Converting Images: Making Mormon Illustrations for the <i>Juvenile Instructor</i>

Is it possible to convert an image to Mormonism? George Q. Cannon, an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, faced this question as he launched a new publication in Salt Lake City in the interest of “the education and development of the children of this Territory” in 1866.1 The Juvenile Instructor, the first children's magazine published in the U.S. Intermountain West, served as the primary organ of the Church's Deseret Sunday School Union, of which Cannon was president. During his tenure as publisher and editor—a position he maintained until a year before his death in 1901—the magazine obtained a wide readership and became the most influential publication for Mormon youth of its era.2From the outset, Cannon recognized that images would be critical to the Juvenile Instructor's success. He worked diligently, as his son, John Q. Cannon, remembered, to “enliven the printed page with something besides monotonous type,” convinced that illustrations would boost not only the appeal but the educational effectiveness of the publication.3 Furthermore, the edifying potential of images was magnified within nineteenth-century Mormonism, where vision bridged spiritual and physical senses—Joseph Smith's visionary experiences that brought about the Restoration were immanently corporeal, manifested not just to the mind or the heart, but to the eye. In Cannon's religious world, both physical and spiritual vision were considered essential to gaining true understanding.4 The Juvenile Instructor employed images not merely to illustrate its texts, but to testify of their truth to its readers.Cannon, however, lacked access to original illustrations created from Latter-day Saint perspectives. Although numerous artists were working in Utah Territory, in order to be mass-reproduced on the equipment at Cannon's press, an image had to be decomposed into purely linear elements and engraved onto a piece of boxwood or a metal plate. That technology was not available in Utah on an advanced level until near the end of the century. Artists including Dan Weggeland, C. C. A. Christensen, and Augusta Crocheron had to contract with firms in urban centers in the eastern U.S. or in Europe in order to have their work engraved for mass production.5 Time and budget constraints made that impossible for a twice-monthly publication like the Juvenile Instructor, so prior to 1890, Cannon was forced to rely almost exclusively on second-hand images originally produced for non-Mormon publications.6 Cannon searched for engravings by corresponding with presses across the United States and Europe, asking for inexpensive used blocks and plates. As John Q. Cannon claimed, “It is not extravagant to say that the civilized earth was scoured for cuts for the Juvenile.”7This limitation had a pronounced effect on the magazine's content; John Q. Cannon remembered that “instead of the pictures being made to adorn the stories, the stories had to be written around and in explanation of the pictures.”8 This would seem to explain the Juvenile Instructor's tendency toward arcane topics, with articles including “The Agouti” (vol. 5, no. 12), “Girard College of Philadelphia” (6:3), “Funerals in Paris” (9:26) and “Sir Rowland Hill” (“the great post-office reformer”—21:2), all of which were apparently written to accompany the random subjects of engravings Cannon was able to acquire. Meanwhile, much of the Juvenile Instructor's most significant content—articles on the history, theology, and society of the Latter-day Saints—had to go without illustration during the magazine's early years. Furthermore, the exigencies of marketing a publication to young audiences required images on the front page—meaning that the cover story was often as frivolous as the “boa constrictor with a deer enclosed in its horrible folds” featured on the November 15, 1866 cover, while, in the same issue, the much weightier serial biography, “Joseph Smith the Prophet,” was relegated to a page near the back, distinguished visually only by an ornate initial.Far more sophisticated than his son's description of “stories written around the pictures” might suggest, however, Cannon developed a strategy to cannily reorient the original subjects of many of his illustrations to craft incisive visual expositions of Mormon topics. Despite their external origins, Cannon worked to “convert” images in the Juvenile Instructor to serve a host of Latter-day Saint religious and social needs. I explore three important themes that Cannon's appropriated images engage: illustrating Mormon scripture and doctrine, advocating Mormon racial views to justify Western colonization, and supporting Latter-day Saints’ legal right to practice plural marriage. As David Morgan has written, reusing images was commonplace in contemporaneous religious publishing; meaning in nineteenth-century American religious visual culture was determined in part “by the textual framework constructed about the image.”9 This is an especially salient point in illustrated children's literature, where, as Claire Doquet and Solène Audebert-Poulet have described, texts and images operate interdependently, “two semiotic modes that are articulated to produce the meaning of the works.”10Recognizing the semantic pliancy of images for nineteenth-century Latter-day Saints—with the Juvenile Instructor's illustrations as but one example—opens new avenues for research in the visual culture of Mormonism. Scholarship on Latter-day Saint discourse of this era has focused heavily on texts (including most of the critical interpretation devoted to the Juvenile Instructor), although a burgeoning field of Mormon art history has revealed the essential place of artists in Latter-day Saint society, illuminating the wide variety of ways in which Mormons used artworks to self-represent, to educate, to worship, and to demonstrate their taste and refinement.11 Scholarship on Mormon art