The Textual Culture of the Nauvoo Female Relief Society Leadership and Minute Book

Abstract

Jennifer Reeder’s “The Textual Culture of the Nauvoo Relief Society Leadership and Minute Book” provides a foundation for a deep understanding of the social production of the Nauvoo Female Relief Society’s minute book, which exemplifies the broad activity and discourse among Mormon women in Nauvoo, Illinois, in the 1840s. Typical of contemporary women’s organizations, the Relief Society was led by formally appointed officers who kept careful records of their benevolent efforts and theological discussions. Reeder shows that the Relief Society’s minute book was much more than a ledger of names and donations. Of particular interest is the way relationships played out among the women and how the practice of polygamy influenced the Relief Society, though never openly discussed in meetings. Reeder examines the polygamist relationships of several of the Society’s leaders and clerical officers in order to read between the lines of what was and was not written.