The Crandall Printing Museum

Last week, instead of having our regular religion class, we went on a tour of the Crandall Printing Museum. This is a short synopsis of my visit.

Wednesday afternoon rolled around. I left my backpack in my locker and headed off on the 20 minute walk to the museum. As I approached the location, I glanced around trying to determine what side of the street it was on. I couldn't see any large buildings or anything that looked remotely like a museum. I continued to walk down the street and reached a small house with a sign on it announcing it was the Crandall Printing Museum. It was so adorable and old-fashioned looking that I was suddenly really excited for this tour. I walked inside and saw three old men standing in the front room with workers aprons on. I signed the guest log and then walked into the first room which held a large old printing press and dozens of artifacts that had to do with printing.

The first of the three old men started to tell us about the history of the printing press, the unique challenges that had to be dealt with in creating it, and even made a letter for us to look at. It was really neat, I learned that the Crandall Printing Museum is the only museum with individually laid letters of two entire pages of the old bible. We got to walk up and see each individual letter and then watch as the tour guide printed a page for us the same way Gutenberg would have printed a page. After looking seeing all this, we walked into the Benjamin Franklin room and learned about his experience with printing and how it factored into the Declaration of Independence.

The final room was made to look like the room that the book of Mormon was printed in. It had the same basic printing press, except it was made of Iron instead of wood. it had the first 16 pages of the Book of Mormon laid out on the press, each individual letter it's own piece. We learned how they printed the Book of Mormon and how it was bound. The kind old man in charge of giving this part of the tour explained the seemingly impossible task of printing 5000 copies of a book in the short amount of time it took them to do it and bore his testimony on the extra strength God must have given the young boys working the press to help them finish on time.

As we left the museum, I couldn't help but think about how incredible the whole experience was. A tiny quaint building with three kind old men running it. The old fashioned look and the authenticity of the artifacts. I really think it is incredible how much the printing press changed the importance of books and how long it lasted in it's simple form until it was turned into a factory machine that could produce thousands of books at a time. I love old books and I really loved learning about this piece of history. I like it even more because it can be linked to my religion. I live in a country where people are allowed to give tours that end with the publication of the Book of Mormon, and I live in a state that isn't afraid of offending people by doing so.

The Gathering

In the early days of the church, the members were asked to move in order to be near each other. At first, the members moved to Ohio. Later, the members moved out to Utah and created towns throughout the western United States.

This gathering of saints so many years ago has greatly altered my life today. The members were first asked to move to Ohio because it helped make the church more unified and brought enough people into the same area that it was possible to build a temple. Today, there are temples all over the world, but a temple cannot be built until the LDS population is high enough. In the early days of the church, it was unlikely that any one city would have enough members to have the resources to build a temple. They were asked to gather so that there were enough people. This allowed them to build the first temple and today there are over a hundred temples that I can go to.

When the saints moved out to Utah, they spread throughout the state and into others. The LDS population was so high that it was possible to start a school intended for the members where religious learning and secular learning could be combined. This school slowly developed into a great university. This university attracts thousands of members from all over the world. This is where my parents met. So, although the members are no longer being asked to gather in Utah and although I have never had to move for my religion, the gathering that occurred in the past affected my life so dramatically that I wouldn't be here otherwise.

Section 25 and it's Importance

Throughout high school, one of the most common arguments against the church was it discriminated against women. Although I always new this to be inaccurate, I never seemed to be able to find any evidence for my side. I personally never wanted to hold any of the positions in the church that seemed to be reserved for men, so couldn't find it in myself to try to prove something I felt didn't apply to me. It still bothered me that I couldn't answer my friends questions. I recently found those answers in Section 25 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

This section is counsel given to Emma Smith, the wife of Joseph Smith. During this time period, women had very little agency of their own. They belonged to their husbands, or fathers, or oldest brother. If a person wanted to speak to a women, they asked for the eldest male in the household, not the women herself. The revelation given to Emma begins with the Lord telling her that she needs to make sure she is faithful and virtuous so that she can be blessed. He also tells her not to murmur. The Lord does not tell Joseph to keep his wife in line, he doesn't tell him to makes sure she is faithful, and he does not say that if Joseph is good than Emma will be blessed. Her rewards are based on her actions and it is her responsibility to monitor those actions. This is a time period where the only responsibility women had was to bare and raise children.

Emma is next informed that she can serve as Joseph's scribe when Oliver Cowdery, the usual scribe, is not present. This statement places Emma in a man's position, giving her the same rights and responsibilities as Oliver Cowdery. Emma is also informed she can read the scriptures and formulate her own lessons based on what she thinks, and then teach these lessons to a mixed audience. She is not being forced to have her husband dictate her lessons, or even decide what she should teach about, and she is being allowed to teach men what she has learned.

Finally, Emma is asked to make a book of hymns. Some might look at this and think it insignificant compared to the book of scripture that Joseph was asked to write. I, however, believe that this song book was very important and still is important today. A young child cannot tell you what part of the bible to look in to learn the teachings of Noah, but he understands who Noah was and what he did through songs he learned in Primary. A recent convert to the church might not know what chapter in the Doctrine and Covenants it speaks of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, but he can still feel the Spirit when singing "Praise to the Man." Although hundreds of people have composed these songs, it is Emma, a women, who put together the first book of music to be used in the church.

It is true that today's world is much different than the world of Emma and Joseph Smith. But I have trouble believing that a church so firm in creating equality between men and women in the 1800's would now be discriminatory toward women. I do not have all the answers, I am not totally sure why there are some callings reserved for men, but I know there are callings reserved for women too- and personally, these are the callings I would prefer to have.

The Articles and Covenants

The Articles and Covenants is a title that has been given to the 20th section of the Doctrine and Covenants. For those of you unfamiliar with my religion, the Doctrine and Covenants is a book of revelations given during the early years of the church. Most of these revelations were given to Joseph Smith Jr. I will admit that section 20 is one of those sections I used to silently complain about when I reached it. It was 6 pages long, which is really quite long in comparison to other sections. I have finally realized why this section is so long and why the material in it is so important.

The material in section 20 is split into 3 main sections. The first part is a short history of the restoration of the Church. It covers, in barely a page, the first vision of Joseph Smith and the translation of the Book of Mormon. The next part covers the basic doctrines of the church. This part mentions the basics of what we believe. Things that are specifically mentioned include the creation, fall, atonement, baptism, and repentance. The final part is basically a handbook of instructions. It teaches the duties of different church callings. I consider this part to be kind of like a FAQ for new leaders in the church. It provides answers to questions that would have been very frequently asked when the church was first restored.

This section is so important because it explains to a person, in only 6 pages, the basic history, doctrine, and organization of the church. It was the section that early missionaries were commanded to bring with them when preaching the gospel so that they would know how to set up the church in new areas. I find it to be a lot like a summary, it mentions a whole lot of different things in a short space of time and can be very useful. Of course, a summary is most helpful when the rest of the book has also been read.