The Programme of the London Conference Festival, to be held in the Freemason's Hall, Great Queen Street, On Monday, June 2nd, 1851
- SIGNED
- [London]: Printed by J.B. Franklin, 1851
[London]: Printed by J.B. Franklin, 1851. 8pp. Octavo [22.5 cm] One large uncut sheet that is not sewn [44.5 cm by 28 cm]. Fine. We are able to locate seven institutional copies. Uncommon. According to Crawley "While tea parties in conjunction with the quarterly or half-yearly conferences were common in the British Mission, the London Conference festival of June 2, 1851, held after the conference's half-yearly meeting, took this practice to a new level and served as a model for a number of other festivals held throughout the mission during the next two years. The London Festival, in turn, seems to have been inspired by the July 24th celebration in Salt Lake City, the preceding year, which was reported in the 'Deseret News' of July 27, August 3, August 10, 1850, and 'Millennial Star' of November 15.
Opening with some instructions from conference president Eli B. Kelsey, [this item] outlines the program of the festival, listing the visitors expected to attend - including John Taylor, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George B. Wallace, and Levi Richards - and the various speeches, songs, choir numbers, scripture readings, "laconic phrases," and prayers, with two breaks for refreshments. The festivities were to begin at 3:30 pm "precisely" with two processions composed of a band, twelve branch presidents each carrying a staff, twenty-four young ladies, "appropriately dressed," and twenty-four young men with blue scarves; then twelve fathers of Israel each carrying a staff, twelve young men each carrying the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and twelve young ladies dressed in white with scarves and wreaths of roses on their heads, each carrying a bouquet of flowers. Included in the pamphlet are the words to seven songs: Parley Pratt's, "Lo the Gentile Chain is Broken"; John Jacques's "Oh! Say What is Truth?"; W.W. Phelps's "Glorious Things are Sung in Zion"; Thomas Hastings's "Hail to the Brightness of Zion's Glad Morning"; John Lyon's "We'll Plough, and Sow, and Joyful Reap"; John Taylor's "Go, Ye Messengers of Glory"; and James Craig's "Let's Israel's Chosen Race Rejoice."
Jacob Gates comments on the festival in his journal, noting that one thousand or more assembled and the festivities lasted until 11:30 p.m. Appleton M. Harmon reports that eleven hundred attended, the waiters were "dressed in white with wreaths of roses," and the "whole was a rich entertainment with musick and the like we felt first rate." Crawley 579. Flake/Draper 1942a.
Opening with some instructions from conference president Eli B. Kelsey, [this item] outlines the program of the festival, listing the visitors expected to attend - including John Taylor, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George B. Wallace, and Levi Richards - and the various speeches, songs, choir numbers, scripture readings, "laconic phrases," and prayers, with two breaks for refreshments. The festivities were to begin at 3:30 pm "precisely" with two processions composed of a band, twelve branch presidents each carrying a staff, twenty-four young ladies, "appropriately dressed," and twenty-four young men with blue scarves; then twelve fathers of Israel each carrying a staff, twelve young men each carrying the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and twelve young ladies dressed in white with scarves and wreaths of roses on their heads, each carrying a bouquet of flowers. Included in the pamphlet are the words to seven songs: Parley Pratt's, "Lo the Gentile Chain is Broken"; John Jacques's "Oh! Say What is Truth?"; W.W. Phelps's "Glorious Things are Sung in Zion"; Thomas Hastings's "Hail to the Brightness of Zion's Glad Morning"; John Lyon's "We'll Plough, and Sow, and Joyful Reap"; John Taylor's "Go, Ye Messengers of Glory"; and James Craig's "Let's Israel's Chosen Race Rejoice."
Jacob Gates comments on the festival in his journal, noting that one thousand or more assembled and the festivities lasted until 11:30 p.m. Appleton M. Harmon reports that eleven hundred attended, the waiters were "dressed in white with wreaths of roses," and the "whole was a rich entertainment with musick and the like we felt first rate." Crawley 579. Flake/Draper 1942a.