28 of vol. 6 no. 4;[11] Wells was later joined by her daughter, Annie Wells Cannon, as associate editor, in June 1905. Her name first appears on page 4 of vol. 34 no. 1.[12] Both continued to serve as the publication's editors until it folded.

The periodical faced increasing financial pressures from the late 1800s or early 1900s, and Wells unsuccessfully lobbied the Relief Society General Board to adopt the newspaper as its official publication. This proposal was not accepted. The paper was forced to close in February 1914.[13][3]

The Relief Society Magazine, a separate magazine and an official publication of the LDS Church, began in January 1915.[3]

Exponent II

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Exponent II is a quarterly periodical, the longest-running independent publication for Latter-day Saint women. At its launch it described itself as a "spiritual descendent" of the Woman's Exponent.[14]

History

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Following the consolidation of the Relief Society budget into the central LDS Church budget,[15] and of the Relief Society Magazine into the general church journal, the Ensign in 1970, an independent publication calling itself Exponent II was started in 1974 by several Cambridge, Massachusetts-area Mormon women, including Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Claudia Bushman, Carrell Hilton Sheldon, Judy Dushku and Sue Booth-Forbes. This journal had two inspirations, one being the 1972 finding of a run of the Woman's Exponent in the Widener Library of Harvard University,[15] and the other being a suggestion by one of the LDS Church leaders in the Boston area, historian Richard Bushman.[16] The group had previously produced a book, Mormon Sisters: Women in Early Utah, partly based on courses they had designed for and presented at the local LDS Institute, and some had previously worked together on a women-focused issue of Dialogue and, as a Cambridge Ward Relief Society project, a guide to Boston.[17]

The first edition - which carried a banner headline reading "Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?" - offered articles on the Equal Rights Amendment, poetry, profiles of female Mormon civic leaders, scholars and entrepreneurs, and notices of study groups and retreats.[14]

The early production encouraged by the official LDS Church Historian, Leonard Arrington[18] and was aided by a small grant from the Mormon History Association to the group for library and copying expenses,[19] and was done in the homes of group members.[17] The journal is sometimes characterised as related to the New Mormon history movement.[19]

The women formed a non-profit organization with no official relation to the LDS Church, at first incorporated as Mormon Sisters, Inc., later Exponent II, Inc., which continues in existence.[17] During the 1970s, according to Alice Colton Smith, a member of the Relief Society General Board at the time, members of the Board were not permitted to subscribe to Exponent II, yet she and a few others did so under the names of their husbands.[20]

A 40th anniversary event was held in Boston in 2014, attended by 25 of the 1974 group, and current leaders of the Exponent II organization.[15]

In 2017 the Board of Exponent II announced that a former treasurer (2012 to 2017) had misappropriated funds. In December 2018 the scale of the embezzlement was revealed to be in excess of a net 100,000 US dollars, with over 191,000 dollars taken in over 600 transactions, and 84,000 returned before and after discovery. The former treasurer was investigated by the FBI, prosecuted, and sentenced to prison in 2019, and new financial safeguards were put in place.[21]

Goals and approach

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The journal launched with twin platforms of Mormonism and feminism,[16]: 135  and while it continues to focus on the concerns and experiences of some Mormon women from a feminist perspective,[22] it modified its initial goals slightly.[16] It aims to be open and non-judgmental,[23] and editorially independent of the LDS Church authorities.[16]: 141  While the Church takes no official position on the independent publication, the periodical was apparently described at a 1974 meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve as "Claudia Bushman’s Women’s Lib magazine."[18] Some key concerns of the magazine have been summarized as the struggles of women with modern life's demands, including those of family, and the roles and ways of living for women, sometimes in contrast to traditional perceptions.[24]

Publication, staffing and circulation

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Exponent II is published in magazine format, quarterly. The newspaper grew rapidly upon launch, reaching over 4,000 subscribers within its first year, from all US states, and abroad, beating a target of 500.[15]

As of 2016 the role of Editor-in-Chief is held by Margaret Olsen Hemming,[25] in succession to Claudia Bushman (1974-1975), Nancy T. Dredge (1975-1981 and 2000-2009), Susan Paxman (1984-1997), Jenny Atkinson (1997-2000), and co-editors Aimee Evans Hickman and Emily Clyde Curtis (2010-2016).[26]

There is also a Managing Editor overseeing production, a post held since 2016 by Pandora Brewer, and editors for Art, Layout and specific sections.[27] From the beginning, a very popular section has been the Sisters Speak column, where a question is posed, and debated by readers writing in.[19] Artwork, especially for the cover, has been produced by members of the production group, but also by other Mormon women.

