The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women's History

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Eliza R. Snow on Eternal Progression

[From the Woman’s Exponent report of her 1873 discourse given in Ogden, Utah:] We are never to come to a stand point. We are to be progressing, and growing better. If we have done well to-day, we must do still better to-morrow. We believe in eternal progression. It will not do to say that we have so much to do that we cannot do any more, because the works and duties for women in Zion are constantly increasing. (Document 3.23)

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This collection of original documents explores the fascinating and largely unknown history of the Relief Society in the nineteenth century. The story begins with the founding of the Nauvoo Female Relief Society in 1842, and the complete and unabridged minutes of that organization are reproduced for the first time in print.

The large majority of the print volume covers the even lesser-known period after the Relief Society was reestablished in territorial Utah and began to spread to areas as remote as Hawaii and England.

This website features the entire contents of The First Fifty Years of Relief Society, including all the documents, the editorial matter, and the photographs. The website also includes videos, a chronology, and two thousand brief biographies (fully sourced) of individuals who appear in the documents.