The very idea of a prophet’s needing editorial “assistance” has come as a new thought to some in recent years. But those who were Ellen White’s contemporaries knew how necessary literary helpers were, considering the volume of writing to which she was committed. ^{11Pages 14-16 discuss the literary helpers of Biblical writers.}MOL 109.10

Often those who are troubled by a prophet’s use of assistants have a faulty understanding of how God speaks to human beings. They believe that inspired persons, including Mrs. White, mechanically wrote out exactly what God had spoken or revealed word for word. ^{12Pages 16, 120, 173, 375, 376, 421 discuss the difference between verbal inspiration and thought inspiration.} Some expect inerrancy from Ellen White, even as they do from the Bible writers. Mrs. White’s own understanding of how revelation/inspiration works will be discussed on page 421.MOL 109.11

Ellen White employed literary assistants for the same reasons that Biblical writers did. She recognized her own limitations of time and literary skills. In 1873, she wrote in her diary: “My mind is coming to strange conclusions. I am thinking I must lay aside my writing I have taken so much pleasure in, and see if I cannot become a scholar. I am not a grammarian. I will try, if the Lord will help me, at forty-five years old to become a scholar in the science. God will help me. I believe He will.” ^{13Selected Messages 3:90.}MOL 109.12

She was often interrupted while writing and this left tangled copy. Commenting on this need for editorial assistance, she wrote: “Doing as much writing as I do, it is not surprising if there are many sentences left unfinished.” ^{14Letter 103, 1895, to Marian Davis, cited in “The Fannie Bolton Story” (Washington, D.C.: Ellen G. White Estate, 1982), p. 49.}MOL 110.1

In a letter to G. A. Irwin, General Conference president, Willie White noted that his mother sought literary assistance because she recognized the varying quality in her writings: “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 ungrammatical sentences.”MOL 110.2

He further described the guidelines that his mother set for her literary assistants: “Mother’s copyists are entrusted with the work of correcting grammatical errors, of eliminating unnecessary repetitions, and of grouping paragraphs and sections in their best order.... 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 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.” ^{15W. C. White to G. A. Irwin, May 7, 1900. Poirier cited in Moon, W. C. White and Ellen G. White, p. 115. Tim Poirier describes “two levels” of editing between Ellen White’s original, handwritten documents and their present forms, as referred to in the May 7, 1900, letter to G. A. Irwin. Level One refers to “correcting grammatical errors, of eliminating unnecessary repetitions, etc.” More experienced assistants in Level Two move beyond the level of presenting the material in the desired grammatical form; they rearrange, assemble, and compile the Level One typewritten material into a new literary document (“incorporate it with another manuscript”), such as a periodical article or a book (e.g., Steps to Christ, or The Desire of Ages). Photocopies of how these two levels developed in various stages of Ellen White materials are in Tim Poirier’s “Exhibits Regarding the Work of Ellen White’s Literary Assistants,” 1990, available at Ellen G. White-SDA Research Centers.}MOL 110.3

By 1881 Willie served as the editorial coordinator for his mother’s literary assistants. ^{16At first, Mary K. White and Marian Davis were the chief assistants. “Among those who helped Ellen White in preparing her writings for publication over the years were James White, Mary Kelsey-White, Lucinda Abbey-Hall, Adelia Patten-Van Horn, Anna Driscol-Loughborough, Addie Howe-Cogshall, Annie Hale-Royce, Emma Sturgess-Prescott, Mary Clough-Watson, Mrs. J. I. Ings, Mrs. B. L. Whitney, Eliza Burnham, Fannie Bolton, Marian Davis, C. C. Crisler, Minnie Hawkins-Crisler, Maggie Hare, Sarah Peck, and D. E. Robinson.” Robert W. Olson, One Hundred and One Questions (Washington, D.C.: Ellen G. White Estate, 1981), p. 87.} Because Ellen White was either traveling or writing new material most of the time, she chose not to be involved in editorial details. She knew that she would review all documents before they would be published unless she gave, on occasion, specific permission to a periodical editor to abridge to fit space. The record shows that they made few changes.MOL 110.4

