The old magazines that are found in today’s libraries often came from the homes or offices of Church leaders, some of whom subscribed and others of whom received complimentary copies due to their positions. Such people were more likely than the average member to keep their magazines and have them bound at the end of the year, making it more likely that those copies survived to reach today’s libraries. It’s always kind of fun to see an issue addressed to a notable figure.
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This is a pub I have never seen before. I would have expected a mag published in Independence to be a Reorganized Church production. Can you tell us more?
eric, this started out as the Southern Star, a publication of the Southern States Mission, and soon expanded to serve all the missions in North America. The place of publication was moved to Independence where Zion’s Printing and Publishing, an adjunct of the Central States Mission with Independence headquarters, was located. Zion’s published tracts, and the Book of Mormon, and the Liahona, and anything else the missions needed (forms, record blanks, missionary cards), somewhat cheaper than Deseret Book or other Salt Lake outlets.
The Liahona was a mix of missionary news and longer articles aimed at both members who often were scattered in those missions, and investigators as a sort of missionary outreach.
The Liahona is online in a weird place for arcane reasons — you can find images of all issues at the Family Search website. Search for it in their catalog, by title; the catalog record has a link to the images. It’s a clumsy, unsatisfactory arrangement, because if you’re searching for your grandfather, or for history about a certain branch, you have to search each individual issue — you can’t search even a year at a time, much less across multiple years. But it’s online, so at least it’s there if you want to put in the effort.
Can’t remember the dates of publication without checking, but the Southern Star began publication a year or two or three before the turn of the 20th century, and the Liahona ran until about World War II.
And if it isn’t clear, the Liahona was very much a publication of our Church.
I was with Eric on this, anytime I see something published in Independence I assume RLDS. I guess I won’t be able to do that now.
Thank you for a comprehensive answer. I had assumed it was an LDS publication, but just suprised at its source.
Ardis, I think Zion’s Printing & Publishing was an LDS printing house in Independence too, though I don’t know why it was there instead of Salt Lake City.
Zion’s had its own staff separate from the Central States Mission staff, but for as long as I’m aware of its operations it was under the direct supervision of the mission president — Samuel O. Bennion reports on both mission and publishing efforts in his reports to Salt Lake for years and years in the early 20th century. I don’t know why it happened to be that particular mission instead of at, say, Chicago or New York City. I’ve wondered, but do not know, and must clearly label this SPECULATION–> There were several commercial operations in Independence owned by either the Church itself or Church members, located with the intent of forming a beachhead in Jackson County, a sort of quiet reestablishment of a Mormon presence there as a precursor to the expected return. I’ve wondered if Zion’s was explicitly a part of that — but I do not know. <--SPECULATION
Well, Kansas City is a fairly large town, and Independence big enough to produce a U.S. President even if it was no New York or Chicago.