1900 Scandinavian Jubilee
In the year 1900 a Scandinavian Jubilee was organized to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Copenhagen, Denmark. The four-day event was organized by Elder Anthon Lund, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and took place in Salt Lake City, including the Tabernacle on Temple Square. The Jubilee featured historical and doctrinal lectures and speeches as well as “excursions and entertainments.”
An article published in the Deseret Evening News on June 12, 1900, detailed the efforts that went in to decorating the Tabernacle. An excerpt is below:
There are about one dozen men and women busy arranging flags and flowers, and when their work is completed, the interior of the historic old building will be about as attractive as it ever was. From the center of the ceiling are hung a series of red, white and blue streamers, which reach to the poles on the rear of the gallery seats, and in the center of the space, about ten feet beneath the place where the streamers meet at the ceiling are suspended a number of Scandinavian flags. Around the edge of the gallery, red, white and blue bunting is gracefully draped, and in front of each post is a large silver star, and underneath each star and attached to the pillar is a cluster of green branches, all of which produce a beautiful effect.
In front of the organ is hung a large picture of the late Apostle Erastus Snow, the man who introduced the Gospel into Scandinavia, and around his picture is draped Swedish, Danish and Norwegian flags. On either side of the organ will be placed a bank of flowers and palms, and the scene as a general effect, will be most beautiful.