Joseph Marion "Jay" Tanner (March 26, 1859 – August 19, 1927) was an American educator and a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He has been described as "one of the most gifted teachers and writers in the [LDS] Church in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries".[1]
From 1887 to 1891, Tanner was the principal of Brigham Young College in Logan, Utah. In 1891, he became the leader of the first group of Latter-day Saints to enroll at Harvard University. Tanner studied law at Harvard Law School until 1894, when his ill health prompted him to return to Utah.
Tanner retired in 1906 and emigrated to Alberta, Canada, where he farmed in the Cardston area.
From 1906 to 1921 Tanner wrote extensively for the Improvement Era, an official periodical of the LDS Church. He wrote a number of books, including manuals for the church's Sunday School and a biography of John R. Murdock.
^Arnold K. Garr, Donald Q. Cannon & Richard O. Cowan (eds.) (2000). Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book) s.v. Tanner, Joseph M.
^Annie C. Tanner (1941) (1983 reprint). A Mormon Mother: An Autobiography by Annie Clark Tanner (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books) pp. 236–241.
^Jeffrey Nichols (2002). Prostitution, Polygamy, and Power: Salt Lake City, 1847-1918 (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books) p. 17.