Original order of early General Conference sessions

[munaish]

I'm downloading MP3s for General Conference, and I want to organize them so they're ordered in exactly the same order they were broadcast. So, for those of you who remember, back in the early 1980s and such, when did each session air? I'm especially wanting to know about the Welfare session, the Women's and General Relief Society sessions. Were they before the other sessions, in between, or afterward? And during conferences that included both a General Relief Society session and a welfare session, which one came first?

Did the order ever differ from year to year? I know in recent years, the women's session order has fluctuated, but I don't know about in the 80s and before. We don't even have a welfare session now, and I'm not familiar with it.

Note that I'm wondering about how they aired historically (not what order they're in on the download page).

[russellhltn]

I think since at least early 80's the Women's/Relief Society and Priesthood sessions alternated and were held at 6PM Mountain Time Saturday. It would have been the last session held on Saturday.

I'm not sure about Welfare meeting.

[munaish]

They had the Priesthood session every conference then.

[lajackson]

The Relief Society general meeting used to be held on Saturday evening a week before general conference weekend.

In 1984 a Young Women general meeting was added in April the weekend before general conference. The RS general meeting was held a week before the October conference.

In 2014 the YW and RS meetings were merged into one general women's meeting and officially became a part of general conference, even though they were held in both April and October on the Saturday evening before general conference.

In 2018 the meetings a week before conference were discontinued, and the Saturday evening session started alternating between a women's session and a priesthood session.

In October 2021 the Saturday evening session starting being designated for whatever purpose the First Presidency felt best.

When Welfare sessions were held, they were usually on Saturday morning at 7:00 am (mountain time). I believe that before that they were held on the Friday of general conference weekend, but that was before my time. (I started watching conference in the late 1960s.)

There was a time when one day of the April general conference would be held on the 6th, but that was also a long time ago.

The Church History Department has scanned all the general conference reports since 1880 and placed them online here. In those reports you will be able to find the exact dates of each session of general conference.

[russellhltn]

The Relief Society general meeting used to be held on Saturday evening a week before general conference weekend.

Ah, I forgot that detail.

[munaish]

Thanks!

The archives seem to mention the exact times for everything but the Relief Society and Women's meetings (at least for 1982, anyway), but knowing they came a week before gives me the right order that I needed. So, here's the order I have for 1982:

April General Conference:
~27 Mar 1982
Unknown time: Women's session

3 Apr 1982
7 AM: General Welfare Meeting
10 AM: Morning session
2 PM: Afternoon session
7 PM: Priesthood session

4 Apr 1982
9:30 AM: Salt Lake Tabernacle Choir and Organ Broadcast
10 AM: Morning session
2 PM: Afternoon session

October General Conference:
2 Oct 1982
7 AM: Welfare session
10 AM: Morning session
2 PM: Afternoon session
7 PM: Priesthood session

3 Oct 1982
9:30 AM: Salt Lake Tabernacle Choir and Organ Broadcast
10 AM: Morning session
2 PM: Afternoon session

[lajackson]

April General Conference:
~27 Mar 1982
Unknown time: Women's session

Normally 7 PM for meetings held on Saturday a week before general conference.

[munaish]

Awesome. Thanks!

[BrianEdwards]

I don't know the purposes of your organizing, but as noted above, before 2014 the YW and RS General Meetings were not officially part of General Conference, but were considered "organization specific meetings" (even though after 2014 they continued to essentially still be "organization specific meetings", but now part of General Conference). I expect you're desiring to include all General meetings in what you're doing, but if you were only wanting meetings that were officially part of General Conference, that's something to consider.

[munaish]

@BrianEdwards

Thanks for the reminder about that. I did want to include them all. My purpose is so I can listen to them in the order they aired (which should in theory make some comments in meetings less confusing), and for historical accuracy.