Skip Navigation Website Accessibility
 


The Joseph Smith Papers - Histories Vol. 1

With the assistance of Frederick G. Williams, Joseph Smith first set about recording his own history in the summer of 1832. In it he recounted for the first time in writing his first vision of Deity and the discovery of the gold plates. Two years later a more ambitious project, the 1834-1836 history, was initiated. This history drew largely on existing records, including Oliver Cowdery's account of the translation of the Book of Mormon and the conferral of priesthood authority. Like the 1832 history, this manuscript remained unfinished.

 

Presented in this first volume of the Histories series are the six histories that Joseph Smith personally wrote, dictated, or supervised.

 

Contents


List of Illustrations and Maps


Timeline of Joseph Smith's Life


Map: Joseph Smith's Residences


Series Introduction: Joseph Smith's Historical Enterprise


Chart: History Creation Dates, Narrative Spans, Scribes, and Precursor Documents


Chart: Relationships among Histories and Precursors


Volume 1 Introduction: The Histories of Joseph Smith, 1832-1844


Editorial Method

 

Joseph Smith Histories, 1832-1844


History, circa Summer 1832


History, 1834-1836


History Drafts, 1838-circa 1841


"Extract, from the Private Journal of Joseph Smith Jr.," July 1839


"Church History" 1 March 1842


"Latter Day Saints," 1 March 1842


Appendix: Orson Pratt, A[n] Interesting Account of Several Remarkable Visions, 1840

 

 

Reference Material

Chronology for the Years 1805-1844


Maps


Map Index


Pedigree Chart


Biographical Directory


Glossary


Essay on Sources


Works Cited


Corresponding Section Numbers in Editions of the Doctrine and Covenants


Acknowledgments

 

Four additional histories, assigned by Joseph Smith but not dictated or supervised by him, will form the content of Histories, Volume 2. The balance of the Histories series, published electronically at the Joseph Smith Papers website, will present the entirety of the massive multivolume history initiated in 1838.

Contact Us