GSEM534
Lecture Outline

(This document is adpated from Jerry Moon's  W. C. White and Ellen G. White: The Relationship Between the Prophet and Her Son (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 1993) and GSEM534 lecture outline "Ellen G. White as a Writer - 1, The Editorial Process," April 10, 1996.)
 

Introduction

The purpose of this lecture is to present the various aspects of the editorial process of the many types of writings of Ellen White, especially during the time her son, W.C. White, was her assistant from 1881 to 1915.
 
 

I.  W. C. White's early involvement

1.  W.C. White's adult involvement in his mother's publishing work went back at least to July 1874, when, she began enlisting him in secretarial and perhaps editorial aspects of her work. They worked together on a thirty-two-page tract entitled The Sufferings of Christ. She explained to James: "Willie has helped me, and now we take it to the office for Uriah [Smith] to criticize it" (E.G. White to James White, July 17, 1874).

2.  The following spring, at age 20, Willie was appointed acting business manager of the fledgling Pacific Press. His involvement in the publishing aspects of his mother's work continued in connection with his managerial responsibilities at the Pacific Press. She sent him articles to publish in the Signs of the Times, saying that Uriah Smith wanted them for the Review and Herald but that she preferred for the Signs to have them first. Six days later she wrote to Willie again.

"If you do not want them, I will let Uriah publish them. He wants them. Let me know at once if you feel any reluctance and had rather they would appear in [the] Review first, all right just express yourself freely" (E.G. White to W.C. White, July 20, 1875).

It appears that it was immaterial to her which periodical published the material first. She may well have wanted to give her editor son the opportunity to "scoop" the other magazine, but if for any reason he did not want to publish her articles immediately she would let Uriah Smith have them for the Review. In this case, she allowed both White and Smith to publish immediately or postpone publication at their own discretion.

3.  In 1878-1879 she gave him considerably broader authority in the preparation of Testimonies 28 and 29 (now in Testimonies 4:271-383 and 4:384-522). She authorized him to select what material to publish in No. 28, and what material to hold over for No. 29. In adapting personal testimonies for publication to a wider audience, she specifically directed him to make minor changes as necessary to protect the identity of the individuals originally addressed: "All very personal [references] such as names must be left out" (E.G. White to M.K. White and W.C. White, January 6, 1879). She asked him not to shorten the material merely for space considerations, but did authorize him to "abridge" if "the composition would be helped by so doing."

"We would say to you, Make what corrections you deem necessary, but Father and I thought you should not abridge unless the composition would be helped by so doing. That [which] we have received and read is all right we think. We shall have more matter soon for the second testimony, No. 29, to follow immediately [after] No. 28."

The final product would be safeguarded by her practice of receiving advance proofs for her approval before publication (E. G. White to W. C. White and M. K. White, January 2, 1879).

She also asked him and Mary to gather materials for her to use in her writing (E. G. White to W. C. White and M. K. White, October 30, November 7, 1880).

While the extent of W. C. White's editorial involvement in his mother's work during this period was small, he had already begun most of the editorial functions that he would perform later.

II.  W. C. White's position after James White's death

During the year following James White's death in August 1881, the twin blows of grief and physical illness brought his widow so low that she expected her life to end soon. In this state of ill health she decided to attend the camp meeting held from October 5 through 17, 1882, in Healdsburg. According to several corroborating accounts, she experienced sudden healing, visible to all, as she stood before the congregation (see Moon, W. C. White and Ellen G. White, 72).

Shortly afterward, Ellen had a night vision in which she was told of God's provision for someone to assist her with her work in the absence of her husband.

The Mighty Healer said, "Live. I have put my spirit upon your son, W.C. White, that he may be your counselor. I have given him the spirit of wisdom, and a discerning, perceptive mind. He will have wisdom in counsel, and if he walks in My way, and works out My will, he will be kept, and will be enabled to help you bring before My people the light I will give you for them. . . . I will be with your son, and will be his counselor. He will have wisdom to defend the truth; for I will take charge of his mind, and will give him sound judgment in the councils that he attends in connection with the work. . . . Your son will be perplexed over many matters that are to come before my people, but he is to wait and watch and pray, and let the words of God come to the people, even though he cannot immediately discern the purpose of God" (E. G. White to G. I. Butler, October 30, 1906).

In another description of the same experience, she wrote that she had been "shown" in 1882 that "my son, W.C. White, should be my helper and counselor, and that the Lord would place on him the spirit of wisdom and of a sound mind." The terms "helper" and "counselor" would encompass a growing list of responsibilities as the years went by.

