The Friend (LDS magazine): Difference between revisions

The [[Primary (LDS Church)|Primary]] organization was [[Aurelia_Spencer_Rogers#Founding_the_Primary_Association|formed in 1878]].<ref>Church Educational System, Church History in the Fulness of Times, rev. ed., Salt Lake City: LDS Church, 1993, p. 410</ref>{{Clarify|reason=relevance here unclear|date=September 2020}} In 1890, the Free Public School Act was passed by the [[Utah Territorial Assembly|Utah Territorial]], establishing schools in the territory. Funded by taxpayers, LDS Church doctrine could not be taught in the public schools, which concerned the Primary General President, [[Louie B. Felt|Louie Felt]], who said, "If there was a time when it was important to attend to the spiritual education of our children, it is now when so many of our little ones attend the district school, where religion is forbidden to be taught." [[May Anderson]], Secretary to the General Primary Presidency, first suggested the idea for a periodical for children in 1893.<ref name="Oman">Susan Staker Oman "Nurturing LDS Primaries: Louie Felt and May Anderson, 1880-1940" Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, Number 3, Summer 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Jenson|first=Andrew|title=[[Latter-day Saint biographical encyclopedia]]: A compilation of biographical sketches of prominent men and women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints|publisher=The Andrew Jenson Memorial Association (Printed by The Deseret News Press)|year=1936|isbn=1-58958-026-5|volume=4|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|pages=[http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/BYUIBooks,5639 271], [http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/BYUIBooks,5896 273]|authorlink=Andrew Jenson}}</ref>

 

=== ''The Children's Friend'' ===

By 1896, the Primary Presidency began lobbying for its own publication, making several appeals to the [[First Presidency (LDS Church)|First Presidency]] but were denied because, "it was too great an undertaking."<ref name=Benson2019>RoseAnn Benson "Sarah Louisa Bouton Felt: Thousands Called Her Mother" BYU Studies Journal 58 Volume 1 2019. pg 24-64. online at:https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/sarah-louisa-bouton-felt-thousands-called-her-mother</ref> In 1899 the Primary general board published ''the Primary Helper'', a booklet that sold for 15 cents, but it was unsuccessful and only ran for one volume. In 1901 received approval from the First Presidency to publish a magazine they called ''The Children's Friend'', with the stipulation that the LDS Church would not provide any financial assistance, and if it failed the Church would not pay the debts.<ref name=Benson2019 />