Of Two Minds: Language Reform and Millennialism in the Deseret Alphabet

This thesis examines the Deseret Alphabet, a unique phonetic writing system introduced by Mormon church leaders in 1850s Utah Territory, through the lens of two intersecting nineteenth-century reform movements: international language reform and premillennial religious expectations. Challenging the prevailing scholarly interpretation that views the Alphabet primarily as a secular educational initiative sponsored by the Mormon church, this study argues that existing scholarship has undervalued both the influence of the Pitman phonetic movement and the eschatological imperatives driving early Mormon society. Drawing on primary sources including the Deseret News, Journal History, contemporary observers' accounts, and personal correspondence, this research demonstrates that the Alphabet was fundamentally a theological project aimed at restoring "pure Adamic language" in preparation for Christ's imminent Second Coming. The thesis positions the Alphabet as "a child of two minds"—the offspring of both the secular language reform movement pioneered by Isaac Pitman and the intense millennialism characteristic of mid-nineteenth-century Mormonism. The study traces the Alphabet's development through key figures George Darling Watt and Brigham Young, examining how their collaboration embodied this dual heritage. Analysis of previously underutilized source materials, including Brigham Young's personal correspondence and University of Deseret records, reveals that the Alphabet's primary purpose was not improved literacy or immigrant education, but rather preparation for the eschatological transformation of human communication anticipated in Mormon theology. The thesis further argues that the Alphabet's ultimate abandonment in the 1870s-1880s resulted not merely from practical difficulties but from a fundamental shift in Mormon millennialism—from imminent premillennial expectations to a more gradual postmillennial worldview. This reinterpretation reverses the scholarly consensus by demonstrating that the Deseret Alphabet was not a secular project sponsored by a religious organization, but rather a profoundly religious undertaking that appropriated and adapted the tools of secular language reform for sacred millennial purposes.