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Educational Institutions

Leon R. Hartshorn

n June 1831, Joseph Smith received a Revelation calling Oliver Cowdery and W. W. Phelps "to do the work of printing and of selecting writings for schools . . . that little children may also receive instruction" (D&C 55:4). In this connection, the Doctrine and Covenants also contains passages that form the basis for Mormon attitudes toward education.

On July 4, 1838, at the cornerstone ceremony for a temple in Far West, Missouri, Sidney Rigdon, then a member of the First Presidency, indicated the nature of the educational plans of the Church and the very close connections between religion and education:

This building [temple] is designed for the double purpose of a house of worship and an institution of learning. . . . Next to the worship of our God, we esteem the education of our children and of the rising generation. For what is wealth without society or society without intelligence. And how is intelligence to be obtained?--by education. What is religion without intelligence; an empty soul. (Moffitt, 5-6)

In 1840, Joseph Smith began his quest to open a university in Nauvoo, and on January 15, 1841, he issued the following proclamation: "The University of Nauvoo will enable us to teach our children wisdom, to instruct them in all the knowledge and learning, in the arts, science and learned professions" (History of the Church 4:269). Although Smith's dream was never completely realized, its organization would later become the groundwork for the University of Deseret, later renamed the University of Utah.