 

    1. W. C. White acted as the general supervisor of Ellen White's editorial staff, beginning at least by 1881, with Mary K. White and Marian Davis working under him.

        a. Others included: Joseph H. Waggoner, Sara McInterfer, and Jenny Ings.

        b. Others not connected with Ellen White's personal staff, but who were occasionally asked to help, included:

            Uriah Smith, editor of the Review and Herald

            C. H. Jones, manager of the Pacific Press

            E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones, co-editors of the Signs of the Times

            J. H. Kellogg, medical superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium
 

    2.  W. C. White's responsibilities
 

a.  Included assigning tasks to the different staff members (at least when Ellen White was away) and supervising the editorial process from general concepts to details of wording.

b  Trusted editorial assistants, like Mary K. White and Marian Davis, were given the responsibility to edit minor details. On occasion, Ellen White indicated that Marian Davis was too reluctant to assume responsibility for even minute details without receiving specific authorization from herself or W. C. White on every individual word. Early in 1889, while W. C. White was interim president of the General Conference, Ellen White described the situation in a letter to his wife, Mary K.:

Willie is in meeting early and late, devising, planning for the doing better and more efficient work in the cause of God. We see him only at the table. Marian will go to him for some little matters that it seems she could settle for herself. She is nervous and hurried and he so worn he has to just shut his teeth together and hold his nerves as best he can. I have had a talk with her and told her she must settle many things herself that she has been bringing Willie. Her mind is on every point and the connections, and his mind has been plowing through a variety of difficult subjects until his brain reels and then his mind is in no way prepared to take up these little minutia [sic]. She must just carry some of these things that belong to her part of the work, and not bring them before him nor worry his mind with them. Sometimes I think she will kill us both, all unnecessarily, with her little things she can just as well settle herself as to bring them before us. Every little change of a word she wants us to see. I am about tired of this business (E. G. White to Mary K. White, [March 1889]).
 
c.  There is a hierarchy of responsibility in the editorial process:

            (2) Larger questions were submitted to W.C. White, and to Ellen White as she had time.

            (3) Final approval was given by Ellen White when the assistants' work was completed.
 
 

IV. The Editorial Task During W. C. White's Assistance
 

    1.  In order to grasp the scope of the editorial work of W. C. White, it is necessary to understand something of the process by which Ellen White's handwritten drafts became typewritten letters or published articles and books.

• The first level of editorial work was the transcription of Ellen White's first-draft handwritten document into an acceptable grammatical form.
• The second level of editorial work involved rearranging, assembling, and compiling Ellen White's typewritten material (diary, letter, or manuscript) into a new literary work (article, pamphlet, or book).
• The editorial process sometimes included both levels at the same time.

    2. Letters

The perennial task of Ellen White's staff was the preparation of letters, which could involve much more than merely typing the handwritten manuscript. W.C. White mentioned to his mother how the staff handled the preparation of one long letter. "Yesterday we received your letter accompanied by a long one for Bro. A. C. B[ourdeau]. Mary [White] will try to fix it as she has strength. I had not the heart to give it to Marian [Davis]. She is worn out with this sort of work and it is a great burden to her to take these very long manuscripts, and decide how to fix them" (W.C. White to E. G. White, November 22, 1886; the letter referred to [E. G. White to A. C. Bourdeau, November 20, 1886] was some 4000 words long, making 11 typewritten pages).

The kind of work Ellen White expected of her staff is shown in the instruction she gave about the preparation of another letter, written from England and sent to her staff in Basel, Switzerland. "I send you this letter and want you to have it copied and send me a copy at once to read to Mrs. Green. Do with it as your judgment shall indicate." The last sentence is an obvious reference to the editorial process. She indicated that her staff in Basel should edit the letter according to their own judgment, type it, and send it back to her in England as soon as possible, where she would personally read it to Mrs. Green (E. G. White to Children, July 20, 1887).

    3. Sermons and periodical articles

• One of the sources of periodical articles was the sermons Ellen White presented on a regular basis. In a letter from Basel, she described the process by which her sermons were placed in writing. Sara McInterfer "writes out the discourses I have given which she has taken in shorthand." She explained that Mary K. White was also engaged in "preparing" for publication "morning talks" that Ellen White had given "in Battle Creek and other places" (E. G. White to Edson and Emma, January 19, 1887). These sermons were frequently published in periodicals, in both the Review and Herald and the Signs of the Times.
 
• During the European period, there were times when her limited staff could not keep up with this demand. It was decided that the staff should concentrate their efforts on the publication of Spirit of Prophecy, volume 1 (forerunner of Patriarchs and Prophets).
 
• In order to save time, W. C. White proposed to C.H. Jones, manager of the Pacific Press, a different method of handling the preparation of periodical articles. Ellen White would depend on the editors of the respective papers to prepare the manuscripts for publication.
 
