Living Faith

See photos of the Relief Society over 181 years

The Relief Society was organized March 17, 1842

By Mary Richards March 17, 2023 5:07 p.m. EDT

Illinois Historic Sites missionaries reenact the March 1842 founding meeting of the Relief Society in Nauvoo, Illinois, in March 2023.

Living Faith

See photos of the Relief Society over 181 years

The Relief Society was organized March 17, 1842

By Mary Richards March 17, 2023 5:07 p.m. EDT

When the Relief Society was organized on March 17, 1842, the 20 women gathered upstairs in the Red Brick Store in Nauvoo, Illinois, had two missions — to relieve suffering and to save souls.

Today the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the largest women’s organizations in the world. The organization’s purpose continues to be to provide support for the temporal and spiritual needs of all women in the Church, as well as others who are in need.

On 181st birthday, Relief Society general presidency invites women to reflect

Recently, senior missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving in Historic Nauvoo reenacted the events surrounding the founding meeting of the Relief Society.

The missionaries used the original minutes of that first meeting to replay the conversation that took place — in the actual location. They created a special video available through March that could be used as a part of the commemoration of the 181st anniversary.

Below, see a selection of images from the 181 years of the Relief Society organization.

An artist’s depiction of Joseph Smith, with Emma Smith, organizing the Relief Society organization.

The painting “Come Let Us Rejoice” by Walter Rane depicts the first Relief Society meeting.

Official Relief Society portrait of Emmeline B. Wells, fifth Relief Society general president. Painting by Lee Greene Richards.

Fourteenth Ward Relief Society Hall. The earliest Relief Society halls in Utah were patterned after the store in Nauvoo in which the society was founded in 1842.

Relief Society sisters in Kidderminster, England, in 1912.

An early gathering of Relief Society members in Guatemala.

A cover of The Relief Society Magazine from January 1930.

Sisters Belle S. Spafford, Marianne C. Sharp and Louise W. Madsen with the Relief Society general board in 1962, with members of the presidency at the head of the table. Left to right: Sisters Madsen, Spafford and Sharp, the Relief Society general board poses in the 6-year-old Relief Society Building. Board members trained Relief Society units throughout the world, oversaw temple clothing production, published the Relief Society Magazine, and created Relief Society curriculum. Photograph by J. …

Relief Society General President Jean B. Bingham, center front, leads a meeting for the Relief Society, Young Women and Primary general presidencies at the Relief Society Building in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 18, 2021.

Women sing a hymn at the 2013 Relief Society General Meeting in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, Sept. 28, 2013.

Relief Society members in Tula, Hildago, Mexico, gather in March 2022 for an activity.

Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson greets Latter-day Saint women in Paraguay.

The Relief Society general presidency is President Camille N. Johnson, Sister J. Anette Dennis, and Sister Kristin M. Yee.