Historical Context
This document is an original printed program for the Annual Palmyra Celebration from 1933, an event sponsored by The Eastern States Mission.
Held across four days from July 22nd to July 25th, 1933 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.
A few of the speakers at the conference:
Don B. Colton, a former U.S. Congressman representing Utah (serving from 1921 to 1933). Having just left Congress earlier in 1933, he was a keynote speaker at this event and would shortly succeed James H. Moyle as the President of the Eastern States Mission later that year.
Dr. Francis W. Kirkham, a prominent educator and scholar who wrote extensive historical treatises defending the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, focusing on the historical context of 1830 upstate New York.
Edward P. Kimball, a renowned organist for the Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City. In 1933, he was sent to preside over the German-Austrian Mission but frequently participated in major church historical events and provided musical/cultural leadership.
The back cover features a classic depiction of the Angel Moroni, drawing a direct parallel between the restoration of the Church via the golden plates at Palmyra and the biblical prophecy in Revelation 14 of an angel bringing the "everlasting gospel" back to the earth in the latter days.