"Mother has notified the editors of the Review that she will furnish them with manuscript if they will prepare it for the paper. The larger part of the sermons which mother has delivered over here have been reported and written out and we can furnish you with a good supply of them, if you have someone there who can prepare them for the paper. It is not reasonable for us to attempt the work here. Mother will gladly furnish this manuscript without charge if we are released from the task of preparing them for the papers" (W. C. White to C. H. Jones, December 5, 1886).

This arrangement highlights the trust she placed in those editors to make careful use of her materials, since the articles would appear in print without the possibility of her final inspection.

• This confidence is also explicit in a letter she wrote to Uriah Smith six years later from Australia.
 
"You have written to me in regard to what shall be done with the article addressed to the Battle Creek Church. I answer, Do with it as you think best, using it as you judge it will best serve the cause of God. Please follow your own judgment as to the disposal of any thing I may write from henceforth, unless I give special directions concerning it. After it serves the special purpose for which it was written, you may drop out the personal matter and make it general, and put it to whatever use you many think best for the interests of the cause of God. As you say, we are far separated, and two or three months must pass before communications can be answered however important may be their character, therefore it is best not to wait my decisions on matters of this kind, especially when your judgment is evidently in harmony with what is best, and something to which I could have no objection (E. G. White to U. Smith, September 19, 1892).

Here she gave Smith a wide latitude to adapt her testimonies by deleting "personal matter" and then to reuse them as he felt would "best serve the cause of God." The conservative approach that Smith and other denominational editors took regarding such editing may be a reason why the periodical articles are often rougher in style than the books in which these articles were later reused by Ellen White.

    4.  Books

        Most of Ellen White's books were produced in whole or in part by compilation.

        W. C. White's involvement in book compilation

The scope of W. C. White's editorial activities also included decisions regarding the general format and chapter arrangement for his mother's books. This aspect of his editorial role was clearly seen in the planning of the volumes that would eventually be known as Patriarchs and Prophets and Prophets and Kings. In 1888, Patriarchs and Prophets was nearly complete. Ellen White had mentioned the possibility that she might someday write a second volume on Old Testament history, but the suggestion was still tentative and the contents of the proposed volume had not been definitely planned.

W. C. White, viewing the matter from a publishing standpoint, realized the need to plan both volumes at the same time in order to obtain uniformity in size and format. "If Mother really intends that this [first volume] shall be followed with the rest of the Old Testament history," he wrote to Marian Davis, then the best place to divide the narrative would be between the reigns of David and Solomon.

He provided two reasons.

(1) First, he argued that to include the story of Solomon's reign in the first volume (as it had been in the first volume of Spirit of Prophecy) would make Patriarchs and Prophets too large. Unless Ellen White should write a great deal of new material for it, the second volume would be disproportionately smaller. To end the first book with David and save the section on Solomon to start off the second would keep them about the same size.

(2) Second, White observed that "as the sins of Solomon prepared the way for the subsequent apostasy and the division of the kingdom, it would seem that the building of the temple and Solomon's reign" would be an appropriate introduction for the volume dealing with Israel's captivity. That White's suggestion was accepted by his mother is shown by the present chapter arrangement of the two volumes (W. C. White to M. A. Davis, August 12, 1888).
 

V.  W. C. White's Thoughts on the Editorial Claims of Fannie Bolton  (This section is adapted from W. C. White and Ellen G. White, 221-225.)

1.  One of Ellen White's editorial assistants was Fannie Bolton. After leaving Ellen White's employ, Bolton made claims that she had largely authored some of the writings that went out over Ellen White's signature. Specifically, she claimed that a letter of reproof to A. R. Henry of Battle Creek had been outlined by Ellen White for Fannie to compose entirely. The allegations have since been refuted, but at the time they sounded plausible to some who were unfamiliar with Ellen White's writings.

2.  These allegations led W. C. White to write a letter to G. A. Irwin in which he made some pointed comments about the methods of Ellen White's editorial staff (W. C. White to G. A. Irwin, May 7, 1900). The following are some excerpts from this letter.
 

a.  "I have been very familiar with mother's work for many years, and with the work that is required of her copyists, and editors, and I never knew of any such request made by my mother, or of any such work being attempted by any of her workers. I do not know of any one who has ever been connected with her work [except Bolton], but would as quickly put their hand into the fire and hold it there, as to attempt to add any thoughts to what mother had written in any testimony to any individual."

b.  "In his own time and manner, the Lord reveals to her precious truths and facts regarding the movements and dangers, and privileges of the church, and of individuals. These things she writes out as she has time and strength, often rising at a very early hour, that she may write while the matter is fresh in her mind, and before there is liability of interruption in her work.

