ORIGINS. In the summer of 1878, Aurelia Spencer Rogers, a
Farmington, Utah, mother, who felt the need for a united effort to help parents
teach their children the gospel, voiced her concerns to Eliza R. Snow, president
of the Relief Society of the Church: "Could there not be an organization
for little boys, and have them trained to make better men?" (Rogers, p.
208). Sister Snow presented the matter to President John Taylor, and he
authorized establishment of the organization.
Under the direction of local Church leaders, the first Primary was organized on
August 11, 1878, with Aurelia Rogers as president. On August 25, the first
Primary meeting was held in Farmington, where 224 boys and girls met to be
taught obedience, faith in God, prayer, punctuality, and good manners. The girls
were included to make the singing "sound as well as it should"
(Rogers, p. 209).
EARLY PRIMARIES. Within a short time, more Primaries were organized throughout
the territory. By the mid-1880s, a Primary group had been organized in nearly
every LDS settlement. The women of the Church were given the responsibility to
organize and administer the Primary program. The bulk of the weekly program was
devoted to songs, poems, and activities presented by children. Primary general
officers did not take a controlling leadership role until the 1890s, and
curricular materials were few, although most Primaries used a hymnbook, a tune
book, and a catechism of Old and New Testament questions and answers prepared by
Eliza R. Snow in 1881. In many localities, children remained in Primary through
their early teens and often served as Primary secretaries.
1890 -1939. During this period, Primary general officers assumed the leading
role in Primary development. Louie B. Felt (1880-1925), the first Primary
general president, and her counselor and successor, May Anderson (1925-1939),
sought professional training in education. Exposed to the ideas of progressive
education, they initiated curriculum development and teacher training. General
officers encouraged local Primaries to establish age-graded classes with lessons
appropriate to the children's development. They began publication of the
Children's Friend (1902), at first with lessons and instructions for leaders
and, within a few years, with stories, handiwork, and music for children. In
1913 the Primary established a children's ward in the Grove's Latter-day Saint
Hospital in Salt Lake City, the first in a series of Primary efforts to provide
pediatric hospital care. When religion classes, instituted in 1890 for weekday
religious instruction for children, were discontinued in 1929, the Primary
assumed greater responsibility for children's spiritual education. Lessons were
scheduled three weeks each month, and activities were reduced to one per month,
except during the summer program. Stake boards held monthly training meetings
for ward leaders; general board members visited regularly.
1940-1974. Spiritual education remained the focus of Primary programs under
presidents May Green Hinckley (1940-1943) and Adele Cannon Howells (1943-1951).
Mission lessons were written for the growing number of Primaries in Church
missions throughout the world and, during World War II, for the hundreds of home
and neighborhood Primaries developed because of wartime travel restrictions.
Under President LaVern Watts Parmley (1951-1974), the Primary lessons were made
applicable to all units in the growing Church, including mission Primaries. When
a comprehensive Church correlation program was begun in the 1960s,
responsibility for Primary lesson materials was transferred to priesthood
leaders and professional departments.
The Primary Children's Hospital, authorized by Church leaders in 1949, was
completed in 1952, and President Parmley became the first chair of the
hospital's board of trustees (see Hospitals). While the majority of patients
were from the intermountain region, others came from many areas of the world.
Children of all races and creeds were welcomed. Patients' families usually paid
for their medical costs, but charitable funds assisted many. The hospital,
transferred to private ownership in 1975, made possible some of the most
important contributions that the Primary has made to the lives of individual
children.
In 1952 the Primary was given responsibility for Cub Scouting for LDS boys eight,
nine, and ten years of age and Boy Scouting for eleven-year-old boys. Since that
time, a close working relationship has existed between the Primary and the Boy
Scouts of America. Primary is also involved with Scouts in Canada, throughout
the United Kingdom, and in New Zealand.
Until 1952, women could serve only as den mothers in Cub Scouting. That year the
Primary obtained permission from the National Scout Committee for women to serve
as leaders of the eleven-year-old Scouts. Since then, women have become
registered Scouters and serve on local and national boards.
