TIMES AND SEASONS BUILDING
We had great success with last year’s dig (2022) in exploring more of the Times and Seasons printing office location. We were able to identify the steps that lead to the basement entry. This discovery is crucial once we begin reconstruction to restore the building. Additionally, type from the printing press and glass from the windows of the building were uncovered.
What we hope to discover and excavate this year is more of the foundation of the building. It would also be helpful to find the privy because it is a treasure trove of artifacts.
The Times and Seasons printing office housed the printing press that was used to print the Times and Seasons periodical— an important source of information to the early settlers of Nauvoo and the surrounding area. Issues were published at least monthly from November 1839 to February 1846. The motto of the paper was “Truth will prevail.”
Editors included Ebenezer Robinson, Don Carlos Smith, Robert B. Thompson, Willard Richards, Joseph Smith, Jr., John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff.
We are looking forward to the participation of students from Western Illinois University Archaeological Department to this year’s dig. Their addition to the efforts of students from Brigham Young University and other volunteers will help make this dig even more productive. The idigNauvoo archaeological discoveries have only been made possible by the contributions of many volunteers throughout the past ten years.