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January 28, 1842

From the earliest days of the Restoration, members of the Church of Jesus Christ have understood the power and significance of the press and the printed word. The Church’s first official newspaper, the Evening and the Morning Star, was started in 1832, just two years after the Church’s founding, and ran for two years until 1834. It was followed by the Messenger and Advocate (1834–37) and the Elders’ Journal (1837–38). In Great Britain the Church published the Millennial Star as its English-language European newspaper for over a century (1840–1970). Various other periodicals and newspapers have appeared in a sustained print culture in the Church, including the Wasp (1842–43), the Nauvoo Neighbor (1834–45), the Prophet (1844–45), the Seer (1853–54), the Juvenile Instructor (1866–1900), the Improvement Era (1897–1970), and the Deseret News (1850–c�ܰ�����Գ�).[1]

Not long after its settlement in Nauvoo, in November 1839 the Church established the Times and Seasons as its official organ.[2] “Realizing the anxiety which rests in the bosoms of all the Saints who are scattered abroad, to learn of the condition and welfare of the church,” announced the paper’s prospectus, “[the publishers] have procured a printing press and materials and will publish a monthly Periodical, at this place, containing all general information respecting the church.”[3] The paper’s first editors were Ebenezer Robinson and Joseph Smith’s younger brother Don Carlos. Robert B. Thompson came on as an associate editor of the paper in early 1841, but later that year in August both Don Carlos and Thompson died unexpectedly, leaving the paper in the charge of Robinson, who purchased it from the late Don Carlos’s estate.[4]

Who would assume responsibility over the Times and Seasons going forward? Should it stay in private hands with Robinson, or should Church leaders step in to take more direct involvement with its printing operations? Joseph and members of the Quorum of the Twelve discussed the issue in late 1841, and finally the present revelation was received by the Prophet on January 28, 1842, specifying that editorship was to be assumed by the Twelve.[5] A week later on February 4, 1842, apostle Willard Richards, acting as Joseph’s agent, purchased the paper and the print shop from Robinson.[6] Meanwhile, apostles Wilford Woodruff and John Taylor were assigned to work in the print shop under the supervision of Joseph himself, who on March 1, 1842, assumed chief editorship of the paper.[7]

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A Revelation to the Twelve, concerning the Times and Seasons.

Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servant Joseph Smith—go and say unto the Twelve, that it is my will to have them take in hand the editorial department of the Times and Seasons, according to that manifestation which shall be given unto them by the power of my Holy Spirit in the midst of their council, saith the Lord. Amen.

Notes

[1] See further “Appendix 3: Church Periodicals,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 3:1659–64, for foreign-language periodicals published by or otherwise affiliated with the Church.

[2] For an in-depth analysis of the history of the Times and Seasons, see Parry D. Sorensen, “Nauvoo Times and Seasons,” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 55, no. 2 (Summer 1962): 117–35. See also Reed C. Durham Jr., “Times and Seasons,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 3:1479–80.

[3] “Prospectus of the Times and Seasons,” Times and Seasons 1, no. 1 (November 1840): 16.

[4] Sorensen, “Nauvoo Times and Seasons,” 126; JSP, D9:125.

[5] JSP, D9:125–27.

[6] JSP, D9:144–47; JSP, J2:33.

[7] In an entry in his journal dated February 3, 1842, Wilford Woodruff recorded, “A Revelation was given a few days since for the Twelve to obtain the printing esstablishment of E Robinson & govern the printing of the Times & Seasons & all the church publications. . . . After consulting upon the subject the quorum appointed Elders J. Taylor & W Woodruff of the Twelve to Edit the Times & Seasons & take charge of the whole esstablishment under the direction of Joseph the Seer. Accordingly I left my station at the Nauvoo provision store & commenced this day to labour for the church in the printing esstablishment.” Wilford Woodruff, Journal, February 3, 1842, www. wilfordwoodruffpapers.org. Joseph acted as editor of the Times and Seasons from March 1 to November 1, 1842, at which point John Taylor assumed editorship. “To Subscribers,” Times and Seasons 3, no. 9 [March 1, 1842]: 710; “Valedictory,” Times and Seasons 4, no. 1 [November 1, 1842]: 8. See further Matthew Roper, Paul J. Fields, and Atul Nepal, “Joseph Smith, the Times and Seasons, and Central American Ruins,” Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture 22, no. 2 (2013): 84–97.