Monthly Archives: September 2015

Complete 17 Book Faith-Promoting Series Now Available Free

The seventeen books of the Faith-Promoting Series, published between 1879 and 1915 by George Q. Cannon and George C. Lambert and “Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints,” are now all available as free e-books on Project Gutenberg. They are easy reads, mostly at about 100 pages each, that are mostly organized as collections of short accounts. Collectively, they form a whole library of short nonfiction on the early church.

They discuss missionary work, the early days of the Church, the pioneer experience, early Utah, apologetic themes, faith-promoting incidents, and so forth. For missionary work alone, they contain accounts of early efforts in Hawaii (#1), the American west (#2, #5), England (#7, #8, #12, #13), New Zealand (#14), and Switzerland (#10), to name a few. Much of the content is autobiographical, including material by John Taylor (#2), Newel Knight (#10), Wilford Woodruff (#3), George Q. Cannon (#1), and Heber C. Kimball (#7). Doesn’t take a PhD to realize that these are big names and big events, and that’s just a random sampling of surface-scratching.

We’ve already published some commentary on several of these books if you’re wondering where to start, but anywhere is good. Without further ado, the list:

  1. My First Mission by George Q. Cannon
  2. A String of Pearls
  3. Leaves from My Journal by Wilford Woodruff
  4. Gems for the Young Folk
  5. Jacob Hamblin by James A. Little
  6. Fragments of Experience
  7. President Heber C. Kimball’s Journal
  8. Early Scenes in Church History
  9. The Life of Nephi by George Q. Cannon
  10. Scraps of Biography
  11. The Myth of the “Manuscript Found” by George Reynolds
  12. Labors in the Vineyard
  13. Eventful Narratives
  14. Helpful Visions
  15. Treasures in Heaven
  16. Precious Memories
  17. Gems of Reminiscence

Thanks again to the many MTP interns and volunteers who have worked on these books! Allie Bowen and Margaret Willden, MTP interns, finished the set with their work on #6 and #15 respectively.