Storehouse

Both a literal and a figurative repository for goods and land donated to the church. The book of Malachi directed the house of Israel to bring “all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house.” In JS’s revision of the Old Testament, an addition to Genesis, chapter 14, named Abram [Abraham] the “high Priest and keeper of the store house of God,” explaining that Abram was to “receive tithes for the poor.” On 20 July 1831, a revelation directed Sidney Gilbert to “establish a store” in Independence, Missouri, so that he could “obtain provisions” for church members. Newel K. Whitney was also instructed to use his store in Kirtland to generate funds for building the city of Zion. The two stores were to be used both as retail businesses and as storehouses for the church. Storehouses were designed to assist the poor, especially widows and their children, with material goods. Bishops and agents of the church were directed to collect and redistribute goods from the storehouses according to church members’ needs and wants. The United Firm’s mercantile component was responsible for managing the storehouses from 1832 to 1834. Donating any goods and services to the church could also be referred to as giving to the storehouse.