Comments on: Missionaries’ “Little White Bible,” 1941 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2011/02/01/missionaries%e2%80%99-%e2%80%9clittle-white-bible%e2%80%9d-1941/ Where our past is never very long ago Sat, 25 May 2013 06:15:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Mormon Soprano http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2011/02/01/missionaries%e2%80%99-%e2%80%9clittle-white-bible%e2%80%9d-1941/comment-page-1/#comment-49501 Mormon Soprano Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:29:44 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=10892#comment-49501

“If you cannot assist in correcting evil, avoid it entirely”.

Great advice for us all!

I served my mission from 1987-89, and still have my “little white bible” in a box somewhere which I’ll have to look for. I know it is quite different from this version, so somewhere along the way things were updated considerably. As I recall, it included some specific advice to Sister missionaries.

A very fun post! Congrats on being spotlighted in the BBB.

]]> By: Ardis E. Parshall http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2011/02/01/missionaries%e2%80%99-%e2%80%9clittle-white-bible%e2%80%9d-1941/comment-page-1/#comment-46117 Ardis E. Parshall Wed, 02 Feb 2011 05:33:54 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=10892#comment-46117 Well, Catherine Hurst (advice columnist of the Young Woman’s Journal) would approve of the regular body functions as a preventative to “stomach ache” — ha! Those are great, Andrew, thanks.

]]> By: Andrew Hamilton http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2011/02/01/missionaries%e2%80%99-%e2%80%9clittle-white-bible%e2%80%9d-1941/comment-page-1/#comment-46116 Andrew Hamilton Wed, 02 Feb 2011 05:31:12 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=10892#comment-46116 I have a 1940 ed of the handbook. I find several of the items in Chapter 2 “Mission Regulations” to be amusing including:

“Let the functions of your body be regular and natural.”
“Do not sleep in stuffy rooms; open the windows and let in fresh air.”
“Venereal diseasesare universally present, and can be innocently.
contracted by careless use of towels, clothing, toilets, etc., that have been
used by infected persons.”

It also advises Elders to keep their feet dry and in case of stomach ache use an enema but never laxitives. One more fun bit of period advice is to make long distance calls after 7:00 pm when the rates have gone down.

I also have a missionary guide from the 60′s that states that “Beatle style” haircuts are a violation of mission rules.

]]> By: Researcher http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2011/02/01/missionaries%e2%80%99-%e2%80%9clittle-white-bible%e2%80%9d-1941/comment-page-1/#comment-46061 Researcher Tue, 01 Feb 2011 22:56:23 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=10892#comment-46061 That’s great additional information, Justin and J. Thanks for the links.

]]> By: Justin http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2011/02/01/missionaries%e2%80%99-%e2%80%9clittle-white-bible%e2%80%9d-1941/comment-page-1/#comment-46055 Justin Tue, 01 Feb 2011 22:35:21 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=10892#comment-46055 Another early handbook was the Elders’ Manual (ca. 1918) (advertised for sale here in the Liahona of April 29, 1919). Like the Elders’ Reference, the Elders’ Manual had a predecessor published by the Southern States mission.

]]> By: J. Stapley http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2011/02/01/missionaries%e2%80%99-%e2%80%9clittle-white-bible%e2%80%9d-1941/comment-page-1/#comment-46047 J. Stapley Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:36:22 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=10892#comment-46047 This is great. Thanks for that pointer, Justin. I had forgotten about that post. Since then I have done a lot more work with the various missionary instructional publications.

The first centralized publication was published in the 1930s- the Handbook mentioned above. As I remember they are all the same except for the 1946 version, which was revised. Anyway, before this publication, it was all regional publications, which all relied on each other for content. A letter from the President of the Q12 was invariable among the documents included.

]]> By: Ardis E. Parshall http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2011/02/01/missionaries%e2%80%99-%e2%80%9clittle-white-bible%e2%80%9d-1941/comment-page-1/#comment-46042 Ardis E. Parshall Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:13:50 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=10892#comment-46042 There is nothing new under the Sun. Splendid. Just splendid.

Okay. The Bloggernacle can officially close now.

J.’s research does suggest that my grandfather’s instructions came from his 1921 mission, since a slightly different set was in use in 1913.

]]> By: Justin http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2011/02/01/missionaries%e2%80%99-%e2%80%9clittle-white-bible%e2%80%9d-1941/comment-page-1/#comment-46039 Justin Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:02:19 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=10892#comment-46039 A post by J. Stapley from some years ago comes to mind:

http://www.splendidsun.com/wp/handbook/

Rules and regulations in the Southern States mission (1903): here.

]]> By: Researcher http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2011/02/01/missionaries%e2%80%99-%e2%80%9clittle-white-bible%e2%80%9d-1941/comment-page-1/#comment-46031 Researcher Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:12:33 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=10892#comment-46031 I wonder if Clawson wrote these instructions for the missionaries, and if so, how much it was influenced by his service in the Southern States Mission.

The conduct of missionaries on their homeward journey should be circumspect, and in every respect compatible with their high calling and their ministry.

Very interesting in light of the fact that when Rudger Clawson returned to Utah from the Southern States Mission, he was accompanying the body of his companion, Joseph Standing, who had been murdered by a mob.

]]> By: David B http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2011/02/01/missionaries%e2%80%99-%e2%80%9clittle-white-bible%e2%80%9d-1941/comment-page-1/#comment-46026 David B Tue, 01 Feb 2011 19:55:43 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=10892#comment-46026 I have copies of a few editions of the Missionary’s Handbook (if i remember the title right) from the mid-40s and earlier (a nice little cloth-hardbound book, with cover colors seeming to maybe correspond to the edition). There are slight changes from edition to edition, but they all have lists nearly exactly like this.

They’re unfortunately in storage right now (pending buying a house with reasonable shelf space), or i’d check to see if this is in them word for word.

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