Woman’s Exponent. Salt Lake City: June 1, 1872-February 1914.
41 vol. 35cm.

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The Woman’s Exponent was established for the women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although never owned or sponsored by the Church, it certainly enjoyed its approval and support. In fact the first editor, Lula Greene Richards agreed to serve only after Brigham Young called her as a missionary and set her apart for the work.

Richards was twenty-three years old and unmarried when she assumed the editorship with her name listed as L. L. Greene, Editor. This was quickly changed to Louise L. Greene, by the fourth issue, after the receipt of letters addressed to “Mr.” The purpose of the Exponent was consistent throughout its 42 years of publication. It was to be a woman’s journal, but without the necessity of creating a battleground between men and women. “We have no rivalry with any, no war to wage, no contest to provoke; yet we will endeavor, at all times, to speak freely on every topic of current interest, and on every subject as it arises in which the women of Utah, and the great sisterhood the world over, are specially interested” (Woman’s Exponent, June 1, 1872, p. 4).

Earlier in that editorial, Greene had written that “we have no special need to advocate woman suffrage in Utah, for it is enjoyed by the women of this Territory.” Of course this enjoyment was not to last and the subject of suffrage became a constant in the pages of the Exponent. Defenses of polygamy, until after the Manifesto of 1890, were published regularly; the news of the Relief Society, including the local level was consistently reported; value of education for women, home helps, and women’s place in the world were frequently advocated; poetry and literature often graced its pages; history and news of the world were provided to its readers; news culled from other newspapers and fillers followed the common pattern for all newspapers; obituaries of the famous and not so famous were listed; and of course advertisements were a staple.

Richards, who married Levi W. Richards, one year after she assumed the editorship of the Exponent, decided to step down as editor in 1877 to devote more time to her family. After serving as coeditor from December 1875, Emmeline B. Wells was to become the only other editor of the Exponent, when she became its sole editor in August 1877. This remarkable woman, who had lost two husbands, was a polygamist wife of Daniel H. Wells, and the mother of one son, who died in infancy, and five daughters. A woman of great energy, she was to become an important figure in the women’s suffrage movement at the local and national level, a member of the Relief Society General Board from 1888 until 1910 and as general president of the Relief Society from 1910 until 1921, serving until just a few weeks before her death in April 1921. Her daughter, Annie Wells Cannon, was assistant editor from 1905 until the end of the newspaper’s existence in February 1914.

With little fanfare in the final issue of the Exponent, Wells bid a “Heartfelt Farewell,” stating that “the aim of the paper has always been to assist those who needed assistance in any or every line.” As Relief Society General President at this time, she naturally emphasized the Relief Society saying, “TheExponenthas striven more than anything else to be the organ of the Relief Society.” She did admit, however, that it would be hard “to lay aside the editorial pen, even after so many long years, seems a hard task, but though the pen may be idle, the mind will ever gratefully remember all the associations which this little paper has been instrumental in creating” (Woman’s Exponent, February 1914, p. 100).

The publishing patterns were to change over the years, but for the first 20 volumes, there were 24 issues each year, with the publishing year beginning June 1 and ending with the May 15 issue, and each issue contained eight pages. Starting with volume 21 (1892), for reasons not entirely clear, there were an increasing number of publishing changes. The number of issues published in a year began to vary, and beginning with volume 23 (1894) the habit of combining issues began, although it was never consistently applied. By volume 30 (1901) through to the end of its existence, the number of issues published each year began to shrink to only 12 or 14 issues for the year. There are numerous pagination errors, where the printer failed to begin new numbering at the beginning of the publishing year. Sometimes the issue number is incorrectly typeset. For example volume 11, issue 16 is printed as issue 15, but it is in reality issue 16. By volume 41 (1912-1914), the Exponent had become a monthly newspaper. These publishing anomalies are not unusual in nineteenth and early twentieth century newspapers. The key for the reader is that what is presented in this digital collection will be the complete Woman’s Exponent even when it may not appear to be complete because of issue dates and pagination problems.

Information was culled from various sources including the pages of the Woman’s Exponent itself. Especially useful were Sherilyn Cox Bennion, “The Woman’s Exponent: Forty-two Years of Speaking for Women,” Utah Historical Quarterly 44(3) (1976): 222-239, and Carol Cornwall Madsen, An Advocate for Women: The Public Life of Emmeline B. Wells, 1870-1920 (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, 2006).