Matthew J. Grow and Dr. David J. Whittaker, Harold B. Lee Library
Parley P. Pratt served two terms as President of the Mormon Pacific Mission based in San Francisco during the early and mid-1850s. With his vast experience in writing and publishing, he concentrated much of his efforts on spreading the Mormon message through pamphlets and through interaction with the local press. Particularly during his second mission, he engaged in a lively debate with the local newspapers, which has previously been unnoticed by Mormon historians. Gold rush San Francisco boasted a highly literate and cosmopolitan population, and the city supported a large number of newspapers. The dire financial situation of Pratt and other local Church members precluded publishing a large number of tracts and pamphlets; instead, Pratt relied on the city’s mainstream newspapers to increase the Church’s public visibility.
I conducted research at the California State Archives in Sacramento, California, where I discovered that the Daily California Chronicle, the city’s largest newspaper, published many letters and essays from Pratt, and the Daily Alta California, perhaps the city”s most respected paper, also gave considerable coverage to him. Pratt’s correspondence with the Chronicle, which included nine lengthy letters from Pratt in 1854 and 1855, illustrates his thinking on many subjects in the years preceding his death and provides a case study for the public image of the Church during the 1850’s. Indeed, the press’s coverage of Pratt suggests that the 1850’s proved a crucial transitional period for the public image of Mormonism, as images of Salt Lake harems and Mormon theocratic power became standard fare for newspapers throughout the nation.
Pratt’s letters to the Chronicle covered a variety of subjects, from general Mormon principles to somewhat obscure doctrine. For example, an early communication addressed “What is Mormonism?” and included Pratt’s expansive view of Mormonism. In a later letter entitled “Spiritual Philosophy,” Pratt argued for the materialism of spirit (i.e., that the soul of man and the Holy Spirit are composed of very refined matter), and stated his version of the laws of the physical universe. In his essay, “The Bible!” Pratt declared that the Bible is a “‘Mormon’ book, in toto,” and suggested that the inseparability of the Bible and Mormonism would cause the world to either reject the Bible or embrace Mormonism. Pratt’s letters also conveyed his apocalyptical worldview; in two letters, he traced the ultimate fate of the Old World and of the United States, warning of the various calamities that would occur before the Millennium.1
References to plural marriage constantly appeared in Pratt’s letters, as well as in the Chronicle’s responses. Pratt’s frequent discussions of polygamy resulted from a pragmatic recognition that in order to win converts, he first needed to satisfactorily address the widely-discussed issue of plural marriage. Pratt also participated in a few high-profile public debates in which he vigorously defended polygamy.
Throughout Pratt’s correspondence with the Chronicle, nearly all of his letters were preceded by lengthy editorial statements openly critical of Pratt’s purposes. Indeed, even the manner in which the newspaper referred to Pratt was steeped in irony. Among other titles, the Chronicle called him the Right Rev. Archbishop, the High Priest of San Francisco, Saint Parley, and finally, given Pratt’s propensity to sign his letters “P. P. Pratt,” as Pee Pee Pratt.
In its coverage of Pratt, the Chronicle explicitly addressed the puzzling questions: Why had Pratt continued to subject himself to the open mocking of the Chronicle? And why had the Chronicle continued to publish his submissions? The newspaper suggested that for Pratt, any publicity, especially that over which he could exercise partial control, was better than no publicity. For itself, the Chronicle relied on the sensational qualities of Mormonism, particularly plural marriage, to sell papers in a highly competitive market.
Thus, in publishing Pratt’s essays, the San Francisco press acted not out of religious zeal, but from a pragmatic understanding that the notoriety of Mormonism sold papers. Pratt and the newspapers enjoyed a symbiotic relationship, each believing that they were successfully using the other to promote their divergent purposes. Through Pratt’s own writing talent and the public’s interest in Mormonism, he effectively utilized the mainstream San Francisco press to present the Mormon side of the debate and increased the Church’s public visibility.
I presented my findings at the BYU Student Religious Symposium in February 2001 and at the Mormon History Association in Cedar City in May 2001. The paper I presented at the Mormon History Association will hopefully be published in the near future. In addition, the entire text of the letters authored by Pratt and published by the San Francisco newspapers will be included in a forthcoming documentary collection of Pratt’s letters, edited by Dean Jessee and Steven Pratt. This study was particularly useful for me as my interests (which I will pursue in a PhD program in history at Notre Dame) include the interaction of religions and the press in American history.
- “What is Mormonism?” Daily California Chronicle (San Francisco), 8 November 1854; “Spiritual Philosophy,” Daily California Chronicle, 23 November 1854; “Rattles and Bubbles,” Daily California Chronicle, 26 January 1855; “The Prophet Pee Pee Pratt on the Oracular Tripod,” Daily California Chronicle, 10 February 1855; and “The Prophet ‘Parley Parker Pratt’ Once More–The American Future–A Prophecy,” Daily California Chronicle, 27 February 1855.