history has primarily addressed objects created under the rubric of “fine art” by Latter-day Saint artists, which constituted just a fraction of the images that were put to the service of Mormonism. As scholars have begun to uncover through the study of visual culture, nineteenth-century Latter-day Saints lived in an extensively visual world, with illustrations, artworks, photographs, and other forms of visual representation emerging from within and arriving from points throughout the globe, at an ever-increasing pace as the century waned.12 Reframing critical perspectives to account for the mutability of images, the plasticity of visual communication, and the agency of viewers in creating meaning reveals that many of these images functioned as Mormon images despite originating from the As George Q. Cannon's strategy for illustrating the Juvenile Instructor much of the visual culture of nineteenth-century Latter-day Saints had to be to the an of children's across the United of in the service of education or with in technology and the era the in the history of American children's as has In his Cannon would have numerous including by religious and of The most and were with In the including The and featured engravings on the front page of and often illustrations Cannon recognized that illustrations would be essential to the Juvenile Instructor a at his were not Cannon the of images within Mormonism. his interest in he as a and Church he important art across the United States and Europe, on the or he in religious He worked to the of visual art in the artists, for an art most the that Church to Mormon study at the in in the of the In he art in the Juvenile Instructor as both a and an important of through a of articles the of artists, art study to young and the work of Utah In this as has described, “the and the religious became The Juvenile Instructor's on other Latter-day Saint advocating visual culture, from art to as of their at a Mormons were as in the his to the edifying of images was by his of access to original Cannon worked to this through was to from within the Mormon by and In he John a in his early with in to He published of a a that he and to engravings of so a from that be under the of for to the or to that Cannon featured of the on the front to the of to the front to the magazine the with a of the in the image from a by the published on a by in The of work Cannon's strategy of of engravings in only a of published printed from eastern these images for a magazine was the of advanced a strategy in that much more illustrating articles on Mormon themes by images produced his and the of that American religious Cannon ways to engravings he from non-Mormon to illustrate Mormon before on Cannon worked to images to within his of a of The of religious was a in nineteenth-century American where a religious art only as in and nineteenth-century Latter-day Saints articulated a of Mormon perspectives around a of that religious art so as it served than Cannon was one of the most Latter-day Saint on this his to and their with artworks, not on the image but on the it to or for were a of his to these as he illustrating the Juvenile his of engravings was to was available on the he in numerous illustrations that he convert to Latter-day Saint perspectives. In the first issue, Cannon printed an that artworks be to a Latter-day Saint of The a of Christ on the from the might seem to Mormon of the of representation that Latter-day Saints Although it have in a Cannon and his at the Juvenile Instructor a textual to the as an image for his Latter-day Saint The image in the Juvenile Instructor with an not “The but by This in through the which the image as a and representation of as a of the visual to the of the and the by which a was to about other of in The its religious in the of its that Christ as the on the not as a but the textual the image as an not an Juvenile Instructor the and image of by to of religious art including the original that a great many or of a great of to the to the or of the in which Christ than in He to This of reveals the semiotic that Cannon and the Juvenile Instructor the images to the meaning of the image of its original or was so that an image of a as an the of In its new the illustration has to Mormonism, both as an illustration of the and of the and as an of the and of religious the publication Cannon in engravings on religious themes that about the of for numerous other a that images as as were creating a visual culture of that Cannon was able to access his the magazine published of were often by the to illustrate Mormon illustrations were Latter-day Saint audiences not only the as but were to for the and new Mormon for was employed to the Latter-day Saints were part of the of the of the of original from a Mormon and “The in the the with the new in Salt Lake Although of the images were created to illustrate these Mormon the Juvenile Instructor only textual demonstrate the Juvenile Instructor illustrations in more sophisticated ways to themes to a Mormon The cover of the and by Cannon's George an illustration by the the in the the not by this it with the that in where have not the true have to He to with the of this but to Latter-day Saint he to a of from the of including the of and the American and that the of is with of his their to The to Mormon his children in this through and to more in the of Smith in the same this of textual Cannon and in illustrating an about to the and the of all with an image that was originally for a the that Cannon is an especially representation of this for nineteenth-century Mormons in its to and and from the a toward the but in a that as a to the in the seem their visual the of as the in the the with an representation to illustrate the of as but to and an had just a and within the prior as of Utah by a Although Cannon's of images was he in engravings that would not only illustrate Mormon but visually the of his Cannon not only the but the of the images