Minerva Teichert’s Manti Temple Murals
Author Doris R. Dant
In April 1947, a slight, white-haired grandmother installed herself in a Manti, Utah, motel. At fifty-nine years of age, Minerva Teichert could still keep pace with any Scandinavian farmer in Sanpete County and probably outwork many. After all, she was a rancher’s wife who toiled long hours to meet the demands of garden, flocks, dairy, and family. Now for one month, all her drive would be devoted to an undertaking that daunted even her—painting enormous murals for the world room of the Manti Temple. Sustained by prayer and a sole assistant, she covered four walls several times her height with scenes whose conception is at once unique and spiritually profound
(Left) Minerva Teichert 1888 to 1976 at age 59. Teichert was the artist primarily responsible for the pageant of nations murals in the Manti Temple
This article tells that story, much of it taken from Teichert’s letters and from interviews with her assistant. It also includes reproductions of her world room murals. Although individual Manti murals have been published previously, this is the first time these beautiful works have been printed together. BYU Studies is grateful to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for permission to offer them to our readers. Article Here
This tremendous mural shows the history of the world. The back wall shows the tower of Babel under construction. The north wall (the one visible on the right half of this photo) generally follows the history of the gentiles; one can see crusaders, monarchs, explorers, and the poor and destitute (the silhouettes near the bottom). Along the south wall (not pictured) is the history of Israel, with paintings of Abraham, Joseph (and his coat of many colors), Moses, and Pilgrims. Both of these histories meet at the east wall (left half of the photo), on the American Continent, where a Native American figure stands at the center. Above him and the tops of the trees is a picturesque mountain valley, complete with a small city and a temple. The city represents Zion, not any place in particular, but it looks a lot like Manti (especially the temple).
This mural is fascinating and much more could be said about it. I recommend BYU Studies’ article on the paintings. It goes into detail not only on each section of the mural (and has detailed pictures of each side!), but also goes into the history of it. From this room, patrons enter the doorway on the right of the Native American and enter the terrestrial room.
The terrestrial room of this temple is one of my favorites. I’ve also noticed that the benches subtly become more ornate as one progresses through the endowment–they’re rather plain and ordinary in the creation room; by the time you get here, they have small flowers and designs carved into them. I do believe the benches are original. http://ldspioneerarchitecture.blogspot.com/2014/09/manti-temple-interior.html
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1978/07/paintings-from-the-alberta-temple?lang=eng
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/library/designs/
Moroni stood and dedicated this piece of land for a Temple site
Manti was settled by determined pioneers. They carved shelters for that first winter out of a hillside of creamy tan oolite; in the spring, they battled rattlesnakes for possession of the valley. And from that hill, they took the limestone to build their temple, fifth of the Church’s temples and third to be built in Utah.
Brigham Young announced the temple site 25 June 1875 and dedicated the site on 25 April 1877. Earlier that same morning, he had taken Warren S. Snow with him to the southeast corner of the temple site and told him, “Here is the spot where the Prophet Moroni stood and dedicated this piece of land for a Temple site, and that is the reason why the location is made here, and we can’t move it from this spot.”
William H. Folsom was the Manti Temple architect. He also designed the Salt Lake Tabernacle.
The temple cost $991,991.81, of which the Sanpete Stake alone contributed $274,815.05. Some workmen walked the seven miles from Ephraim each Monday morning and back home again Saturday night. In addition to being self-sacrificing, their service was of the highest quality.
This temple contains the only temple murals dating from the pioneer period. C. C. A. Christensen, Minerva Teichert, John Hafen, J. B. Fairbanks, and Dan Weggeland were among the artists represented.
Eleven years from the time it was started, President Wilford Woodruff dedicated the temple, first in a private ceremony on 17 May 1888, then in services attended by 5,400 members May 21, 22, 23.
