{"id":44356,"date":"2023-02-18T09:21:23","date_gmt":"2023-02-18T17:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.timesandseasons.org\/?p=44356"},"modified":"2023-03-06T15:02:05","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T23:02:05","slug":"sketches-in-the-wilford-woodruff-journals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2023\/02\/sketches-in-the-wilford-woodruff-journals\/","title":{"rendered":"Sketches in the Wilford Woodruff Journals"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the fun things about reading journals and other handwritten documents from the past is that there are sometimes nuances that are missed when reading a cleaned-up typescript of the same document.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been reminded of this a couple times recently as part of my work on revamping a site about Zerah Pulsipher<\/a>. Perhaps the one that brought the biggest smile to my face had to do with the journals of Wilford Woodruff<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One unique aspect of Woodruff’s journals is the inclusion of sketches that he drew to help illustrate his experiences and observations. These sketches provide a visual component to his written accounts and offer a deeper understanding of the people, places, and events that he documented. I knew that Laurel Thatcher Ulrich<\/a> wrote about these sketches in A House Full of Females<\/em>, noting that \u201cas a substitute for words, he added new doodles and boarders to his pages\u201d, but was only able to see what was available in her book.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 With the online sharing of images of his journal through the Wilford Woodruff Papers<\/a> project, however, it is easier than ever before to see those sketches scattered throughout the journals.<\/p>\n

\n

Here are a few of the images I came across while exploring the journals of Wilford Woodruff:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Sketch<\/p>\n

This image was a figure Woodruff sketched while talking about doing baptisms for the dead on March 27, 1842.\u00a0 As Ulrich explained about this figure: \u201cTo mark a day spent performing baptisms for the dead, he drew a crowned figure, much like the \u2018soul effigies\u2019 on early Connecticut gravestones, floating with it arms outstretched above a stylized stream.\u201d[2]<\/a>\u00a0 The releveant entry in the journal seems to be: \u201cHe was followed by Joseph the Seer who made some edifying remarks concerning baptism for the dead. \u2026 I considered it my privilege to be baptized for the remission of my sins for I had not been since I first Joined the Church in 1833 I was then baptized under the hands of Elder Zerah Pulsipher therefore I went forth into the river & was Baptized under the hands of JOSEPH THE SEER\u201d[3]\u00a0 <\/a>Figures like this appear occasionally in his journals elsewhere, including a depiction of Queen Victoria.<\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/p>\n

Figure in Wilford Woodruff Journal on a day where he visited the Nauvoo temple (April 15, 1846).\u00a0 The relevant entry seems to be: \u201cWoodruff\u00a0And\u00a0Phebe\u00a0cousin Betsey Cossett\u00a0Sister\u00a0Smoot\u00a0& others we visited the\u00a0Temple\u00a0we all went through each appartment of it from the font in the basement to the ball of the tower\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Sketch<\/p>\n

Figure in Wilford Woodruff Journal when a pioneer company was organized under his leadership (Jan 19, 1847). The relevant text seems to be: \u201cI Wilford Woodruff organized my family company this night at my own house consisting of 40 men mostly head men of families. Those that joined me entered into a covenant with uplifted hands to Heaven to keep all the commandments & statutes of the Lord our God and to sustain me in my office\u201d Also, a somewhat amusing note in the same entrance: \u201cI went to bed and fell asleep and dreamed that I was {[big] with child and} ready to {be delivered} which was a singular dream\u201d.[5]<\/a>\u00a0 In any case, I’m not entirely sure what the sketch means – it looks to me like a book open, with its cover facing up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Figure in Wilford Woodruff Journal on February 13, 1848. It appears to be a pair of keys, which likely refer to the sealing ordinances performed on that day.\u00a0 The relevant entry is: \u201cMeeting was dismissed after which in company with Mrs\u00a0Woodruff\u00a0I went to Br\u00a0Pulsiphers\u00a0and soon Presidents\u00a0Young\u00a0& Kimball came & attended to sealing four couple in matrimony, we had a feast of spruice beer & cakes on the occasion.\u201d[6]<\/a>\u00a0 As Ulrich explained the connection with keys: \u201cThere are many representations of keys in Wilford\u2019s diary.\u00a0 Most acknowledge the restoration of priesthood authority to give temple blessings.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Sketch<\/p>\n

Figure in Wilford Woodruff Journal when working on a history of the Church (Jan 13, 1849).\u00a0 The relevant text is: \u201cI done up A Bundle of papers of 100 or more & sent to President\u00a0Brigham Young\u00a0put into A Box of Br\u00a0A. P. Rockwood\u00a0which he will take charge of I sent in the same bundle several papers to\u00a0W. Richards\u00a0Aphek Woodruff\u00a0John Benbow\u00a0A. O. Smoot\u00a0Z Pulsipher\u00a0& others.\u201d[8]<\/a>\u00a0 The figure on the right looks like a book to me, though I\u2019m not sure what the figure below the 13 on the left is meant to be.\u00a0 Similar images came up in a few other places, whatever it means.<\/p>\n

