Settling the Valley, Proclaiming the Gospel

The General Epistles of the Mormon First Presidency

Edited by Reid L. Neilson and Nathan N. Waite

Contains excerpts from and explanations of rarely seen historical and doctrinal writings of the Mormon First Presidency, including Brigham Young.
Provdes new insights into Mormon environmental history and missiology
Offers a firsthand look at how Mormons saw themselves interacting with native populations in the American West

Settling the Valley, Proclaiming the Gospel

The General Epistles of the Mormon First Presidency

Edited by Reid L. Neilson and Nathan N. Waite

Description

The Mormons had just arrived in Utah after their 1,300-mile exodus across the Great Plains and over the Rocky Mountains. Food was scarce, the climate shocking in its extremes, and local Indian bands uneasy. Despite the challenges, Brigham Young and his counselors in the First Presidency sent church members out to establish footholds throughout the Great Basin. But the church leaders felt they had a commission to do more than simply establish Zion in the wilderness; they had to invite the nations to come up to "the mountain of the Lord's house." In these critical early years, when survival in Utah was precarious, missionaries were sent to every inhabited continent.

The 14 general epistles, sent out from the First Presidency from 1849 to 1856, provide invaluable perspectives on the events of Mormon history as they unfolded during this complex transitional time. Woven into each epistle are missionary calls and reports from the field, giving the Mormons a glimpse of the wider world far beyond their isolated home. At times, the epistles are a surprising mixture of soaring doctrinal expositions and mundane lists of items needed in Salt Lake City, such as shoe leather and nails.

Settling the Valley, Proclaiming the Gospel collects the 14 general epistles, with introductions that provide historical, religious, and environmental contexts for the letters, including how they fit into the Christian epistolary tradition by which they were inspired.

Settling the Valley, Proclaiming the Gospel

The General Epistles of the Mormon First Presidency

Edited by Reid L. Neilson and Nathan N. Waite

List of Illustrations

Foreword by Peter Crawley

Editors' Preface
"Settling the Valley, Proclaiming the Gospel: Major Themes of the First Presidency's General Epistles, 1849-1856" by Nathan N. Waite and Reid L. Neilson
"To the Saints Scattered Throughout the Earth: The Tradition of Mormon Apostolic Epistles" by Reid L. Neilson and Nathan N. Waite

General Epistles of the First Presidency
1. First General Epistle, April 1849
2. Second General Epistle, October 1849
3. Third General Epistle, April 1850
4. Fourth General Epistle, September 1850
5. Fifth General Epistle and Addenda, April 1851
6. Sixth General Epistle, September 1851
7. Seventh General Epistle, April 1852
8. Eighth General Epistle, October 1852
9. Ninth General Epistle, April 1853
10. Tenth General Epistle, October 1853
11. Eleventh General Epistle, April 1854
12. Twelfth General Epistle, April 1855
13. Thirteenth General Epistle, October 1855
14. Fourteenth General Epistle, December 1856

Appendixes
1. General Epistle of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, December 1847
2. Biographical Register
3. Geographical Register

Bibliography
Index

Settling the Valley, Proclaiming the Gospel

The General Epistles of the Mormon First Presidency

Edited by Reid L. Neilson and Nathan N. Waite

Author Information

Reid L. Neilson is Assistant Church Historian and Recorder for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Managing Director of the Church History Department. He completed his PhD in religious studies (American religious history emphasis) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is an award-winning author and has published over a dozen books.

Nathan N. Waite is an Associate Editorial Manager for the Joseph Smith Papers Project in Salt Lake City. He received an MA in American studies from the University of Utah and previously published A Zion Canyon Reader.

Settling the Valley, Proclaiming the Gospel

The General Epistles of the Mormon First Presidency

Edited by Reid L. Neilson and Nathan N. Waite

Reviews and Awards

"The book thereby constitutes a kind of encyclopedia for the LDS history and the pioneer period context from 1849 to 1856." -- Hans Gerald Hödl, Religious Studies Review

"Settling the Valley, Proclaiming the Gospel: The General Epistles of the Mormon First Presidency is a helpful, easy to use collection that offers first hand glimpses into the concerns, struggles, and experiences of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the mid 19th century...Beyond Mormon studies, Settling the Valley, Proclaiming the Gospel advances and facilitates scholarship in disciplines as varied as comparative literature, American religious history, history of the American West, religion, missiology, and Native American studies." -- Mitch Nelson, Claremont Graduate University, Reading Religion

"Settling the Valley is a remarkably rich contribution to the study of Mormon and Utah history. It is a handsom volume, with an impressive dust jacket, and has set a standard of excellence to which all future editors of similar-type literature and topics can aspite." -- Richard E. Bennett, Journal of Mormon History

"Settling the Valley, Proclaiming the Gospel will be helpful for anyone studying Brigham Young, mid-nineteenth-century Church leadership, and pioneer life in antebellum Utah Territory. Though the epistles can be found separately in archives and some are available online, having them all in one place, footnoted and indexed, will be a welcome resource to any researcher of the era."--Gerrit van Dyk, BYU Studies Quarterly

"[T]he compilation of these important and heretofore hard to find epistles by Neilson and Waite provides priceless access to very important documents that, as I have previously stated, give important access to the thoughts and views of the Brigham Young First Presidency in the 1850s and shed new light for many people on the conditions and experiences of the time. These editors should be commended and thanked for their efforts. Second, the two introductory essays and the footnotes are a great help in understanding these epistles, the language and terms used therein, and the context, history, and events occurring when they were written...This is an excellent and important book."--Association for Mormon Letters