''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 ...

newspaper published monthly in

Independence, Missouri Independence is a city in and one of two county seats of Jackson County, Missouri, United States. It 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 Unite ...

, 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 United States census, 2020 census. Kirtland is known for being the early headquarters of the Latter Day Saint movement from 1831 to 1837 and the site of ...

, 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 is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

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

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

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''. 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

Jackson County, Missouri Jackson County is located in the western portion of the U.S. state of Missouri, on the border with Kansas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 717,204. making it the second-most populous county in the state (af ...

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 religious 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 bapt ...

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 The ''Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate'', often shortened to ''Messenger and Advocate'', was an early Latter Day Saint monthly newspaper published in Kirtland, Ohio, from October 1834 to September 1837. It was the successor to '' The E ...

''.

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 referred to at Revelation 22:16 as the Bright Morning Star. Additionally, the planet

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

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,

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

.
''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 Newspapers established in 1832 Defunct newspapers published in Ohio Kirtland, Ohio