he The cover story on 15, an of Christ on a a of from all the of and the only to the in the a the Restoration as a of Jesus the the death of Christ and his the the but with the has into the The most in the on an at the the of through As he of the and into the with in a that both and he with Jesus in an of and The its to with the in the just like the of the of of the being to these were although not in the of an with a but through the of their Latter-day Saint Latter-day Saints the by which Jesus like the by in the is with the this interpretation of into from a Mormon the illustration was originally to an The image was created by the for an illustrated of where it not the into but the that Jesus he at new in his The original he at a it was a and a viewers that one in the image is a a in the of the into Cannon about the original from which his images he might have this was the of an emerging of Christ that of and in the Cannon's semiotic was so that of these a of Jesus in from a account worked as a Mormon illustration of the of through the of the of the textual and visual the Juvenile Instructor's illustrations in their semiotic Cannon's an image of a that a religious a from one to not it merely its representation from one truth to was to the Juvenile Instructor, Cannon and his employed images that were originally created of religious at all to illustrate to Latter-day Saint the of Cannon a for images of all that he to Mormonism. illustrated with an for all that the of has in the of to in the image of a in was the of its original illustrate an that “the youth of from of in an the in the of in vision the being by to the a in Latter-day Saint that Cannon illustrated extensively with images that from The Juvenile Instructor published numerous articles the of that were of had brought by to the Latter-day Saints as the of the a in the of Mormon as of the illustration on the front page of the Juvenile Instructor's first for an the this Latter-day Saints’ toward the that the from the the a in a a his in the like a This of and Latter-day Saints’ that were part of the of to in the in the first of Mormon launched that the would to from their The in the however, viewers of the of contemporaneous Mormon with Despite to and Mormon The Juvenile Instructor in this Latter-day Saint discourse on a level as has described, as to “the for and by Mormon this first of the Juvenile Instructor was being Utah was in of as the The most and the and their the in the death of Mormons and of the U.S. of the on a In this of the of that many Latter-day Saints to the American in the of Mormon as Latter-day Saints and to and than the through the it had employed in its early the Juvenile Instructor's of in the century focused on the of and the with a Mormon that maintained in the of of was in an which an illustration of “The of an in the of in which a in the used as and it that the illustration than the at the without a of at the which is being it that the to the a with a in one and a in the are which are to illustration where by the for visual both and The the from the as in from the that the of only to despite the by the The are the from the on the right that more are in the but a on all for their This of is visually in the the of and with of in the the that the of the and the are to and the as the image have however, it was the Juvenile Instructor's for prior in and of the United the illustrated the of during it is true that were in in in and the the of on and on their were at a with and were of the were but by the not by the in order to cover to a all of were able to to The of from a a in of that in the in the In this the of truth that true of the that the Juvenile Instructor were of the to the of the as in image or to an the image the Juvenile Instructor to illustrate a much more of its to its Utah readership by the in in the to the of Latter-day Saint that in this Territory, where the are and was a of and the had to be used by the in to being the image illustrated the of American with in as Cannon and the Juvenile Instructor were at to of the of Latter-day Saints’ with The so as to that the were not to for the as had by the or its and to all other of gaining their had or not the illustration the of was important than that it for Latter-day Saints’ in and by the that from that lacked an for the history and of the Juvenile Instructor's this with the magazine's Latter-day Saints’ of in with other with that Saints have a like with the it more just and and more to the than to Despite the Latter-day Saints have with or this the of that in Utah as were from their of and on Latter-day Saints of the however, were to as and of than their so the Juvenile Instructor its a of Utah history that and the Mormon a of cover on the this a Mormon of the of the The was published in of the where it a on the of U.S. without about their on In the Juvenile Instructor, however, the image addressed the Latter-day Saints’ with in the of the of the the of and the of The by Cannon, its for their that the the of and The as a for a of the at which it has the The cuts the in visually the on one of the from the to which the is The three on the right of the points his toward the in a that like a of than an of the that has his to into the in the image as the in the in as from the of on the right into the heavily The image the contemporaneous of the as the of to be of an era that had place in the the that but it as a for which Mormons were not but to which the The that in at the of the of this with the for which is the the United States not Latter-day Saint for this and to as only a it be to these to from the that are not to in so a As this of the of and Latter-day Saints’ of a on the the same as many Mormons of the era that would a of As has described, the Juvenile Instructor was so to this that it the nineteenth-century Mormons through would the Juvenile Instructor was about the of the it was one in which as images in the Juvenile Instructor into important Latter-day