Ruth May Fox was one of the last pioneers to walk across the American Plains, at age 13 in 1867.
At age 75 in 1929, Fox was called as president of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association, a forerunner of the modern Young Women organization.
As one of the last living pioneers preparing to celebrate the 100th birthday of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1930, Fox wondered how a new generation of young members would carry on the pioneers' legacy of faith.
This desire to connect the past to the future inspired her to write the words of a new hymn titled “Carry On!”
As young women and men sang the chorus at the celebration, they enacted the final verse’s call to hold aloft their colors by lifting papers in MIA gold and green. “O youth of the noble birthright,” they sang, “carry on, carry on, carry on.”
Nearly 100 years later, the same title, with its deep meaning, fits appropriately on the cover of the first published book-length scholarly history of the Young Women organization.
The Church announced the release of “Carry On: The Latter-day Saint Young Women Organization, 1870-2024,″ published by the Church Historian’s Press, at a news conference in the Church History Library in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, March 11.
Speaking to news media representatives, Young Women General President Emily Belle Freeman said what she loves most about the history is its consistent message. When the organization was founded in 1870, President Brigham Young said: “There is a need for the young daughters of Israel to get a living testimony of the truth. ... I wish our girls to obtain a knowledge of the gospel for themselves.”
Said President Freeman: “The thing of utmost and deepest importance is the obtaining of a testimony. That is still true of what we are doing today.”
Although a scholarly work, it is easy to read, said Elder Hugo E. Martínez, General Authority Seventy and assistant executive director of the Church History Department, who conducted the event.
“It’s a historical narrative of key events that cycle back and forth and how they were handled throughout, mingled with personal stories, which is how the Lord would have us teach the history of the restored Church,” he said.
The release of “Carry On” comes five years after the Young Women organization celebrated its 150th anniversary in June 2020.
‘A groundbreaking project’
Lisa Olsen Tait, one of the book’s authors and managing historian for women’s history in the Church History Department, said the “landmark publication” started 10 years ago “as an unplowed field” and builds upon other works of Latter-day Saint women’s history. It draws upon more than 150 years of correspondence, minutes, oral histories and other records in the Church History Library.
“It provides a new perspective on Church history through lenses such as generational dynamics, female leadership, institutional development and cultural change,” Tait said.
The volume highlights the often overlooked history of Latter-day Saint youth and their experiences, as well as the contributions of tens of thousands of women leaders through the generations.
“The hope that we have for this project is that it’s establishing a baseline understanding of the history in a way that will hopefully plant seeds and create openings for future scholarship,” Tait said.
Unlike previous documentary editing projects, which feature a selection of documents with annotation, the decision was made to create a narrative history for “Carry On” that chronicles how the organization developed, responded to cultural changes and remained committed to a religious mission.
“We wanted this to be different because it needed to have a storyline,” Tait said. “That is another way this is a groundbreaking project for us.”
Amber Taylor, another historian and author on the project, said readers will learn about valiant leaders such as Sister Fox, Ardeth G. Kapp and others who navigated the sometimes tricky role of being a female leader while working with others in unity and love.
Along with the institutional narrative, the book features personal stories from individual young women worldwide, as well as how leaders developed programs such as Personal Progress and Young Women camp.
“It was inspiring to witness the sincere love and concern that leaders had and have for the young women in their care and how they discussed and searched and prayed to understand the young women’s needs and how they could best meet them,” Taylor said.
Speaking about the legacy of Young Women leadership, President Freeman said one of her favorite things to do is take groups of young women into the President’s Room in the Relief Society Building and let them see the pictures of remarkable women leaders so they can gain a vision of who they can become and understand the influence they could have on others through service in the Church.
“For me, seeing where we have come from and where we are now, that legacy of leadership, is probably my favorite part of the whole book,” President Freeman said.
The new history provides a lens to view what it meant for the Church to grow multiculturally and internationally.
“This history helps us see what it has meant for many people — and peoples — to make this faith their own and to find bridges between generations in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ,” said James Goldberg, another author-historian on the project.
Men can also benefit from reading this history, he said.
“We hope historical work can expand our memory, expand our empathy and help men connect,” Goldberg said. “As a man, I have learned a lot from the research of this book.”
As part of their remarks, the authors each paid tribute to the late historian Kate Holbrook, who contributed to the project before her death in 2022.
Historical notes and website
Originally organized as the First Young Ladies’ Department of the Ladies’ Cooperative Retrenchment Association, the Young Women organization was formed on May 27, 1870, by some of the Prophet Brigham Young’s daughters with the goal to protect young women from the worldly influences arriving with the transcontinental railroad.
Elmina Shepard Taylor served as the organization’s first young women president, from 1880 to 1904.
The introduction, available on churchhistorianspress.org, divides the history into three parts:
- Part 1: The Youth of Zion (1870-1930).
- Part 2: True to the Faith (1930-1984).
- Part 3: Daughters of Heavenly Father (1984-2024).
The website features a timeline of the organization’s history, a list of Young Women general presidencies, a class chart and list, Young Women awards and historic images.
To learn more about “Carry On,” visit churchhistorianspress.org/youngwomen.
