Defending Zion is a great look at one of these newspapers and Mormon editorial interactions with other papers. Somebody (ahem) should look closely at others, for a comparison of geography and editorial temperament. I vote that we start with John Taylor’s The Mormon.

Oh, and speaking of 19th-century Great Basin newspapers, let’s not forget the famous Fitzgerald Adenville Weekly Advocate (here).

[wink]

Another 19th century regional newspaper: The Latter Day Saints Southern Star, published by the Southern States Mission during 1898-99 and into the next century. I’ve been using it extensively for a project I’m working on. Here’s a fun little excerpt from the Southern Star.

You know, I’ve never thought about a connection between Brigham Young and publication. That’s an interesting idea. He was a man who certainly valued the printed word — I don’t know how much he read on his own, but he made it a habit to have his clerks read all the papers, books, and magazines to him (did you know he was a Dickens fan?). He made sure the Deseret News press was moved out of harm’s way at the end of the Utah War, and was eager to establish a papermaking industry in Utah so that the occasional “brownouts” of the newspaper’s publication didn’t recur. His interest in the Deseret Alphabet was due to his idea that it would ease the Saints’ way to literacy. In an odd way, even his disapproval of some books — like the first edition of Joseph Smith’s history by his mother — indicates an awareness of the power of the written word. Once stenographers like Geo. D. Watt showed the value of their reportorial skills, the steady publication of sermons in the newspapers, and approving the Journal of Discourses, paved the way for our own deep appreciation for conference reports.

Thanks for the idea. I’ll have to think about it some more.

“It really seemed to me that money grew in our hands,”

A wonderful sentiment, and a wonderful image. And thanks for this interesting post — yet another aspect of Church history that reminds me that I don’t know nothin’ about Church history.

(By the way, was BY’s “kind” and “hopeful” encouragement vis-a-vis publishing motivated solely by a missionary zeal to spread the word, or did he have some sort of special affection for printing/publishing that I’ve never heard of?)