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May 3, 2023
The Joseph Smith Papers is pleased to announce its latest web publication. This release features two essays to help explain Joseph Smith’s involvement in civil litigation and criminal prosecutions; two introductions and accompanying documents for four legal cases about the estate of Joseph Smith; an introduction and documents related to Joseph Smith’s bankruptcy; more Nauvoo City treasurer documents; thirty-four additional versions of documents from 1831 and 1832; new glossary entries for financial and legal terms; and new entries for the calendar of documents.
In the Legal Records series, this release includes “Joseph Smith and Civil Litigation” and “Joseph Smith and the Criminal Justice System,” which outline Joseph Smith’s involvement in approximately 116 civil and criminal cases as a plaintiff, complainant, defendant, witness, or interested third party. New legal content also includes two introductions and accompanying documents from proceedings related to Joseph Smith’s estate in Illinois. Emma Smith Administratrix of the Estate of JS covers Emma Smith’s administration of her husband’s estate. During her brief tenure as administratrix from July to September 1844, Emma faced conflicts over the separation of Joseph Smith’s personal assets from assets belonging to the church of which Smith was trustee. Also included is an assumpsit suit filed against the estate by William and Wilson Law in September 1844. Coolidge Administrator of the Estate of JS details Joseph W. Coolidge’s time as administrator for Joseph Smith’s estate from September 1844 through May 1848. As administrator, Coolidge attempted to settle the estate by soliciting claims from Smith’s creditors and liquidating Smith’s assets to satisfy these debts. A related case stemming from Coolidge’s petition to sell real estate as part of his efforts to pay these claims is also included with this release.
In the Financial Records series, this release presents several documents related to Joseph Smith’s bankruptcy along with an introduction outlining and contextualizing the bankruptcy proceedings. In April 1842, Joseph Smith applied for bankruptcy under a new act passed by the United States Congress. He told his largest creditor at the time, Horace Hotchkiss, that he did this as a last resort due to his difficult financial situation. Unfortunately, court and trial records associated with Smith’s bankruptcy proceedings were among the many records destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Because of this loss, researchers and others interested in Smith’s bankruptcy must rely on other sources—newspaper notices, a partial application, and correspondence—for information about the proceedings.
In the Administrative Records series, this release includes several more pay orders sent to the Nauvoo city treasurer requesting payment for services rendered to the city. Future releases will include the remainder of the city treasurer’s records and other Nauvoo city records.
The Joseph Smith Papers website seeks to be comprehensive in presenting all extant Joseph Smith documents, including other versions that contribute to understanding an original nonextant text or that were authorized by Smith. This release presents thirty-four other versions of revelations and other documents from 1831 and 1832. All known versions that meet the above criteria are listed in the calendar of documents. Future releases will include images and transcripts of more document versions.
This release also includes fourteen new entries in the financial glossary describing different financial firms Joseph Smith did business with. Six more entries have also been added to the legal glossary. We have also added 260 new entries to the calendar of documents through June 1844. This completes the calendar of documents, although more entries may be added with additional research.
April 17, 2023
The Church Historian’s Press today announced the release of the latest volume of The Joseph Smith Papers. Documents, Volume 14 includes documents from January through mid-May 1844 and details the challenges Joseph Smith confronted near the end of his life.
As 1844 dawned, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo hovered on the brink of war with neighbors in western Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa Territory. The recent kidnapping of church members Daniel and Philander Avery from a nearby settlement had prompted defensive legislation by Nauvoo’s municipal government, correspondence with Illinois’s governor, Thomas Ford, and mobilization of military forces on both sides of the growing conflict. As head of the church, mayor of Nauvoo, and commander of the Nauvoo Legion, Joseph Smith fought to maintain peace in the region amid threats from external opponents and internal dissidents—even people who were once his close friends and associates.
This volume features ninety-nine documents, including correspondence, accounts of discourses, deeds, and minutes of meetings. Readers will find key documents like Joseph Smith’s published presidential platform and his letters of response to missives from presidential hopefuls John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay. The volume contains other notable texts such as instructions Joseph Smith gave to the new theocratic governing body known as the Council of Fifty and the prophet’s famous funeral discourse for King Follett, during which he taught important doctrines about eternal existence and the nature of God. Also included are printed exchanges with the antagonistic editors of the nearby Warsaw Signal, Lucinda Madison Sagers’s letter to the First Presidency charging her husband with teaching plural marriage, and a lengthy report of the church’s British mission from president Reuben Hedlock.
The texts found in this volume, with their detailed historical annotation, present a narrative of intense conflict as Latter-day Saint leaders faced escalating regional hostility and disputes within the church and local government. But these documents also depict Joseph Smith’s efforts to promote peace in the community and reveal new doctrines for his people despite continuing threats. The book provides vital context for the events of the final six weeks of his life, which will be presented in the forthcoming Documents, Volume 15, the concluding volume of the series.
Documents, Volume 14 was edited by Alex D. Smith, Adam H. Petty, Jessica M. Nelson, and Spencer W. McBride.
The Church Historian’s Press announces the release of Kirtland, City of Revelation: A Joseph Smith Papers Podcast. This eight-part miniseries from the Joseph Smith Papers Project explores the history and legacy of Kirtland, Ohio, in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The podcast is available now. Series host Spencer W. McBride, PhD, interviews historians in a documentary-style podcast about the way men and women flocked to Kirtland in the 1830s to hear the voice of God through the prophet Joseph Smith. The episodes consider Kirtland as a site of abundant revelation and the place where church leaders organized much of the church. The episodes also illuminate how Joseph Smith was intent on teaching church members in Kirtland how to hear the voice of God themselves.