Saint and social practice in the of During much of Cannon's tenure as of the Juvenile Instructor, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was in a and to the practice of plural marriage. Smith in the a of Mormon into the practice the before the Church the in as and to the American Despite Latter-day Saints’ of plural as a by the the U.S. a of in at the in the and by the one Mormon had on the Church's was forced into and the U.S. Church only to Latter-day Saint to the practice in As Utah from Cannon was a in the Mormon of plural marriage. He was a and supporting children his the Juvenile Instructor addressed the of in Cannon's the published images of or illustrations of This is the of of the second-hand engravings that Cannon had access of in contemporaneous culture, but almost exclusively in the of or As work has these of Mormons so as to that be in the of their than by Cannon, like other Latter-day Saints of the have to creating images that be used by to or plural the Juvenile Instructor appropriated numerous illustrations to for the Latter-day Saints’ in their place in American history, as has described, the experiences of a in for illustrations of before and and before which were in the articles as the Latter-day Saints’ to to the that as In the illustration for the first with both in as he before with and as the the children that the same that the and Saints of in to be and is the that to the of the and of As of during the the of this In the U.S. in United that the not the practice of plural Cannon the image of before to that are in and the same that and the one to as as he has to of these articles the of the the of was so that would have the of with their appropriated images, Cannon to visually his Church's of plural the in the practice this strategy explain an in the Juvenile During the of the Cannon published numerous articles about the of the of illustrated with engravings in the image of a being on a in the articles were in the of Latter-day Saint of with the on early Latter-day Saints, the of Mormon the cover story on “The with a description of the of contemporaneous American the a of the as and as of of the and history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and of the truth of have as as critical of the is the an of a by same illustration of in the had in the Juvenile the into a where around a that across a variety of of As the Juvenile Instructor's the that might be put were to that with the Latter-day Saints’ than a and of Cannon's images in the Juvenile Instructor served as Cannon's have the of the Juvenile Instructor's with the of the Latter-day Saints’ to plural to the to the the had a on the Juvenile George Q. Cannon was of in and in the Utah for Cannon's to the Juvenile Instructor in however, and he to and the publication from he to images to illustrate his on the The cover of the issue, which Cannon from the a of as to John from his for in The of The was the most of religious in early Although the from its the would have to the not with but with a much much of is to religious be the with a especially to Latter-day Saints, that the and children of were being by their have and in the of have the of not to in of brought to of the of an Cannon was of his and he had only in with his he into in this Cannon apparently had an the one illustrating the of John in of the image published in the Juvenile Instructor other nineteenth-century of the and all a not by the original to a the of images, Cannon a to convert an of a contemporaneous into an illustration supporting his the mutability of images his strategy and created Mormon images where illustration the story on 15, to the an important point in the Juvenile Instructor's of images the a new technology that a from a the magazine's brought the work of a Utah C. C. A. Christensen, onto its the of the the Juvenile Instructor featured images in the from the of the work of Utah artists to illustrate from the of in a by the Deseret Sunday School these artworks, Cannon had to contract with a in but the as the technology became more in Salt Lake images in the Juvenile In the of his Cannon was to illustrate his magazine with Mormon images, from of Latter-day Saint images of the Salt Lake of of from the the Juvenile Instructor its George Q. Cannon's son, remembered the and engravings illustrating early as an to the magazine's this the and religious work that images in the images had to be from other In images that brought a of into a of that would have especially to Cannon's Latter-day Saints from a wide of and to and all of these as worked to the original had in the In this Cannon's of images from of was both and Mormon audiences in the century their in a of texts, and images that both from the of American and from new of revealed scripture and Cannon's of images in the Juvenile Instructor than from Latter-day Saint Saints to from non-Mormon the to produce and their In the Church from artists considered of the were not Latter-day Saints, like images of Christ were extensively for and In the and the Church has images by nineteenth-century artists like and that were to American Cannon's strategy of as a to Mormon views for a by to In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a representation of as the an made for a by a as a across Church and their origins, images by and have all by scholars of Mormon as of Latter-day Saint images from external that functioned as Latter-day Saint art in the Church's first century As this of just one illustrated publication to to the image of nineteenth-century emerging from the study of visual George Q. Cannon's sophisticated of images in the Juvenile Instructor that Mormon discourse was not to texts, were Mormon images to made by Mormon Latter-day Saints often the culture, theology, and history of through that in but which be through into of Mormon account of Mormon visual culture the study not just of images that were created by Latter-day Saints, but that were to Mormonism.