Dean C. Jessee (ed.) - 1832-1839

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www.josephsmithpapers.org

The Joseph Smith Papers Project is endorsed by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Art direction: Richard Erickson. Cover design: Scott Eggers. Interior design: Richard Erickson and Scott M. Mooy. Typography: Laurie C. Cook and R. Eric Smith.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Smith, Joseph, 18051844.

Journals series / Dean C. Jessee, Mark Ashurst-McGee, Richard L. Jensen, volume editors.

p. cm. (The Joseph Smith papers)

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-57008-849-0 (hardbound: alk. paper)

1. Smith, Joseph, 18051844Diaries. 2. Mormon ChurchPresidentsBiography. 3. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsPresidentsBiography. 4. Mormon Church HistorySources. 5. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsHistorySources. I. Jessee, Dean C. II. Ashurst-McGee, Mark. III. Jensen, Richard L. IV. Title. V. Series.

BX8695.S6A3 2008 289.3092dc22 [B] 2008037101

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Preface

The Joseph Smith Papers are being prepared under the auspices of the office of the historian of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and published by The Church Historians Press. Before its completion, the project will involve numerous staff members and many years of scholarly labor. The motivation to engage in this vast project comes from the great respect in which Latter-day Saints hold Joseph Smith as the churchs founder and a modern prophet. We believe Joseph Smith will be better understood and appreciated if the documents he produced are available for all to examine.

In that spirit, the editorial staff has sought to present Smiths papers as accurately and completely as possible. We have gathered every known Joseph Smith document, verified each transcript at least three times, and provided extensive annotation on the historical context. The documents shed light on many dimensions of Smiths life and personality, his strengths and weaknesses, and the successes and failures of the movement he led.

Of the thousands of items in the Joseph Smith papers, his revelations are among the most significant and contested. According to his own account, the revelations came in a number of forms: visions, inspired words in the voice of God, what he called translations, and impressions of the Holy Ghost. Although the revelations have religious meaning to us as Latter-day Saints, we present them in these volumes without comment on their ultimate source. In the tradition of documentary editing, our aim is simply to reproduce the documents and their historical setting so far as we can reconstruct it.

To assure balance and rigorous scholarly standards, we have consulted a national advisory board of distinguished scholars. With their guidance, we have sought to produce volumes on which scholars and Latter-day Saints can rely for accurate information.

The General Editors
Salt Lake City
August 2008

Staff Page

Executive Committee

Marlin K. Jensen

Paul K. Sybrowsky

Editorial Board

Richard E. Turley Jr.

Steven L. Olsen

Max J. Evans

National Advisory Board

Stephen J. Stein

Harry S. Stout

Mary-Jo Kline

Terryl L. Givens

Managing Editor

Ronald K. Esplin

Program Manager

David L. Willden

Project Archivist

Jeffery O. Johnson

Document Specialist

Christy Best

Research and Review Editors

Richard L. Anderson

Larry C. Porter

Jill Mulvay Derr

Production Editors

Heather Seferovich Caitlin Shirts

Angela Ashurst-McGee R. Eric Smith

Rachel Osborne Nathan N. Waite

Contributors

Scott H. Faulring

Joseph F. Darowski

Kay Darowski

Genealogical Specialists

Noel R. Barton

Brian P. Barton

Steven Motteshard

Illustrations and Maps

Textual Illustrations

Joseph Smiths journals

Journal-style note

First Ohio journal

First page of first Ohio journal

Itinerary and Journal of P and J

Memorandum

Note in journal

Second Ohio journal

First page of Sketch Book

An account of Joseph Smiths early visions

Inscribed prayer

Vision of a glorious afterlife

Visions of Jesus Christ and angels

Record book containing first Missouri journal

Beginning of first Missouri journal

Revelations copied into journal

Entries recorded in first Missouri journal

Leaf removed from journal

Journal entry regarding Danites

Back cover of second Missouri journal

Mulholland memoranda

First Illinois journal

First page of first Illinois journal

Contextual Illustrations

Contemporaneous images of Joseph Smith

Principal scribes of first Ohio journal

Leonid meteor shower

First Ohio issue of The Evening and the Morning Star

Kirtland, Ohio

House of the Lord

Probable Ohio residence of Joseph Smith

Newel K. Whitney

Fragment of Egyptian papyrus

Emma Hale Smith

Robert Matthews (Joshua the Jewish minister)

Hebrew Bible, lexicon, and grammar

William Smith

Interior of the House of the Lord

Joseph Smiths temple office

Hebrew School textbook

West end of lower court, House of the Lord

West pulpits, lower court, House of the Lord

Prominent church excommunicants

Lyman Wight

Adam-ondi-Ahman

Temple lot in Far West

Austin A. King

Legal counsel to Joseph Smith

Isaac Galland

Maps

Joseph Smiths residences

Proselytizing mission, OctoberNovember 1833

Recruiting mission, FebruaryMarch 1834

Detailed reference maps

Other Visuals

Timeline of Joseph Smiths Life

Citation format for Joseph Smith revelations

Pedigree Chart

Ecclesiastical Organizational Charts

Corresponding Section Numbers in Editions of the Doctrine and Covenants

View high resolution image here: http://bit.ly/10pHfHB

Joseph Smiths residences. Joseph Smiths major places of residence and the general direction of his migrations. (Design by John Hamer.)

View high resolution image here: http://bit.ly/18crB6R

GENERAL INTRODUCTION:
Joseph Smith and His Papers

For one who had little schooling, Joseph Smith left an unusually extensive literary record. From 1828, when he began work on the Book of Mormon at age twenty-two, to 1844, when he was killed at age thirty-eight, Smith produced thousands of pages of revelations, translations, correspondence, declarations, discourses, journals, and histories. His records will fill approximately thirty volumes when publication is complete. The goal of the Joseph Smith Papers Project is to publish every extant document written by Smith or by his scribes in his behalf, as well as other records that were created under his direction or that reflect his personal instruction or involvement.

The publication of his papers some two hundred years after his birth opens a window on a life filled with what Joseph Smith called marvilous experience.