Relief Society Sisters Rally in Support of Nauvoo Monument

Relief Society sisters around the world are joining together as they contribute to the Relief Society Nauvoo monument to women.

The monument, announced in the 1975 Relief Society conference, is intended to honor the founding of the organization and to portray to the world the role of women in the gospel plan as understood by Latter-day Saints. (See March 1976 issue, pp. 78–79.)

In a letter to stake Relief Society presidents announcing the fund-raising program, Sister Barbara B. Smith, Relief Society general president, and her two counselors, Sister Janath R. Cannon and Sister Marian R. Boyer, said, “We are pleased with this opportunity to unite as Relief Society sisters in proclaiming to the world this important message which only we, the women of the Church, can tell.”

Each Relief Society sister is invited to make a contribution (“even if only the equivalent of a dollar”) to the cost of the monument, which will be in a garden setting located near the Nauvoo Visitors Center. The project consists of one heroic and twelve life-size sculptures portraying various aspects of a woman’s life and her circles of influence, as well as that moment in Church history when the Prophet Joseph made the first financial contribution to the Relief Society.

Contributors to the Nauvoo monument will receive a receipt in the form of a certificate suitable for inclusion in a book of remembrance. The certificate is signed by Sister Smith and the local ward or branch Relief Society president. The names of all contributors will be included in a special memorial book to be displayed in the Nauvoo Visitors Center.