A new, limited-time exhibit in the Harold B. Lee Library celebrated 50 years of Exponent II, a Latter-day Saint women’s periodical, for Women’s History Month.
Visitors could find the exhibit in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Room of the Harold B. Lee Library. It included the 50 Years of Exponent II book, photographs of the original founders of the magazine and pamphlets of historical significance.
In 1974, a group of Latter-day Saint women established the Exponent II in Boston, Massachusetts.
According to the Exponent II website, the founding purpose of the newspaper was to have a place where Latter-day Saint women could express the duality of “feminism” and “Mormonism.” The founding women named it Exponent II in honor of The Woman’s Exponent, a bimonthly newspaper that ran from 1872 to 1914 and addressed similar topics of women’s rights and faith in early Utah history.
Karen Glenn, the Archival Processing Librarian, assisted in the research and compilation of these documents. She expressed why this news outlet was so important to women members of the Church.
“It was an outlet at a time for women to share their stories, maybe things that were perhaps too heavy for Relief Society meetings, but important nonetheless,” Glenn said.
She also explained that it was "an outlet for them to develop writing skills and learn to express themselves.”
John Murphy, a curator of 19th and 20th century materials in BYU's special collections, met with Karen over a year ago to organize the exhibit. He described the early founders of Exponent II as “trailblazers” in Church-related journalism.
“They were pioneers in this regard. They wanted to establish an LDS intellectual community in Boston of like-minded women who could share their ideals, their perspectives, their challenges,” Murphy said.
Murphy explained that this periodical is an important part of Church history during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The magazine is still published quarterly and continues to have an impact on women today.
Glenn described the processing and working with the materials as “sacred.”
“Reading their stories and their testimonies and their experiences, just having the opportunity to preserve them is just a sacred opportunity,” said Glenn. “I hope that students could come and they could experience that as well.”
The collection pieces of the exhibit were given to the BYU library 40 years ago.
“We’re honored that the Exponent II women entrusted their priceless historical collection with us at BYU,” Murphy said.
Roger Layton, the library’s PR manager, expressed his excitement for BYU students to visit the exhibit and learn more about the history.
“The purpose of the whole exhibit program is to help make people aware of what’s in the collection and give them a peek behind the scenes,” Layton said.
Layton explained that without these exhibits and displays, the only people who would be aware of the collections are the researchers. This display allows students to have an entry point into discovering more about the resources available in the BYU special collections.
“I would hope that it would bring students to access the collection and do research on the collection because there are so many stories that have been collected and saved by these women,” Glenn said.
Murphy feels that this should be of particular interest to journalism students and all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“This is their history,” Murphy said. “Cherish it and value it and learn more.”
Resources for Exponent II are available in the library system through this link.
