"Who Shall Sing If Not the Children?": Primary Songbooks, 1880-1989

Abstract

Primary songbooks, 'besides being charming relics of bygone eras, offer a unique window through which to study women's contribution to interpreting and promulgating doctrine. This essay explores the contributions made by women through their composition of Primary songs and selection of songs to include in songbooks and the children's sacrament meeting presentations. The essay focuses in two key areas: the transformation and 'spiritualization' of millenarian and utopian expectations about the kingdom of God and the articulation of the principle of reverence in response to the felt incursions of the 'acids of modernity' into Latter-day Saint life.'