[I attended a presentation by Joshua Matsen since I originally posted where he indicated the symbol on the left is a hand and was used to highlight that Woodruff had written a letter on the day in question].<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Sketches<\/p>\n

Figure in Wilford Woodruff Journal after receiving news via letter that some relatives had died (Aug 25, 1851).[9]<\/a>\u00a0 In this case, he started the entry with a sketch of a coffin, then added coffins around the dates on which they died.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Depiction<\/p>\n

Figure in Wilford Woodruff Journal when he recorded some harsh remarks from Jedidiah Grant to the presidents of the Seventy during the Mormon Reformation in 1856. It likely is meant to represent how \u201cGrant flung the Arrows of God into the Hearts of the Transgressor.\u201d[10]<\/a><\/p>\n

[In the presentation, it was indicated that the bow and arrow indicated danger or something that might lead to God’s vengence].<\/p>\n

\"Temple<\/p>\n

Figures in Wilford Woodruff Journal when discussing doing temple work for the dead (Feb 14, 1877).\u00a0 I initially thought these were trees (representing family trees), but these are probably actually keys.[11]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Temple<\/p>\n

Figure in Wilford Woodruff Journal after the date on January 20, 1887. The figure on the right appears to be keys, which are associated with temple work, while the figure on the left is unclear to me.[12]<\/a><\/p>\n

[The presentation indicated that the figure on the left is a crown, which generally represents priesthood authority.]<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

So anyway, those are some of the fun sketches I came across this last week at the Wilford Woodruff Papers<\/a> site while looking for entries on Zerah Pulsipher<\/a> that I thought would be fun to share.<\/p>\n

[Updated 6 March 2023]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Footnotes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women\u2019s Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835-1870<\/em> (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2017), 59.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women\u2019s Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835-1870<\/em> (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2017), 59.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> \u201cJournal (January 1, 1841 \u2013 December 31, 1842),\u201d March 21, 1842 \u2013 March 27, 1842, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed February 13, 2023,\u00a0https:\/\/wilfordwoodruffpapers.org\/p\/ZD5<\/a><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> \u201cJournal (January 1, 1845 \u2013 December 31, 1846),\u201d April 14, 1846 \u2013 April 15, 1846, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed February 14, 2023,\u00a0https:\/\/wilfordwoodruffpapers.org\/p\/9rOP<\/a><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> \u201cJournal (January 1, 1847 \u2013 December 31, 1853),\u201d January 17, 1847 \u2013 January 19, 1847, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed February 14, 2023,\u00a0https:\/\/wilfordwoodruffpapers.org\/p\/9rj8<\/a><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> \u201cJournal (January 1, 1847 \u2013 December 31, 1853),\u201d February 9, 1848 \u2013 February 13, 1848, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed February 15, 2023,\u00a0https:\/\/wilfordwoodruffpapers.org\/p\/2klz<\/a><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women\u2019s Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835-1870<\/em> (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2017), 60.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Journal (January 1, 1847 \u2013 December 31, 1853),\u201d January 10, 1849 \u2013 January 15, 1849, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed February 14, 2023,\u00a0https:\/\/wilfordwoodruffpapers.org\/p\/v2wL<\/a><\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Journal (January 1, 1847 \u2013 December 31, 1853),\u201d August 25, 1851, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed February 14, 2023,\u00a0https:\/\/wilfordwoodruffpapers.org\/p\/jRk4<\/a><\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> \u201cJournal (January 1, 1854 \u2013 December 31, 1859),\u201d October 7, 1856, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed February 14, 2023,\u00a0https:\/\/wilfordwoodruffpapers.org\/p\/gzZ<\/a><\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> \u201cJournal (January 1, 1873 \u2013 February 7, 1880),\u201d February 12, 1877 \u2013 February 16, 1877, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed February 13, 2023,\u00a0https:\/\/wilfordwoodruffpapers.org\/p\/KZmx<\/a><\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> \u201cJournal (January 1886 \u2013 December 1892),\u201d January 20, 1887 \u2013 January 24, 1887, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed February 15, 2023,\u00a0https:\/\/wilfordwoodruffpapers.org\/p\/r2y<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the fun things about reading journals and other handwritten documents from the past is that there are sometimes nuances that are missed when reading a cleaned-up typescript of the same document.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been reminded of this a couple times recently as part of my work on revamping a site about Zerah Pulsipher. Perhaps the one that brought the biggest smile to my face had to do with the journals of Wilford Woodruff. One unique aspect of Woodruff’s journals is the inclusion of sketches that he drew to help illustrate his experiences and observations. These sketches provide a visual component to his written accounts and offer a deeper understanding of the people, places, and events that he documented. I knew that Laurel Thatcher Ulrich wrote about these sketches in A House Full of Females, noting that \u201cas a substitute for words, he added new doodles and boarders to his pages\u201d, but was only able to see what was available in her book.[1]\u00a0 With the online sharing of images of his journal through the Wilford Woodruff Papers project, however, it is easier than ever before to see those sketches scattered throughout the journals. Here are a few of the images […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10397,"featured_media":44357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-history"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Wilford-Woodruff-Journal-Sketches-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10397"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44356"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44426,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44356\/revisions\/44426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}