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Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate (often shortened to Messenger and Advocate) was an early Latter Day Saint monthly newspaper published in Kirtland, Ohio from October 1834 to September 1837. It was the successor to The Evening and Morning Star and the predecessor to the Elders' Journal.

The Messenger and Advocate was established after a mob had destroyed the printing press of the The Evening and the Morning Star in Independence, Missouri on 20 July 1833, causing the Star to relocate to Kirtland. After a brief run, the Star was discontinued in favor of a uniquely Ohio newspaper, the Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate. Oliver Cowdery served as editor and the first issue was printed in October 1834.[1]

The May 1835 issue was the last with Cowdery as editor, because there was "other business and other duties, in which my services are requisite." John Whitmer replaced Cowdery as editor.[2] He may have been heavily assisted in his duties by William Wines Phelps.[3]

In March 1836 Cowdery again became editor when both Whitmer and Phelps returned to Missouri. Cowdery's brother Warren claims that he was actually performing the editorial duties.[4] In February 1837, the printing press was sold to Joseph Smith, Jr. and Sidney Rigdon, and Warren Cowdery became the official editor. The last issue was published in September 1837 after LDS Church leaders became dissatisfied with Warren's efforts. In October 1837 the newspaper was succeeded by the Elders' Journal.[5]

Rigdonite Messenger and Advocate

In 1844, Sidney Rigdon asserted a claim to be the successor of Joseph Smith, Jr. and he organized a group of Latter Day Saints in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This group began to publish a periodical in 1845 that revived the name, Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate. Ebenezer Robinson (founding publisher of Times and Seasons) was the publisher of this Rigdonite paper. After Rigdon changed the name of the church back to the original "Church of Christ," the periodical became the Messenger and Advocate of the Church of Christ.

Namesake

The name "Messenger and Advocate," or variations thereof, has been used many times since the Kirtland and Rigdonite newspapers. In 1977, a short-lived magazine, entitled The New Messenger and Advocate, was published. It was printed by the Guild of Mormon Writers as a means of disseminating their fiction, non-fiction, and poetical writings. The preliminary issue was released in June 1977. Discussions soon began of joining The New Messenger and Advocate with Sunstone Magazine. The merger became official with the release of the November/December 1977 issue of Sunstone Magazine.[6]

From 1984 to 1989, Art Bulla published a newsletter for his newly organized Church of Jesus Christ, a splinter sect of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The newsletter carried the name of Zion's Messenger and Advocate. It was created as a "vehicle for the free expression of news and views, concerning doctrine and events which surround the coming forth of the Kingdom of Zion at this time."[7]

Currently, there is a popular LDS-themed blog, part of the so-called Bloggernacle or community of Mormon blogs, that carries the name "Messenger and Advocate.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Cowdery, Oliver, "Address," Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, October 1834, pp. 1-2.
  2. ^ Cowdery, Oliver, "Address to the Patrons of the Messenger and Advocate," Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, May 1835, pp. 120-22.
  3. ^ Crawley, Peter, (1997) A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church, Volume One 1830-1847, pp. 47.
  4. ^ Cowdery, W. A., "Valedictory," Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, September 1837, p. 569.
  5. ^ Rigdon, Sidney, "Prospectus," Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, September 1837, p. 571-74.
  6. ^ Fairbanks, Merwin G., A Brief History of the Demise of The New Messenger and Advocate, Associated Collegiate Press Annual Convention, Houston Texas, October 25-28, 1978.
  7. ^ Bulla, Art, Zion's Messenger and Advocate, vol. 1 no. 1 (July 8, 1894): 1.

References

  • Crawley, Peter (2005) [1997], A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church, Volume One 1830-1847, Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, pp. pp. 47-49, ISBN 1570083959, OCLC 40429399 {{citation}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
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