Comments on: The Improvement Era and the “Era of Youth” http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2009/01/20/the-improvement-era-and-the-%e2%80%9cera-of-youth%e2%80%9d/ Where our past is never very long ago Fri, 24 May 2013 02:22:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Ardis E. Parshall http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2009/01/20/the-improvement-era-and-the-%e2%80%9cera-of-youth%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-6803 Ardis E. Parshall Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:19:32 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=523#comment-6803 Thank you, Patti. Realizing that I had misrepresented the later work of both Elaine Cannon and Marion Hanks (although this issue is fairly typical of the early years of “Era of Youth”), I posted again, a few days after this post, another, later issue of the “Era of Youth” that has much more substance than this one. It’s easy to see signs in that later “EOY” of the future New Era.

Thanks for commenting, and for so tactfully defending the editors.

]]> By: Patti http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2009/01/20/the-improvement-era-and-the-%e2%80%9cera-of-youth%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-6801 Patti Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:17:41 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=523#comment-6801 Interesting comments. I knew Elaine well . . .and Elder Hanks as an acquaintance . . . both incredible and powerful people. I thought it would be important for you to know that the two of them were the masterminds of the New Era. They were inspired to forge new ground for the changing needs of the young people in the Church when they created the magazine. You must understand that the 50s and 60s were innocent times compared to now. They were addressing the times they lived in – but made major changes as the world changed and challenges for young people grew. We all owe the both of them so much.

]]> By: Ardis E. Parshall http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2009/01/20/the-improvement-era-and-the-%e2%80%9cera-of-youth%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-6202 Ardis E. Parshall Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:28:48 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=523#comment-6202 Shhhh! Our little secret, queuno!

]]> By: queuno http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2009/01/20/the-improvement-era-and-the-%e2%80%9cera-of-youth%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-6200 queuno Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:25:44 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=523#comment-6200 (Wait. You mean you *can’t* judge things from the past in a modern-day light? Better not let that secret out, or the Bloggernacle may have to shut down… :) )

]]> By: queuno http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2009/01/20/the-improvement-era-and-the-%e2%80%9cera-of-youth%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-6199 queuno Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:24:58 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=523#comment-6199 Thanks for the link, MarkB and Ardis. I think ETB or GHB had been citing Clark. This was the essence of what I remembered.

]]> By: BruceCrow http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2009/01/20/the-improvement-era-and-the-%e2%80%9cera-of-youth%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-6192 BruceCrow Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:39:58 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=523#comment-6192 That matches what I know. I first saw the Liahona on my mission to Hong Kong in 1991. The split between the English/non English versions does come across as little odd.

You are right. We should be careful judging the quality of another’s service when seen through hindsight.

]]> By: Ardis E. Parshall http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2009/01/20/the-improvement-era-and-the-%e2%80%9cera-of-youth%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-6190 Ardis E. Parshall Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:41:49 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=523#comment-6190 “Liahona: The Elders’ Journal” went out of publication in 1945. The current Liahona is much more recent than that (sometime in the ’90s?). It’s a case of recycling a great name, not a continuation of one journal by another.

One problem about not liking something in church history is that it inevitably comes across as an attack, or at least a denigration, of someone’s best efforts. I know that both EAC and MDH (both of whom my own mother knew very well and favorably as high school classmates and coworkers on the school newspaper and yearbook) made outstanding contributions, especially to the youth of the church. They may even be the ones who recognized that the old Era had become something that didn’t appeal to teens of the ’60s, and may deserve full credit for trying to do something about that. I’m just not sure, from our current perspective, that the “Era of Youth” was always what it could have been — certainly the New Era does a better job, even given the differences in space available to do that job.

I promise to post a sample of a better “Era of Youth” so that this particular example doesn’t form anyone’s entire impression of those efforts.

]]> By: BruceCrow http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2009/01/20/the-improvement-era-and-the-%e2%80%9cera-of-youth%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-6187 BruceCrow Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:31:23 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=523#comment-6187 I know this is more about the transition from the Improvement Era to the Esign/New Era. I have also seen the “Liahona: The Elder’s Journal” be replaced with the “Liahona” which today is mostly a foreign langauge version of the Ensign. When did that change happen?

]]> By: Jeff Johnson http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2009/01/20/the-improvement-era-and-the-%e2%80%9cera-of-youth%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-6185 Jeff Johnson Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:13:45 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=523#comment-6185 I feel like I should defend Elaine Anderson Cannon and Marion D. Hanks. Both really important in Church history. Their work with the youth of the Church was outstanding and important. It is easy to judge people without knowing the context, issues involved, and the Church hoops that they had to get past. Elaine Cannon was general president of the Young Women, 1978 to 1984 and Marion D. Hanks was a member of the First Quroum of the Seventy and Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve for almost forty years, 1953-1992. I remember thinking that it was nice to have Elder Hanks a General Authority, when he was so young and interesting.

]]> By: Ardis E. Parshall http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2009/01/20/the-improvement-era-and-the-%e2%80%9cera-of-youth%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-6177 Ardis E. Parshall Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:04:01 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=523#comment-6177 queuno, Mark B. (whose comments the spam filter likes to munch for breakfast) located the talk you were recalling in #11 — J. Reuben Clark, Jr. in an address to CES teachers in 1938, called The Charted Course. A copy is here.

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