“This miniseries will demonstrate just how vital Kirtland was to the early history of the church,” McBride said of the podcast. “Listeners will learn about how the men and women who chose to build their lives in and around that city did so out of a desire to better know the mind and will of God. Their stories are stories of faith, but they are also stories of severe trials and daunting adversity.”
In 1831, Joseph and Emma Smith moved to Kirtland, Ohio, where, the year before, approximately one thousand men and women had joined the church. For a time, the city became the headquarters of the church. It was the site of dozens of revelations directing the growth and organization of the church. In Kirtland, the Saints constructed the House of the Lord, the first temple built by the church.
Scholars featured in the podcast include Matt Grow, Matthew Godfrey, Brent Rogers, Elizabeth Kuehn, Jonathan Stapley, Joseph Darowski, Christian Heimburger, Robin Jensen, David Howlett, Jeffrey Mahas, Sharalyn Howcroft, Benjamin Pykles, Mark Ashurst-McGee, Jenny Lund, David Grua, Mark Staker, Kerry Muhlestein, and Jenny Reeder. Also featured is Elder Kyle S. McKay, a general authority seventy and the Church Historian and Recorder.
All eight episodes of Kirtland, City of Revelation: A Joseph Smith Papers Podcast have been released at once and are available on the Gospel Library and on other platforms such as iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and Amazon. The episodes are available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
January 31, 2023
The Joseph Smith Papers is pleased to announce its latest web publication. This release features the entirety of Documents, Volume 11: September 1842–February 1843, including all annotation and introductions; two case introductions and accompanying documents for four legal cases from Illinois and Missouri; Henry G. Sherwood’s Nauvoo account book; twenty-four additional versions of documents from 1829 to 1831; a new glossary for terms found in financial records; almost four hundred new biographical entries; and hundreds of new 1844 entries for the calendar of documents.
Documents, Volume 11 includes documents related to the many roles Joseph Smith filled during the fall and winter of 1842–1843. For most of the fall of 1842, Joseph Smith was in hiding from authorities who were trying to extradite him to Missouri for allegedly ordering an assassination attempt on former Missouri governor Lilburn W. Boggs. In January 1843 a federal court in Springfield, Illinois, ruled that the state of Missouri failed to prove that the charges warranted Smith’s extradition. His release from state custody was celebrated with songs and parties in Smith’s honor. While in hiding, Joseph Smith continued to attend to ecclesiastical and civic responsibilities: writing letters to the Saints about proxy baptisms for the dead, serving as editor of the church newspaper in Nauvoo, the Times and Seasons, and responding to letters. After Smith’s release, he delivered several sermons in his home and in the unfinished Nauvoo temple. Elected mayor in the February 1843 city election, he worked with the city council to address various municipal challenges and helped pass ordinances designed to resolve issues stemming from Nauvoo’s expanding population. He also presided over, testified in, and initiated trials against several individuals accused of violating Nauvoo’s religious and legal codes. The documents in this volume include correspondence, editorials, reports of discourses, minutes of meetings, municipal and legal documents, land deeds, and poems.
In the Legal Records series, this release includes two case introductions and accompanying documents. One introduction discusses three cases stemming from the ongoing conflict between Robert D. Foster and Joseph Smith in 1844. The other case, State of Missouri v. Pratt et al. for Murder, follows legal proceedings for the 1838 murder of Moses Rowland at Crooked River. In addition to several other charges Joseph Smith faced at this time arising from the 1838 conflict between Latter-day Saints and Missouri residents, he was charged as an accessory to this murder. Smith and other prisoners escaped from the state’s custody in 1839, and the murder case was eventually dismissed. Despite the dismissal, in 1840 Missouri officials unsuccessfully attempted to extradite Joseph Smith and other Latter-day Saints for this and other crimes allegedly committed in 1838.
In the Financial Records series, this release presents an account book kept by Henry G. Sherwood. Sherwood served as the Nauvoo city marshal, a city tax assessor and collector, a member of the city watch, and a financial agent for Joseph Smith and the church. Sherwood recorded in this small book the transactions he oversaw for Joseph Smith and the city of Nauvoo, and he then used it to verify accounts, submit claims to the city council requesting payment, or copy other records into the proper books. Sherwood’s account book contains entries from November 1839 to June 1844.
The Joseph Smith Papers website seeks to be comprehensive in presenting all extant Joseph Smith documents, including other versions that contribute to understanding an original nonextant text or that were authorized by Smith. This release presents twenty-four other versions of revelations and other documents from 1829 to 1831. All known versions that meet the above criteria are listed in the calendar of documents. Future releases will include images and transcripts of more document versions.
A glossary of terms used in financial records has been added to the website. Most of these terms relate to goods purchased at various stores. There are hyperlinks from the financial documents to the glossary definitions. From the main glossary page, users can opt to see just the financial glossary terms, just the legal glossary terms, just the general glossary terms, or all glossary terms.
This release also includes 385 new biographical entries. These entries do not have biographical sketches of the people, but they do have links to the documents the people are mentioned in, allowing users to see the connections individuals may have had with Joseph Smith. Finally, the release includes hundreds of new entries for the calendar of documents for January through mid-May 1844.