The Juvenile Instructor takes its name from the 19th-century Mormon periodical, founded and edited by Mormon Apostle George Q. Cannon in 1866 in Utah Territory.  Cannon, although not a professionally trained historian, sought to incorporate history into his editorials. The name was unanimously chosen by the bloggers for four primary reasons:

1. It seems to be trendy to name Mormon blogs after defunct church periodicals, and many others were already taken.

2. Perhaps serendipitously, the motto of the original Juvenile Instructor is also appropriate to this blog’s aims – “With all thy getting get understanding.”

3. All bloggers are relatively “juvenile” (some in age, some in maturity, most in both).

4. We liked the masthead of the original Juvenile Instructor.

At The Juvenile Instructor, we seek to situate the study of Mormonism within wider frameworks, including American religious history, western history, gender history, and, on occasion, the history of the Republic of South Africa.

Direct questions or comments about the site to the administrator at juvenileinstructor AT gmail DOT com.