Seventies Library in Nauvoo - Looking For More Information

[CA Steve]

In reading an article by Lincoln H. Blumell called Palmyra and Jerusalem: Joseph Smith’s Scriptural Texts and the Writings of Flavius Josephus I came across a reference to the "Seventies Library in Nauvoo" that suggests it was different from the Nauvoo library started up in Jan 1844. 

Quote

Years later, after the foundation of the Church’s first library in Nauvoo in the early 1840s, a catalog of sorts existed for the books that were donated by different Church members.[22] While Joseph Smith’s personal donation did not include the works of Josephus, a number of members did donate personal copies of Josephus,[23] and depending on how the titles in the catalog are interpreted, the works of Josephus may have been the most popular book in the library.[24] In the later Seventies Library in Nauvoo, additional donations of Josephus’s works were made by Isaac Allred and William Clayton.[25]

Footnote 25 on the end of this paragraph says:

Quote

 The catalog for the Seventies Library is still unpublished. The dates for the donations by Isaac Allred and William Clayton is January 25. Allred’s donation is described as comprising two volumes and Clayton’s edition is identified as “Clark’s Josephus” but should be “Clarke’s Josephus.”

Does anyone have any more information regarding the "Seventies Library?

 

Thanks

 

 

[Duncan]

Go online, the Church history Catalog, under "search"  type in "Seventies library, Nauvoo" and it brings up a whack of stuff, one of which is viewable from home. One of the items is 

"A listing of the holdings in the Seventies Library at Nauvoo."

If you email them under "Ask us" i'm sure they'd send you a copy, worth a try.

Edited August 24, 2019 by Duncan

[CA Steve]

Thanks Duncan,

There was a bit more info there and I did send them an email asking if they would send me a copy of that inventory.

I wonder if anyone has published anything on that library?

[Duncan]

39 minutes ago, CA Steve said:

Thanks Duncan,

There was a bit more info there and I did send them an email asking if they would send me a copy of that inventory.

I wonder if anyone has published anything on that library?

search me! did you go through that online book? I don't know if it has what you are looking for but

[Robert F. Smith]

6 hours ago, CA Steve said:

In reading an article by Lincoln H. Blumell called Palmyra and Jerusalem: Joseph Smith’s Scriptural Texts and the Writings of Flavius Josephus I came across a reference to the "Seventies Library in Nauvoo" that suggests it was different from the Nauvoo library started up in Jan 1844. 

Quote

.....................the works of Josephus may have been the most popular book in the library

............................

I recall the cold winter of 1965-66 in the Hills of Judah in Israel.  Knew next to nothing about Judaism, the Bible, or Jewish history, while studying Hebrew in an ulpan on a kibbutz there, at night reading Josephus for the first time.  Nice to know that the Brethren in Nauvoo  also once found his book of interest.  A great book for beginners.  Changed and enriched my POV considerably.

 

Edited August 25, 2019 by Robert F. Smith

[CA Steve]

17 hours ago, Duncan said:

search me! did you go through that online book? I don't know if it has what you are looking for but

I don't know if it is the book or my computer, but the online book was almost impossible to read. What text I could see was so light, that I could not make much out and it is over 400 pages. On my screen the thumbnails all looked blank, but when I brought up the full size versions of the first 10-20 pages, on some of them there appeared to be faint writing.  Maybe you could glance again at it and see if you can actually read anything. If so let me know what page the inventory list is on and I look at it on another computer.

Again thanks for the reference.

 

Edited August 25, 2019 by CA Steve

[CA Steve]

14 hours ago, Robert F. Smith said:

I recall the cold winter of 1965-66 in the Hills of Judah in Israel.  Knew next to nothing about Judaism, the Bible, or Jewish history, while studying Hebrew in an ulpan on a kibbutz there, at night reading Josephus for the first time.  Nice to know that the Brethren in Nauvoo  also once found his book of interest.  A great book for beginners.  Changed and enriched my POV considerably.

What an incredible experience Robert.

Not only was it a popular book for early Mormons, it was quite popular with everyone else. From Blumell's article I linked above.

Quote

Josephus in America and Early Mormonism

Though the name Josephus may seem foreign to many people today, even to persons “well-churched,” between the sixteenth and early twentieth centuries in England, Europe, and America, the works of Josephus were second in popularity only to the Bible itself.[5] If Puritans arriving in New England brought with them any book besides the Bible, it was Josephus,[6] and in fact among the Puritans it was the only book aside from the Bible that was permitted to be read on the Lord’s Day (Sunday).[7] It was the second book of Jewish authorship (after the Bible) to be published in colonial America in 1722 and was among the initial forty volumes contributed by the clergymen who founded the Collegiate School of Connecticut in 1701, now Yale University.[8] In addition, the popularity of Josephus’s works can be seen in the fact that they were often cited by both sides of the debate in the growing slavery controversy.[9] Owing to the popularity of Josephus during this time, he is sometimes referred to as a kind of “fifth evangelist,”[10] and his works were often found in libraries or church bookshops during the period.[11]

 

 

[Duncan]

31 minutes ago, CA Steve said:

I don't know if it is the book or my computer, but the online book was almost impossible to read. What text I could see was so light, that I could not make much out and it is over 400 pages. On my screen the thumbnails all looked blank, but when I brought up the full size versions of the first 10-20 pages, on some of them their appeared to be faint writing.  Maybe you could glance again at it and see if you can actually read anything. If so let me know what page the inventory list is on and I look at it on another computer.

Again thanks for the reference.

 

it is barely legible! I suspect when they were taking photos of the pages the light was too bright, but I hope you get a response!