''The Evening and the Morning Star'' was an early

Latter Day Saint movement The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by J ...

newspaper published monthly in

Independence, Missouri Independence is the fifth-largest city in Missouri and the county seat of Jackson County. Independence is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area. In 2020, ...

, from June 1832 to July 1833, and then in

Kirtland, Ohio Kirtland is a city in Lake County, Ohio, United States. The population was 6,937 at the 2020 census. Kirtland is known for being the early headquarters of the Latter Day Saint movement from 1831 to 1837 and is the site of the movement's first t ...

, from December 1833 to September 1834. Reprints of edited versions of the original issues were also published in Kirtland under the title ''Evening and Morning Star''.

Printing in Missouri

''The Evening and the Morning Star'' was the first Latter Day Saint newspaper. It was initially published in the printing office of W. W. Phelps in Independence, Missouri. The first issue was printed in June 1832 as volume 1 number 1. Printing continued until the office was destroyed by a mob on 20 July 1833, in response to an article published in ''The Evening and the Morning Star'' about U.S. and Missouri laws regarding

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

s, and mixed-raced Americans. According to a letter written by

John Whitmer John Whitmer (August 27, 1802 – July 11, 1878) was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. He was one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon's golden plates. Whitmer was also the first official Church Historian and a member of t ...

and Phelps,

proslavery Proslavery is a support for slavery. It is found in the Bible, in the thought of ancient philosophers, in British writings and in American writings especially before the American Civil War but also later through 20th century. Arguments in favor o ...

Missourians responded with an outraged manifesto, in which Mormons were decried as ''"...deluded fanatics, or weak and designing knaves..."'' and so forth. The mob destroyed Phelps's printing office and numerous incomplete copies of the ''

Book of Commandments The Book of Commandments is the earliest published book to contain the revelations of Joseph Smith Jr. Text published in the Book of Commandments is now considered scripture by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) as part o ...

''. Volume 2 number 14 was the last issue of the newspaper published in Missouri.

Printing resumed in Ohio

After the Latter Day Saints were expelled from

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

in late 1833, printing of ''The Evening and the Morning Star'' temporarily resumed in

, in a printing shop owned by Frederick G. Williams. The editor in Kirtland was

Oliver Cowdery Oliver H. P. Cowdery (October 3, 1806 – March 3, 1850) was an American Mormon leader who, with Joseph Smith, was an important participant in the formative period of the Latter Day Saint movement between 1829 and 1836. He was the first baptized ...

and the plan was to eventually replace the Missouri paper with one unique to Ohio. The last issue of the newspaper was September 1834, volume 2 number 24. In it Cowdery wrote, "As ''The Evening and the Morning Star'' was designed to be published at Missouri, it was considered that another name would be more appropriate for a paper in this place irtland consequently, as the name of this church has lately been entitled the church of the Latter Day Saints... it is no more than just, that a paper ''disseminating'' the doctrines believed by the same, and ''advocating'' its character and rights, should be entitled 'Messenger and Advocate.'" Thus, in October 1834, ''The Evening and the Morning Star'' was succeeded by the '' Messenger and Advocate''.

Reprint

The last issue of ''The Evening and the Morning Star'' also announced that all issues of the newspaper would be reprinted in a format that was easier to bind. The reprinted issues were then released sporadically between January 1835 and October 1836 and contained significant changes. The most obvious change was the shortened name, ''Evening and Morning Star.'' But there were also a large number of editorial changes, such as articles being rearranged within and among the different issues.

Origin of title

.~Jesus Christ is Refferred to at Revelation 22:16 as the Bright Morning Star. Additionally, the planet

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

is given the name "Evening Star" when it appears in the west after sunset and "Morning Star" when it appears in the east before sunrise. Some contest that the movement, or life cycle, of Venus corresponds to that of Jesus Christ and that is why the newspaper received its name of ''The Evening and the Morning Star''.Brinkerhoff, Val (2008), ''The Day Star: Reading Sacred Architecture, Book 2: Unlocking Content'', Honeoye Falls, N.Y.: Digital Legend Press, pp. 141-43.

Notes

References

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External links

''The Evening and the Morning Star''
(PDF scans), L. Tom Perry Special Collections,

Harold B. Lee Library The Harold B. Lee Library (HBLL) is the main academic library of Brigham Young University (BYU) located in Provo, Utah. The library started as a small collection of books in the president's office in 1876 before moving in 1891. The Heber J. Gr ...

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

.
''The Evening and the Morning Star''
(HTML) at CenterPlace.org, Restoration Internet Committee {{DEFAULTSORT:Evening and the Morning Star, The 1832 in Christianity Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints) periodicals Defunct newspapers published in Missouri Independence, Missouri Latter Day Saint movement in Missouri Latter Day Saint movement in Ohio Publications disestablished in 1834 Publications established in 1832 Defunct newspapers published in Ohio Kirtland, Ohio