Publications
Emmeline B. Wells was a prolific writer, editor, and poet. Some of her publications are described below.
Emmeline B. Wells published a collection of her poetry in 1896 under the title Musings and Memories: Poems (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon and Sons). A second edition was published in 1915.
The Utah Board of Lady Managers asked Emmeline B. Wells to prepare and edit a book of poetry by Utah’s leading female writers in support of Utah’s exhibit at the 1893 Columbian Exposition. The resulting collection, Songs and Flowers of the Wasatch (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon and Sons, 1893), contains thirty-four poems, including Wells’s “At Evening.”
First appearing in print under the date 1 June 1872, the
Woman’s Exponent was a privately published newspaper for the women of the church. It was published semimonthly (and later, monthly) at Salt Lake City. The last issue of the
Exponent was dated February 1914. Emmeline B. Wells became associate editor of the publication in 1875 and editor in 1877. In 2019 and 2020, the Church History Library published a series of
articles highlighting the contributions and breadth of the Woman's Exponent.
Emmeline B. Wells, with assistance from Emily S. Richards, contributed a chapter on the history of women’s suffrage in Utah to Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper, eds., The History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4 (New York: Susan B. Anthony, 1902).
While chair of the Salt Lake County Board of Lady Managers for the Columbian Exposition of 1893, Emmeline B. Wells assisted with preparing several publications for the fair. For one project, World’s Fair Ecclesiastical History of Utah (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon and Sons, 1893), Wells worked cooperatively with women representatives of several churches in presenting the history of their faiths and service in Utah. The volume was edited by Sarah M. Kimball, chair of the Utah committee on church work.
One division of the World’s Fair of 1893 focused on charities and philanthropies. Emmeline B. Wells met with a committee in Utah chaired by Zina D. H. Young. A publication resulted featuring the work of several charitable groups and societies in Utah, including an orphans’ home, a needlework guild, a home and foreign mission society, and Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Latter-day Saint women’s groups. The publication is Emmeline B. Wells, ed., Charities and Philanthropies: Woman’s Work in Utah (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon and Sons, 1893).
Over the course of her life, Emmeline B. Wells wrote the lyrics of many hymns and songs. Some of these texts were published in collections for use by Latter-day Saints. Below is a list of these publications, with links to the texts authored by Emmeline B. Wells.
Deseret Sunday School Union Music Book, Containing a Large Collection of Choice Pieces for the Use of Sunday Schools, 2nd ed. (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1884)
Hymns and Sacred Songs, Designed for the Use of the Children of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1888)
The Latter-day Saints’ Psalmody: A Collection of Original Tunes, compiled by George Careless, Ebenezer Beesley, Joseph J. Daynes, Evan Stephens, and Thomas C. Griggs, 2nd ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1896)