"As many matters are revealed to her in a very short space of time, and as these matters are sometimes similar, and sometimes different; so she writes them out, sometimes many pages on one subject, and sometimes dealing with many subjects in a few pages. In her eager haste to transfer to the written page the thought[s] that have been pictured to her mind, she does not stop to study gramattical [sic], or rhetorical forms, but writes out the facts as clearly as she can, and as fully as possible."

c.  "Sometimes, when mother's mind is rested, and free, the thoughts are presented in language that is not only clear and strong, but beautiful and correct; and at times when she is weary and oppressed with heavy burdens of anxiety, or when the subject is difficult to portray, there are repetitions, and ungram[m]atical sentences.

"Mother's copyists are entrusted with the work of correcting gram[m]atical errors, of eliminating unnecessary repetition, and of grouping paragraphs and sections in their best order. If a passage is not fully understood, the copyist asks [Ellen White to explain] its full meaning and proper connection. When corrected and plainly copied with the typewriter or the pen, the manuscripts are all carefully examined by mother, and corrected, wherever correction is required, and then copied again, if the corrections are numerous. This is done with many manuscripts, not only because corrections are made in the work of the copyist, but because mother sees a way to express the thought a little more clearly, or more fully.

"Often mother writes out a matter the second time, because she feels that it is very difficult to put in writing the scene, or events, as they are presented to her."

d.  "Mother's workers of experience, such as sisters Davis, Burnham, Bolton, Peck, and Hare, who are very familiar with her writings, are authorized to take a sentence, paragraph, or section, from one manuscript where the thought was clearly and fully expressed, and incorporate it with another manuscript, where the same thought was expressed but not so clearly. But none of mother's workers are authorized to add to the manuscripts by introducing thoughts of their own. They are instructed that it is [only] the words and thoughts that mother has written, or spoken, that are to be used."

e.  "Those who have been entrusted with the preparation of these manuscript[s], have been persons who feared the Lord, and who sought him [sic] daily for wisdom and guidance, and they have shared much of His blessing, and the guidance of His Holy Spirit in understanding the precious truths that they were handling. I, myself, have felt the same blessing, and heavenly enlightenment in answer to prayer for wisdom to understand the spiritual truths in these writings, that I have in studying the Bible. This was a sweet fulfillment of the promise of the Holy Spirit as a teacher and guide, in understanding the word. And in answer to prayer, my memory has been refreshed as to where to find very precious statements amongst mother's writings, that brought in connection with the manuscript at hand, would make a useful article.

"However thankful the copyist may be for this quickening of the mind and memory, it would seem to me to be wholly out of place for us to call this 'inspiration,' for it is not in any sense the same gift as that by which the truths are revealed to mother.

"It is right here that S[iste]r Bolton is in great danger of being deceived and of leading others astray. The blessing of a clear mind, and an active memory, she has called an inspiration, and the unwise use of the term has led those who know less of the work . . . to come to wrong conclusions about what she has done."

VI. Conclusion

    1. From the time of Ellen Harmon's earliest writings, she recognized the need of careful editing of material that was to be published.

    2. Consequently, she asked family members and other trusted colleagues to make editorial suggestions for improving the spelling, grammatical expressions, and sentence structure of her manuscripts before publication.

    3. At least by 1881, she had begun to employ full-time "literary assistants" to help with typing and editing her manuscript.

    4. A major premise that informed the role Ellen White gave to her editorial assistants was her concept of inspiration. She believed that divine revelation did not (usually) dictate the prophet's words but rather supplied the prophet's mind with "thoughts" (1 SM, 21). Inspiration then guided the prophet as communicator, not only in the initial formulation of thoughts into words, but also in the subsequent improvement of those expressions by herself or with the help of others. Working on this premise, Ellen White employed literary assistants who did various levels of editorial work under her supervision and subject to her final approval (W. C. White and Ellen G. White, 150-151).

    5. Another motivation was her goal to make her writings as perfect as possible so that educated readers might not be repelled by deficiencies of grammar and syntax. For this reason, Ellen White's most experienced and trusted workers were authorized to rearrange the sequence of words and sentences and even incorporate clarifying passages from other Ellen White manuscripts in order to improve clarity and readability.

    6. However, the work of Ellen White's literary assistants differed from ordinary "editing" in two important respects.

        a. Her helpers were absolutely forbidden to alter Ellen White's concepts or to intrude any of their own personal ideas into the manuscript (W. C. White and Ellen G. White, 224).

        b. Even Ellen White's distinctive writing style and vocabulary were to be altered only as necessary for clarity and grammatical correctness. Fannie Bolton was discharged partly because she substituted her own style and vocabulary for that of Ellen White's (ibid., 222).