A new book from the Church Historian’s Press features 52 of Eliza R. Snow’s most powerful and timeless discourses. The book Rise Up and Speak: Selected Discourses of Eliza R. Snow shows the breadth of her service and leadership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The book is currently available for purchase from Deseret Book and Amazon. It will become available in 2027 for free access in the Gospel Library.
The Church Historian’s Press has published other books about women, including the following:
- The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History
- At the Pulpit: 185 Years of Discourses by Latter-day Saint Women
- Carry On: The Latter-day Saint Young Women Organization, 1870–2024
Learn more in the article “New Book Features 52 of Eliza R. Snow’s Best Discourses.”
About Eliza R. Snow
During the mid- to late 1800s, Eliza R. Snow was a key figure in expanding women’s participation and leadership in the Church. This collection of her discourses offers a selection of fifty-two of Snow’s most powerful and timeless discourses, carefully selected and annotated by the editors.
As the secretary of the Nauvoo Relief Society in the 1840s, she kept meticulous minutes of the organization’s foundational meetings, including Joseph Smith’s instructions to women, empowering them to help build God’s kingdom. Later, under the direction of Brigham Young in Utah Territory, she helped bishops organize ward Relief Societies. She also instructed the women who belonged to those societies, encouraging them to “rise up and speak”—to overcome fears in public speaking and to minister to each other and to their communities.
Beyond her work in Relief Societies, she also helped create the church’s organizations for young women and children and participated in the development of those organizations at the ward, stake, and general levels. John Taylor appointed her as the general president of the Relief Society in 1880, a position in which she served until her death.
Snow’s discourses include religious instruction, urging women to awaken to their divine potential. She also encouraged them to engage in home manufacture, become politically involved and vote, enroll in medical courses, and subscribe to and write for the Woman’s Exponent, an independent Latter-day Saint women’s newspaper of the time.
Eliza R. Snow called upon all Latter-day Saints to become “coworkers” with Christ as “joint heirs” with Him and “saviors on Mount Zion”—a call that remains relevant today. Her words can enlarge current work in ministering, speaking, and teaching.