The National Women's Relief Society and the U.S. Sheppard-Towner Act BY L O R E T T A L. H E F N E R
Amy Brown Lyman, director of the Relief Society's Social Services Department. USHS collections.
1920s THE NATIONAL WOMEN'S Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints participated at the forefront of one of the country's most important pieces of social legislation. From 1921 to 1928 the Relief Society lobbied in state and federal chambers, allied itself with several noted American reformers, and became widely recognized as an important progressive leader in the cause of maternity and infant health care through its extensive efforts in support of the national Sheppard-Towner Act. D U R I N G THE
.Ms. Hefner is supervisor of the Record; Center, U t a h State Archives. T h e National Women's Relief Society, m e n t i o n e d i n the title, was the official name under which the organization was incorporated on October 10, 1892. I n 1945 the name was changed to the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