Exponent II retreats

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The Exponent II organization has conducted annual residential retreats in the eastern US since the 1980s, where members and others can debate issues and share experiences. The events are popular - sometimes selling out within a day - and often oversubscribed.[28][15]

The Exponent Blog

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With the blessing of the Exponent II editorial board, Caroline Kline, Jana Remy and Deborah Farmer established a related blog called The Exponent in January 2005.[29] More than two dozen writers regularly write for the blog, and it includes Relief Society lesson materials written from a Mormon feminist perspective.[30]

Governance

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Exponent II is overseen by its Board, led by a President, Vice-President and Treasurer,[31] and including the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor, two representatives of the Blog and the Retreats Coordinator. There is also a panel of Emeritus Board Members, including Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and Judy Dushku.[31]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d "Woman's Exponent. A Utah Ladies' Journal, June 1 1872". The First Fifty Years of Relief Society. Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church Historian's Press. p. 3.21. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  2. ^ Bennion 1976, p. 226.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thomas, Shirley W. "Woman's Exponent". Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Brigham Young University. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e Bennion 1976, pp. 224, 237.
  5. ^ Bennion 1976, p. 239.
  6. ^ Bennion 1976, pp. 229–230.
  7. ^ Bennion 1976, p. 224.
  8. ^ a b Watson 1991, p. 166-167.
  9. ^ Bennion 1981, p. 2.
  10. ^ Richards & Wells 1875.
  11. ^ Richards & Wells 1877.
  12. ^ Wells 1905.
  13. ^ Madsen 2006.
  14. ^ a b Brooks, Joanna; Steenblik, Rachel Hunt; Wheelwright, Hannah (2015). Mormon Feminism: Essential Writings (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 40. ISBN 9780190248055.
  15. ^ a b c d e Mills, Alexa (28 September 2014). "Mormon women celebrate 40 years of faith and feminism". Boston Globe. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  16. ^ a b c d Dredge, Nancy Tate (Summer 2016). "Key Turning Points in Exponent II's History". Dialogue: 135–142.
  17. ^ a b c Sheldon, Carrel Hilton (Summer 1999). "Launching Exponent II". Exponent II. 22 (4). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  18. ^ a b Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher (2020). ""For the Power is In Them": Leonard Arrington and the Founders of Exponent II". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 53 (1): 107–120. doi:10.5406/dialjmormthou.53.1.0107. S2CID 218924953.
  19. ^ a b c Bushman, Claudia L. (2015). "Exponent II: Early Decisions". Dialogue. 49 (2): 129–134.
  20. ^ Prince 2016.
  21. ^ Stack, Peggy Fletcher (2 December 2018). "Former Exponent II treasurer admits to stealing more than $100K from Mormon feminist magazine". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  22. ^ Barlow 2006.
  23. ^ Arrington, Leonard J.; Bitton, Davis (1992) [1979]. The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-Day Saints (2nd ed.). Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. p. 326. ISBN 978-0-252-06236-0. Its content is marked by openness, ... recognition of problems ... discussion of possible solutions
  24. ^ Allen, James B.; Walker, Ronald W.; Whittaker, David J. (2001). Mormon History. Urbana and Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. p. 172. ISBN 9780252026195.
  25. ^ Exponent II.
  26. ^ Curtis, Emily Clyde, Hickman, Aimee Evan (1 September 2010). "Masthead / contents page" (PDF). Exponent II. 30 (2): 2. Retrieved 12 May 2020.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  27. ^ "Staff". Exponent II. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  28. ^ "Retreat". Exponent II. Retrieved 11 May 2020. here have been years when this retreat has sold out in less than 24 hours
  29. ^ Jana R. 2006.
  30. ^ Caroline K. 2016.
  31. ^ a b "The Board". Exponent II. Retrieved 11 May 2020.

References

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  • Prince, Gregory (2016). Leonard Arrington and the Writing of Mormon History. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. p. 238. ISBN 9781607814795.
  • Madsen, Carol Cornwall (2006). An Advocate for Women: The Public Life of Emmeline B. Wells, 1870-1920. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University. ISBN 9780842526159.
  • Bennion, Sherilyn C. (1981). "Lula Greene Richards: Utah's First Woman Editor". BYU Studies. 21: 1–14.
  • Watson, Martha (1991). "The Woman's Exponent, 1872-1914: Champion for The Rights of the Women of Zion, and the Rights of the Women of All Nations". A Voice of Their Own: The Woman Suffrage Press, 1840-1910. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. p. 165-182. ISBN 9780817305260.
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