Louise Y. Robison
Louise Y. Robison was the seventh general president of the Relief Society and served from 1928-1939. Her correspondence is now accessible in the Church History Library. © 2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.This story appears here courtesy of TheChurchNews.com. It is not for use by other media.
By Trent Toone, Church News
Louise Y. Robison was convinced that President Heber J. Grant had been misinformed about her abilities when she was called to be the Relief Society general president in 1928. She was a “humble woman” with limited education, little money and small social status.
Elder David O. McKay, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, sent her a letter offering words of encouragement and support.
“The First Presidency has shown wisdom and inspiration in choosing you,” the Apostle and future President of the Church wrote.
Robison wrote back: “The faith of our friends in us is a source of great strength, and enables us to give the best that is in us to the cause of the gospel work we all have so much at heart.”
Robison served as the Relief Society general president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1928 to 1939, a difficult period of economic downturn known as the Great Depression, when there were more than 64,000 members of the Relief Society worldwide in 1930.
Robison’s correspondence with members and Church leaders are now available in a digital collection in the Church History Catalog: Louise Y. Robison Papers, 1928–1939 (CR 11 30). The announcement was made in a news release on history.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
“Her collection offers readers a rich glimpse into the administration and discipleship of a devoted general president of the Relief Society,” the article said.
Who Was Louise Robison?
Born as Sarah Louisa Yates in 1866, Louise Robison grew up as the second of five children in the central Utah town of Scipio, where she learned hard work and applicable frontier homemaking skills.
At age 14, Robison and her sister attended Brigham Young Academy in Provo, Utah, for a year. She also took a six-month dressmaking course. But her schooling was cut short when she met Joseph Lyman Robison, a recently returned missionary. They were married October 11, 1883, and had six children.
Ministering During the Great Depression
Robison’s frontier self-sufficiency prepared her to minister and serve Latter-day Saints with compassion during the Great Depression.
The Relief Society board received many requests for aid or employment during the early depression years. Despite a shrinking budget and office staff, Robison and her counselors did their best to advise local Relief Society leaders on how to minister to the needs of their members.
“Our chief work consists in giving help to those in need,” she said during one of her visits to a local Relief Society.
At times, Robison’s health limited her ability to travel among the organization’s expanding ranks. An automobile accident forced her to recuperate in early 1934 as the Relief Society prepared for its spring conference and birthday celebration. She received many well wishes, such as this one from Nina Hansen.
“The Relief Society work and workers need you, you are the inspiration for us all,” Hansen wrote to Robison.
Robison replied: “The Lord has been kind to me during my life to give me such friends as you, a blessing which I prize highly. Your kind words of encouragement ... will help tied [sic] over many trying experiences.”
Correspondence and Connections
Robison’s letters feature an expanding network of relationships formed through a worldwide community of gospel sisterhood.
In one correspondence, Mary M. Hoapili, of Honolulu, Hawaii, sent Robison a hat made of blue and gold sugarcane flowers patterned after the official Relief Society colors selected by Robison and her counselors in 1931.
“I remember that you were my dancing teacher, although I am sorry to say that I am not showing what a fine teacher you are in my dancing here at home,” Robison wrote to Hoapili. “Gifts are so beautiful, but the memory of your friendship will linger with me even when these things are gone.”
Church History Catalog
The Church History Catalog has hundreds of thousands of collections of documents and media from the history of the Church and is accessible by anyone at catalog.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
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