Sources include a summary of Manti Temple information prepared by Anna Mae Robison, Church Historical Library; Glen R. Stubbs, A Temple on the Hill: A History of the Manti Temple (Rexburg, Idaho: Ricks College Press. 1976). https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1978/03/the-manti-temple?lang=eng
Apparently, the reference desk at Church Archives keeps a “myths binder”, and this one’s in it:
In 1987, John A. Peterson of the Acquisitions Department of what is now called the Church History Library prepared a report for Jane A. Braithwaite of the Manti Destiny Committee (a private, non-profit organization promoting and preserving the history of Manti and the Sanpete Valley) detailing his attempts to document the source of the tale. He had scoured all known pertinent records, including restricted temple records, looking for any confirmation. His search included at least these sources:
CR 348 19 – Manti Corner Stone Services, April 14, 1879
CR 348 20 – “[Private] Dedication of the Manti Temple – Dedication Services held in the Celestial Room of the Temple, at 12 o’clock on Thursday Morning May 17th, 1888” (which files include copies dedicatory prayer and sermons)
CR 348 21 – Manti Temple Historical Record, 1873-01934
CR 348 22 – Manti Temple – Setting apart of temple workers, 1888
CR 348 33 – Manti Temple – Bulletins, 1884-1955
CR 348 37 – Manti Temple – Attendance Roll, 1888-1894
CR 348 37 – Manti Temple – Reunion List, 1895
In none – none – of these sources is there any hint whatsoever of an ancient dedication of the temple site, no mention of Moroni, nothing that could be seen as supporting the story, although the story, if true, would have found a natural place in any of these records. The Keepapitchin
I’ll leave it to you to decide if then if the story is authentic. This story (or rumor) brings up an important point. We need to be careful with stories of this nature (verifying them when possible as you are seeking to do) because stories like this can get passed around and much like gossip grow and change in the telling, even if the changes are innocently and ignorantly made. Sometimes people are so hungry for spiritual experiences, that they are willing to believe any “feel good story’. That’s not good.
So how do we know which stories to believe, especially if we can’t find any official church sources to back them up? How do we discern truth from error or falsehood? We need to pray about it. I realize that sounds like a “Sunday School answer” or in other words, a bit of a cop out, but it is the truth. The only way we can know for certain what comes from God and what does not, is to ask Him.
When we were baptized we were given the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Having this gift is the first step toward receiving many other spiritual gifts. One of these is the gift of discernment. It is with this gift that you can know the truth or falsehood of the “Moroni stories” or any other information you need to know. Elder Bednar explained it this way,
“Discernment is so much more than recognizing right from wrong. It helps us distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant, the important from the unimportant and the necessary from that which is merely nice.” Quick to Observe
Is it relevant for us to know the answer to your question about Moroni? Perhaps not. But this question leads us to another question, what is relevant for us to know? I believe that Heavenly Father wants to share a lot more with us than we imagine. In an Ensign article, Lane Johnson said,
“It would appear from the scriptures that our Father desires to grant [spiritual] gifts even more ardently than we desire to receive them.” How to Receive Spiritual Gifts
So my thought, Robert, is that you can ask Heavenly Father about the Moroni stories you have heard, but don’t stop there. Be open to the abundance of other blessings and knowledge that He is waiting to give His children who obey Him, and ask for those blessings.
Gramps
Moroni in Manti, Utah
Some members of the Church are aware that at the dedication of the site for the temple in Manti, Utah, the following incident took place:
At a conference held in Ephraim, Sanpete County, June 25th, 1875, nearly all the speakers expressed their feelings to have a temple built in Sanpete County, and gave their views as to what point and where to build it, and to show the union that existed, Elder Daniel H. Wells said “Manti,” George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young, Jr., John Taylor, Orson Hyde, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Lorenzo Young, and A.M. Musse said “Manti stone quarry.” I have given the names in the order in which they spoke. At 4 p.m. that day President Brigham Young said: “The Temple should be build on Manti stone quarry.” Early on the morning of April 25, 1877, President Brigham Young asked Brother Warren S. Snow to go with him to the Temple hill. Brother Snow says: “We two were alone: President Young took me to the spot where the Temple was to stand; we went to the southeast corner, and President Young said: “Here is the spot where the prophet Moroni stood and dedicated this piece of land for a Temple site, and that is the reason why the location is made here, and we can’t move it from this spot; and if you and I are the only persons that come here at high noon today, we will dedicate this ground.” (Whitney 436)
That Moroni dedicated the Manti Temple site is one of the few statements the Brethren have made connecting a Book of Mormon figure with a specific current place and action. This aids us in documenting one of Moroni’s travels and priesthood assignments. Another reference happened when William McBride, patriarch from the Richfield Utah Stake, spoke at a prayer meeting in St. George in January 1881. After recalling many experiences from the Nauvoo period and quoting the Prophet Joseph Smith on many issues, Patriarch McBride referred to the Route the old Nephites took travelling to Cumorah from the south and south west; of having to bury their tr[e]asures as they journeyed and finally burying the Records and precious things in the Hill Cumorah; of Moroni dedicating the Temple site of what we now call St. George, Nauvoo, Jackson Co., Kirtland, and others we know not of as yet. (Walker 2:525–26)
Two Interesting Maps
Several years ago, I came across two copies of a map in the Archives Division of the Historical Department of the Church relative to Moroni’s North American journeys (see Figures 1 and 2). On the back of the map in Figure 1 is written the following:
A chart, and description of Moroni’s travels through this country. Got it from Br. Robert Dickson. He got it from Patriarch Wm. McBride at Richfield in the Sevier and also from Andrew M. Hamilton of same place. And they got it from Joseph Smith the Prophet.
