Cover of the Juvenile Instructor August 1910

''The Juvenile Instructor'' was a magazine for members of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church). It began publication in 1866 as a private publication, but by the late 1860s served as the de facto publication of the LDS Church's Deseret Sunday School Union

organization An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences) is an legal entity, entity—such as ...

. It was an official periodical of the LDS Church from 1901 to 1929, after which the church replaced it with '' The Instructor''.

History

''The Juvenile Instructor'' was issued monthly and was initially targeted toward the children and youth members of the LDS Church. It consisted of

catechism A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...

s on the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, first published in 1830 by Joseph Smith as ''The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi''. The book is one of ...

, and

Doctrine and Covenants The Doctrine and Covenants (sometimes abbreviated and cited as D&C or D. and C.) is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. Originally published in 1835 as Doctrine and Covenants of the Chur ...

; musical compositions; illustrations; stories; editorial teachings; and other aids to gospel instruction. It was the first magazine for children published in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. For much of its history, ''The Juvenile Instructor'' was owned by the Cannon family. Its first editor was George Q. Cannon, an LDS Church

apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary. The word is derived from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", itself derived from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to se ...

. Cannon and his family continued to publish the magazine privately until January 1, 1901, when the Deseret Sunday School Union purchased the magazine and continued its publication. From 1901 to 1929, the magazine was considered the official publication of the church's Sunday School. From 1881 to 1890, George Reynolds was an assistant editor of ''The Juvenile Instructor''. In 1882, he wrote a series of popular articles in the magazine about

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious and political leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. Publishing the Book of Mormon at the age of 24, Smith attracted tens of thou ...

and the translation of the Book of Mormon.

Blog

In 2007, an academically leaning blog focused on the history of the Latter-day Saints was formed and named ''Juvenile Instructor'' with the original intention "to situate the study of Mormonism within wider frameworks, including American religious history, western history, gender history, and, on occasion, the history of the Republic of South Africa."About Juvenile Instructor
" ''Juvenile Instructor''. October 26, 2007. Accessed April 13, 2021.

Notes

External links

''Juvenile Instructor''
(PDF scans) courtesy of the

Church History Library The Church History Library (CHL) is a research center and archives building housing materials chronicling the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The library is owned by the Church and opened in 2009 in downto ...

and the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

.
''Juvenile Instructor''
an LDS history-themed blog, part of the Mormon blogosphere. 1866 in Christianity Defunct children's magazines published in the United States Magazines disestablished in 1929 Magazines established in 1866 Latter Day Saint children's magazines Sunday School (LDS Church) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints periodicals Young people and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 20th-century Mormonism 1866 establishments in Utah Territory Magazines published in Utah Defunct Christian magazines {{Christian-mag-stub

History

Blog

See also

Notes

External links