1974-1990. With the growth of a more geographically widespread Church, annual
general conferences of Church auxiliaries were discontinued in 1975. Under
presidents Naomi M. Shumway (1974-1980), Dwan J. Young (1980-1988), and
Michaelene P. Grassli (1988-), communication with local leaders continued
through materials prepared for regional conferences, a Primary Handbook,
information published in the bulletin, and periodic visits to regional training
sessions. Responsibility for planning lesson concepts for Primary manuals was
returned to the Primary General Board in 1977.
In the consolidated Sunday meeting schedule (1980), Primary meetings were moved
from midweek to Sunday, junior Sunday Schools were discontinued, and Primary was
given responsibility for all formal religious classroom instruction of children
in the Church. With that change, callings to teach in the Primary began to be
extended to men as well as women, although only women serve in Primary
presidencies. Weekday activities involving all Primary children were reduced to
four per year, and spiritual education was further emphasized. Children were
encouraged to read the scriptures regularly, and Primary lessons taught gospel
principles from their scriptural foundations. Music and activities culminating
in the yearly children's Sacrament meeting presentation (e.g., "The Book of
Mormon-A Witness of Jesus Christ," 1988; "I Am a Child of God,"
1989; and "I Belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,"
1990) focused on scriptures and gospel principles.
CURRENT STRUCTURE. As of 1990, Primaries serve over a million and a half
children with lessons taught in many languages. Primary meetings are held each
Sunday for approximately an hour and a half. A nursery program is provided for
children between eighteen months and three years of age. Children between the
ages of three and eleven meet as a group under the direction of the ward Primary
presidency. The children offer prayers, read from the scriptures, and give short
gospel-related talks. They learn gospel principles through role playing, readers'
theaters, choral readings, buzz sessions, panel discussions, and other
activities. They also learn and sing music selected from a children's songbook.
The children divide according to age for small group classroom sessions.
Age-appropriate lesson materials are selected to help children grow in
understanding gospel principles; learn that the Heavenly Father and Jesus love
them; and prepare to be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and keep their
baptismal covenants. Classroom presentations and discussions help girls prepare
to fulfill their roles as righteous young women and to live lives of service.
Classes help boys prepare to receive the priesthood and be worthy to use this
power to bless the lives of others.
In addition to Sunday Primary meetings, twice-a-month weekday activities are
held for ten- and eleven-year-old boys and girls. In some countries,
eleven-year-old boys use Scouting activities for their weekday activities. A
quarterly activity is held for all Primary children. The weekday and quarterly
activities encourage children to interact with each other and have wholesome fun
involving them in physical, creative, cultural, and service activities.
Children with disabilities are nurtured in Primary and are given opportunity to
participate in the full program. Leaders assess their needs individually and
tailor programs to meet specific needs. They are integrated into the regular
program whenever possible by giving additional support and training to their
teachers, leaders, and peers.
Church leaders call and set apart lay officers and teachers to oversee the
Primary; and Primary general officers and Church curriculum committees prepare
handbooks, teaching guides, visual aids, lesson manuals, and a variety of
training videos for their use. Monthly in-service lessons help teachers improve
their teaching skills and relate appropriately to children. Periodically, the
Primary general presidency and board members conduct multi-stake or regional
training sessions. Leaders and teachers seek and receive inspiration in their
Primary service.
The Primary's mission, the impetus for its historical development, and the
purpose for its current structure are summarized in the scripture that has
become the Primary's theme: "All thy children shall be taught of the Lord;
and great shall be the peace of thy children" (3 Ne. 22:13).
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Bibliography
* Madsen, Carol Cornwall, and Susan Staker Oman. Sisters and Little Saints. Salt
Lake City, 1979. Primary Handbook. Salt Lake City, 1985.
* Rogers, Aurelia A. Life Sketches. Salt Lake City, 1898.
* Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol. 3, Primary