The recent involvement of historians in women’s studies has sparked new interest in the lives of Mormon women. The period that has received the most attention from current scholars is the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s, the time when Mormon women emerged into public life. The administration of Brigham Young coincides with the first part of this span, and with good reason. Young himself was in part responsible for the increased sphere of activity of nineteenth century Mormon women. His own people were convinced of that. In fact, Mormon Woman’s Exponent editor Louisa Lula Greene Richards heralded Young as “the most genuine, impartial and practical ‘Woman’s Rights Man,’ upon the American Continent.”