A “hierarchy of responsibility” developed. For example, for minor editorial work, Marian Davis was authorized to decide matters herself; larger questions were to be submitted to W. C. White. Ellen White would make the final decisions as to editorial changes after both William and Marian had done their work. ^{17Moon, W. C. White and Ellen G. White, p. 114.}MOL 110.5

Marian Davis had occasions to describe her work as she saw it: “I have tried to begin both chapters and paragraphs with short sentences, and indeed to simplify wherever possible, to drop out every needless word, and to make the work, as I have said, more compact and vigorous.” ^{18Letter from Marian Davis to W. C. White, April 11, 1897. In a letter from Marian Davis to G. A. Irwin: “For more than 20 years I have been connected with Sister White’s work. During this time I have never been asked either to write out a testimony from oral instruction, or to fill out the points in matters already written.” Enclosed with Ellen White’s Letter 61a, 1900, to G. A. Irwin.}MOL 110.6

The publishers hoped to keep Ellen White on their schedule, which was not easy during her heavy duties in Australia. Marian wrote to Willie: “Sister White is constantly harassed with the thought that the manuscript should be sent to the printers at once.... Sister White seems inclined to write, and I have no doubt she will bring out many precious things. I hope it will be possible to get them into the book. There is one thing, however, that not even the most competent editor could do—that is prepare a manuscript before it is written.” ^{19Marian Davis to W. C. White, Aug. 9, 1897, cited in Robert W. Olson, “How The Desire of Ages Was Written,” p. 34.}MOL 110.7

At times Ellen White reached out beyond her immediate helpers for assistance. She explained this procedure to W. H. Littlejohn in 1894: “I have all my publications closely examined. I desire that nothing shall appear in print without careful investigation. Of course I would not want men who have not a Christian experience or are lacking in ability to appreciate literary merit to be placed as judges of what is essential to come before the people, as pure provender thoroughly winnowed from the chaff. I laid out all my manuscript on Patriarchs and Prophets and on [Spirit of Prophecy] Vol. IV before the book committee for examination and criticism. I also placed these manuscripts in the hands of some of our ministers for examination. The more criticism of them the better for the work.” ^{20Manuscript Releases 10:12. While James White remained on the West Coast launching the first issues of Signs of the Times (1874), his wife wrote from Battle Creek: “We have just finished ‘Sufferings of Christ.’ Willie has helped me, and now we take it to the office for Uriah [Smith] to criticize it. It will, I think, make a thirty-two page tract.” Letters, July 11 and 17, 1874.}MOL 110.8

When she wrote of medical matters, her office helpers asked medical specialists to review the manuscripts with care: “I wish that in all your reading you would note those places where the thought is expressed in a way to be especially criticized by medical men and kindly give us the benefit of your knowledge as to how to express the same thought in a more accurate way.” ^{21W. C. White to David Paulson, concerning the manuscript for The Ministry of Healing, February 15, 1905. (WEDF 140-a.)}MOL 111.1

Regardless of wherever she received editorial help, Ellen White read everything in final form: “I find under my door in the morning several copied articles from Sister Peck, Maggie Hare, and Minnie Hawkins. All must be read critically by me .... Every article I prepare to be edited by my workers, I always have to read myself before it is sent for publication.” ^{22Letter 84, 1898; “I read over all that is copied, to see that everything is as it should be. I read all the book manuscript before it is sent to the printer. So you can see that my time must be fully occupied.” Letter 133, 1902, cited in Selected Messages 3:90. “I wish to write words that shall remove from the minds of any of my brethren the impression that I did not, before their publication, read the pages in Testimony for the Church, volume 9, relating to Sunday labor. I read the matter before it went to the printer, and have read it several times from the book, and I can see nothing in it to give one reason to say that Sunday-keeping is there taught. Neither does the counsel there given contradict the Bible, nor former testimonies.” Letter 94, 1910, cited in Manuscript Releases 8:21.}MOL 111.2

Chapter 11—The Prolific Writer

A 19th Century Accent