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I was recently reading one locality’s Stake Relief Society minutes of a bygone era, and noticed that, as we do in our weekly ward bulletins today, the various secretaries often noted who presided and who conducted the various meetings. Entirely unsurprisingly, these individuals were women, even if priesthood officers were present. I’ve read a lot of Relief Society minutes, but don’t know that I had ever previously asked myself about this practice. In fact, not having attended Stake Relief Society Conference (except as an occasional workshop presenter), I didn’t know whether this was still the case. A quick check with my wife suggests that it is no longer.



So when did women stop presiding at Relief Society meetings? The short answer is that I don’t know. But having spent some time with these minutes, I can say with surety that it is was common into the 1960s, which makes sense when you think that Correlation didn’t go into full force until the end of that decade, with its new conception of and emphasis on “keys.”

As an example, this Stake Relief Societies held an annual “convention” in the 1960s. There were various meetings associated with the event, and fortunately we often have fairly detailed minutes or summaries. In 1964 after an opening meeting of our Stake of interest:

At 10:00 a meeting for Ward and Stake Officers And Class leader, Bishop, And Stake priesthood representatives began with Sister Zola McGhie presiding and President Beth Tebbs conducting.

Zola was from the general board and Beth was the stake RS president. Alternatively you sometimes see the Stake RS president presiding at Stake conventions when priesthood officers or General board members are present. One such example is the 1959 convention of the same stake.

I guess it makes sense the presidents preside. Okay, that was a little snarky. More on point, I think the evolution of our usage of the term “president” at church has followed something not dissimilar to our usage of “quorum.” It meant a thing when we started using it, but has since evolved in idiosyncratic ways.