On the map “land Bountifull [sic]” is listed in “Sentral [sic] America.” The cartographer wrote “starting point” below the reference to Central America. Above the “land Bountifull” is “Sand hills in south part of Arizona,” and above it to the left is “Salt Lake.” To the right is “Independens, Jackson Co, Mo.” and above that is “Adam on Diamon, Davis Co, Mo.” To the right of that is “Nauvoo, Hancock C.Ill.” Below that is “Mound Kinderhook, Pick, Co, Ill, 6 Plates Bell shape were found” (were was was on one copy). Then to the right and above that is “Kirtland, Ohio,” and to the right of that is “Commorre [Cumorah], N.Y.” Below this on the right-hand side of the map is written: “Moroni’s Travels starting from Sentral America to the Sand hills Arizona then to Salt Lake U[tah], T[erritory], then to Adam on Diammon Mo, then to Nauvoo, Ill, then to Independence Mo, then to Kirtland Ohio then to Cumoro NY.”
The second map appears to have been drawn by the same hand and is quite similar to the first, though it twice spells Arizona as Arisony (one “y” has an “a” written over it); “eden” is written near the circle identifying “Independense”; “where adam blessed his posterity” is written near the circle identifying “Adam on Diammon”; the “missisipy river” is listed near Nauvoo; Kirtland is twice misspelled “kertland”; and Cumorah is misspelled “Cunora” and “Cumora.”
It is interesting to note that the brethren mentioned on these documents were contemporaries of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and they credited him with the notion that the travels of Moroni began in the land Bountiful, which was in Central America, and went through the western New York. Why Moroni took the route he did is still without answers. These men stated that the Prophet Joseph believed Bountiful is in Central America while the Hill Cumorah, the burial place of the plates, is in New York State.
The Plates of the Book of Mormon Are Buried
Sometime around AD 421, Moroni took the sacred plates, the breastplate, and the Urim and Thummim to the Hill Cumorah and buried them near the top of the hill in a stone box that he made for them. The box was made of flat stones laid on the bottom and sides which were cemented together to make it waterproof. When the Prophet Joseph Smith first met the angel Moroni at the hill Cumorah about 1,400 years later on the evening of 22 September 1823, Moroni showed him the sacred contents and told Joseph that the sacred objects had been “sealed by the prayer of faith” (Cowdery 198). The plates remained there until 27 September 1827, when Moroni gave them to Joseph to allow him to translate them into English.
Joseph Smith published the following in the July 1838 issue of the Elders’ Journal in answer to the question: “How and where you obtain The Book of Mormon?” His reply:
“Moroni, the person who deposited the plates, from whence the Book of Mormon was translated, in a hill in Manchester, Ontario County, New York, being dead, and raised again therefrom, appeared unto me, and told me where they were; and gave me directions how to obtain them” (42–43).
The Death of Moroni
I have found only one account which speaks of Moroni’s death:
At a meeting at Spanish Fork, Utah Co., in the winter of 1896, Brother Higginson stated in my presence that Thomas B. Marsh told him that the Prophet Joseph Smith told him (Thomas B. Marsh, he being then President of the Twelve), that he became very anxious to know something of the fate of Moroni, and in answer to prayer the Lord gave Joseph a vision, in which appeared a wild country and on the scene was Moroni after whom were six Indians in pursuit; he stopped and one of the Indians stepped forward and measured swords with him. Moroni smote him and he fell dead; another Indian advanced and contended with him; this Indian also fell by his sword; a third Indian then stepped forth and met the same fate; a fourth afterwards contended with him, but in the struggle with the fourth, Moroni, being exhausted, was killed. Thus ended the life of Moroni. (Evans)
Conclusion
This paper has attempted to highlight some of the lesser-known facts about the life of Moroni, one of the greatest prophets that has lived upon the earth. His contributions both during his mortal and his postmortal ministries have affected and will yet affect the lives of literally millions of God’s children.
Latter-day Saints and non-Mormons alike first identify Moroni as the angel, the “messenger sent from the presence of God” who visited the boy-prophet Joseph Smith (JS—H 1:33). He is probably the most easily identifiable person connected with the Restoration since statues representing him appear on many temple spires heralding the glorious restoration mentioned in the book of Revelation. He is the angel flying “in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell in the earth” (Rev. 14:6). His picture is commonly seen on copies of the Book of Mormon, LDS jewelry, LDS military dog-tags, the official logo, and on tombstones for LDS servicemen. He is usually depicted as blowing a trumpet. By H. Donl Peterson
H. Donl Peterson, “Moroni, the Last of the Nephite Prophets,” in Fourth Nephi, From Zion to Destruction, ed. Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate Jr. (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1995), 235–49.
