The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints General Handbook of Instructions, or at least the section that’s for all inquiring eyes, are eagerly awaited as much by members as historians, reporters, and activists. A new release can be a quiet way for the church leadership to make a policy or priority change. Mormon historian and author Michael Harold Paulos has prepared an article on the history of the LDS General Handbook of Instruction, which includes its evolution, changes as well as information on leaders who had an impact its evolution. Paulos’ upcoming Journal of Mormon History essay will appear later in a one-volume documentary history, The General Handbooks of Instructions, which will be edited by Paulos and published by the Smith-Petit Foundation.
It’s interesting to note that the first dozen-plus handbooks were mostly thin pamphlets “approximately 50 pages each.” The first handbook, in 1899, was only 14 pages. It appears that a love for detail — and the growth and details-oriented obsession that comes with bureaucracy — contributed to the gradual growth of the LDS handbook. The 17th church handbook, published in 1944, was the largest ever at 274 pages. Paulos attributes the larger edition, with its many changes, to the efforts and influence of J. Reuben Clark, the first counselor to then-church President Heber J. Grant.
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