Historical Context
These program agendas represent the three occasions where Evan attended the Annual Palmyra Celebration.
These program agendas represent the three occasions where Evan attended the Annual Palmyra Celebration.
This document is an original printed program for the **Annual Palmyra Celebration** from **1931**, an event sponsored by **The Eastern States Mission** of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Held across four days from **July 23rd to July 26th, 1931** in **Palmyra, New York**, this historic gathering served as an intensive spiritual, administrative, and social conference primarily for the mission's leadership and traveling missionaries before they returned to their "Fields of Labor."
Here is a detailed breakdown of the document's sections and historical contents:
The cover page establishes the official nature of the conference and features a few notable signatures:
President James H. Moyle: His prominent signature is written across the top header. Moyle was a highly influential Utah political leader and lawyer who served as the President of the Eastern States Mission from 1929 to 1933.
Evan P. Call: Signed at the very bottom of the cover.
The committee page details who was responsible for managing the logistics of the event under President Moyle's direction:
General Chairman: Henry C. Stauffer (whose signature overlays his printed name).
Accommodation & Transportation: Willard W. Bean. Notably, Willard Bean and his wife Rebecca were famous figures in church history, having been sent by the church to Palmyra in 1915 to manage the newly acquired Joseph Smith farm and smooth over local tensions—a labor they performed for 24 years.
Athletics: Golden L. Berrett.
Locations: The program notes that “All Meetings Held in Sacred Grove Weather Permitting.”
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The conference combined spiritual devotionals and missionary training with recreation:
Thursday, July 23rd — Assembling Day: Focused on the arrival of missionaries, arranging accommodations, committee meetings, and casual recreation like a horseshoe tournament and baseball game.
Friday, July 24th — Missionary Day: A structured day starting with a 6:30 AM reveille, followed by morning devotionals, a massive morning Missionary Conference (covering methods of approach, the Book of Mormon, literature distribution, radio work, and publicity), a afternoon genealogical meeting, and ending with athletic games.
Saturday, July 25th: Featured a morning Hill Cumorah Pilgrimage with an address by Willard W. Bean, an afternoon Relief Society meeting and pageant, and concluded with a "Social Evening" around a bonfire with a weenie roast and community singing.
Sunday, July 26th: Heavily spiritual, including a 9:00 AM Baptismal ordinance service, general conference sessions featuring talks by missionaries on core topics ("The Falling Away", "The Restoration", and "Divine Revelation"), and an official closing admonition by President Moyle.
Monday, July 27th: Concluded with the formal departure of the attendees back out to their respective assignments.
The final page is a fascinating historical artifact on its own, completely filled with handwritten signatures of the attendees.
At the top center, the page is printed with "AUTOGRAPHS" and a small stamp lower down reads "TURNER & WILD, BROOKLYN", indicating where the pamphlet was printed.
It includes dozens of signatures from the young elders and sister missionaries of the era, such as *Ralph W. Cook, Lucy Palmer, Golden L. Berrett, Adrian G. Spencer, Grant S. Thorn, Owen M. Jensen, Dee Glen Brown*, and a distinct diagonal signature on the right edge reading *Frank Leishman*.
On the top left, a note next to Alpha Dietz's name marks the date "July 31st", suggesting autographs were still being collected in the days immediately following the event.