I knew about some of the people mentioned in the labels before I started working in the gallery, but I didn’t understand who they were. For example, I knew Brigham Young was the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He led the Saints west and started Brigham Young Academy (known now as Brigham Young University). But now after learning more about him, he has become one of my heroes! Coming from a poor family and receiving only 11 days of formal education, he was inspired by Joseph Smith’s teaching of eternal progression and became a man who sought education wherever he could. Brigham Young not only encouraged the Saints to seek learning, but he was also a living example of actively seeking and doing. He “became a student of theology, literature, architecture, theater, science, business, gymnastics, agriculture, and everything else that could help him elevate himself or anyone around him.” He stated,

“I shall not cease learning while I live, nor when I arrive in the

spirit-world[,]… and when I again receive my body, I shall … still

continue my researches.” [1]
Brigham Young is one of many people who have inspired me! Some others are J. Wyley Sessions, Brigham Thomas Higgs, Karl G. Maesar; the list goes on.

Visit the gallery to see how these people’s lives are more than just nice stories—they are examples from which to learn and to move forward with their faith and strength, edifying us along the way.

Rebecca Soelberg, Gallery Educator

 American women were ahead of French women in fighting for their right to vote. On July 19-20, 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, women gathered to debate of the significance for the allowance for women to receive the right to vote.

Courtesy of mormonwomenhistory.org

Many Latter-day Saint women not only attended this conference, but were encouraged to attend by the Prophet Brigham Young. These women associated closely with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. One more prevalent sister, Susa Gates, was fortunate enough to host these two ladies within her own home. Other Latter-day Saint women who participated in the convention at Seneca Falls were Elmina Shepard Taylor, Emmeline B. Wells, Romania B. Pratt Penrose, Aurelia Spencer Rogers and many others.

Elmina Shepard Taylor was a founding member of the National Council of Women and the first general president of the Young Ladies National Mutual Improvement Association, as well as the founder of Young Woman’s Journal.  Elmina worked tirelessly for equal rights and opportunities for women both inside and outside the Church.

Since working at the Education in Zion Gallery and hearing stories of these women and how they were encouraged by prophets Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, I have been ecstatic to find that education and equal opportunities for women have always been a high priority for the Church. Stories within the gallery, like the women at the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, tell of many Latter-day Saints who sacrificed for the greater opportunity of future generations.

- Brittany Dahlin, Education in Zion Gallery Educator, Art History Major

We all have struggles. We all have moments where everything seems too hard and that we can’t get it all done. Even great men experience this. Brigham Young University was founded by someone who was going through these same feelings.  Brigham Young asked Karl G. Maeser to design BYU’s school system to include the Spirit in every class. The day before Maeser was to present his ideas to Brigham Young he still hadn’t thought of anything. Exhausted and disheartened, he fell to his knees. “O Father,” he pleaded, “show me the way[;] help me to make the plans for this great work. I cannot do it of myself.” Immediately the plan for the school came to his mind.

So why are we doing this? What will we gain by staying up to midnight for the third night in a row to complete a plethora of homework assignments? We gain the blessings. The intelligence we attain in this life will rise with us in the resurrection, and the more knowledge we have, the greater our advantage in the world to come (D&C 130:18-19).

Like Maeser, we will struggle. We will have restless nights where we ponder what we need to do. But when all is said and done, the knowledge that we gain will help us become more like our Heavenly Father – bringing us closer to our divine potential.

—Anna Silver, Theater Education Major and Education in Zion Gallery Educator

These questions would cycle through my mind often, and I’d always struggle to not feel this discouragement. It wasn’t until the first time I walked through the Education in Zion Gallery that I was given a different perspective on attending BYU. I started to read all about the early saints of the Church and how despite the persecutions and trials in their lives they still made education a priority. It made me stop and realize how blessed I’ve been to come to college without having to sacrifice as much in my life.

I read stories about teachers who gave up so much, even their compensations, so the school could stay open for the children to learn and get an education. I couldn’t help but continue to compare my life to these people and appreciate all the sacrifices they made for education when I’ve done very little to be at a great university.

In one of the rooms in the gallery there is a wall sharing a portion of a vision of President John Taylor. It talks about how Zina Young Williams, a faculty member of Brigham Young Academy and daughter of Brigham Young, asked President Taylor if the Church could help more with the funding of the financially struggling school. He shared with her a sacred and recent experience. Her father had come to him in a dream and told him that the school “was accepted in the heavens and was a part of the great plan of life and salvation . . . and that Christ himself was directing, and had a care over the school.”

Tears came to my eyes while reading of John Taylor’s experience. Right then I received a small understanding of how wonderful Brigham Young University is and that it truly was inspired. It has always been part of an important plan, and we all have been chosen to attend such a sacred place where the Lord wants us here. I know I’m going to still have those hard days where I continue to ask myself those self-doubting questions, but now I can come into the gallery and reread John Taylor’s vision and remind myself to trust in the Lord and know that I am truly blessed to be at a university directed by and cared for by the Lord.

In the Book of Mormon we read Alma chapter 36, verse 3, which states: “And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.”

- Stephanie Adams, Math Education Major and Education in Zion Gallery Educator