Brent M. Rogers
Author of The Joseph Smith Papers: Journals, Volume 3: May 1843-June 1844
Works by Brent M. Rogers
The Joseph Smith Papers - Documents, Volume 3: February 1833 - March 1834 (2014) — Editor — 21 copies
The Joseph Smith Papers: Documents, Volume 5: October 1835 - January 1838 (2017) — Editor — 16 copies
Contingent Citizens: Shifting Perceptions of Latter-day Saints in American Political Culture (2020) — Editor; Contributor — 7 copies
Joseph Smith and His First Vision: Context, Place, and Meaning, 2020 Church History Symposium (2021) — Editor — 6 copies
Associated Works
Revelations in Context: The Stories Behind the Sections of the Doctrine and Covenants (2016) — Contributor — 72 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
Members
Reviews
In 1992, the second volume of Dean C. Jesse’s “The Papers of Joseph Smith” was published, containing the journal entries of 1832-1842. Many of us waited for years for the third volume, which would cover the remainder of Joseph’s life, before finally finding out that Jesse’s work was being expanded into the Joseph Smith Papers Project. Finally, with the recent release of volume 3 of the Journals series, the journals have all been published.
The volume begins with a timeline of Joseph Smith’s life, maps, an introduction that outlines the events of the last year of a very busy life, and the usual explanation of the editorial method being used for the Joseph Smith Papers Project. It then contains the text of the journals followed by three appendixes which are relevant excerpts from journals kept by Willard Richards and William Clayton detailing Joseph Smith’s activities during this time period. There is also a section of reference materials containing things like a chronology, pedigree chart, glossary, and organizational charts of the church and Nauvoo. There is a full index of all three volumes in the Journals series. (Previous volumes didn’t contain an index due to this planned combined index, but individual indexes can be found online and were provided in print on request.) There are also photos scattered throughout of things like the actual journals, the Kinderhook plates, the first issue of the Nuavoo Neighbor, a list of marriages and sealings that was added at the end of one of the journals later, and the guns in the possession of Joseph and Hyrum Smith at Carthage Jail.
The introduction explains several things that the journals mention, such as Joseph Smith’s candidacy for the United States presidency, his last plural marriages, the Council of Fifty, the Anointed Quorum, the destruction of the press of the Nauvoo Expositor, and Joseph’s resulting arrest. It also points out that the journals during this period were all kept by Joseph’s private secretary, Willard Richards. This means it was based on observation, and that some of the information was written after the fact from memory, or using secondhand sources, which sometimes resulted in inaccuracies.
Most of the actual journal entries are very terse, and the majority of the detail is in the footnotes, which often take the majority of the page. For example, on page 202, the entry at the top of the page begins with “Monday- 11. March- 1844 At home 9. A M. in council. in Lodge room.” The footnote for that says:
This concluding volume of the Journals series was worth the wait. With all of this information being made available, this is truly a great time to be studying the origins of the Church. While these volumes are primarily intended for scholars to use as primary sources, they should be of interest to anyone who wants to learn more about Joseph Smith and the Restoration.… (more)
The volume begins with a timeline of Joseph Smith’s life, maps, an introduction that outlines the events of the last year of a very busy life, and the usual explanation of the editorial method being used for the Joseph Smith Papers Project. It then contains the text of the journals followed by three appendixes which are relevant excerpts from journals kept by Willard Richards and William Clayton detailing Joseph Smith’s activities during this time period. There is also a section of reference materials containing things like a chronology, pedigree chart, glossary, and organizational charts of the church and Nauvoo. There is a full index of all three volumes in the Journals series. (Previous volumes didn’t contain an index due to this planned combined index, but individual indexes can be found online and were provided in print on request.) There are also photos scattered throughout of things like the actual journals, the Kinderhook plates, the first issue of the Nuavoo Neighbor, a list of marriages and sealings that was added at the end of one of the journals later, and the guns in the possession of Joseph and Hyrum Smith at Carthage Jail.
The introduction explains several things that the journals mention, such as Joseph Smith’s candidacy for the United States presidency, his last plural marriages, the Council of Fifty, the Anointed Quorum, the destruction of the press of the Nauvoo Expositor, and Joseph’s resulting arrest. It also points out that the journals during this period were all kept by Joseph’s private secretary, Willard Richards. This means it was based on observation, and that some of the information was written after the fact from memory, or using secondhand sources, which sometimes resulted in inaccuracies.
Most of the actual journal entries are very terse, and the majority of the detail is in the footnotes, which often take the majority of the page. For example, on page 202, the entry at the top of the page begins with “Monday- 11. March- 1844 At home 9. A M. in council. in Lodge room.” The footnote for that says:
This meeting continued the discussion from the night before, with those present agreeing “to look to some place” where they could go “and establish a Theocracy either in Texas or Oregon or somewhere in California &c.” They also spoke of creating a constitution “according to the mind of God” that would serve as a “‘standard’ to the people an ensign to the nations &c” and appointed John Taylor, Willard Richards, William W. Phelps, and Parley P. Pratt to draft it. Under JS’s direction, those present also organized themselves into a council – later known as the Council of Fifty or Kingdom of God – with JS as chairman, William Clayton as clerk, and Richards as recorder. Twenty others were present, all of whom became the founding members of the council. After a vote to keep their proceedings secret, JS “laid down the order of organization after the pattern of heaven”: all were expected to be in attendance, all decisions had to be made unanimously, and seating and voting would be by age. “The most perfect harmony prevailed during the whole of this council,” Clayton wrote, “and the brethren all feel as though the day of our deliverance is at hand.” (Council of Fifty, “Record,” title page, 11 Mar. 1844; see also Clayton, Journal 11 Mar. 1844; and Woodruff, Journal, 11 Mar. 1844.)
This concluding volume of the Journals series was worth the wait. With all of this information being made available, this is truly a great time to be studying the origins of the Church. While these volumes are primarily intended for scholars to use as primary sources, they should be of interest to anyone who wants to learn more about Joseph Smith and the Restoration.… (more)
This volume consists of 544 pages (including the usual introductions, reference material, and index) but covers only ten months of 1841. My first impression from reading the volume introduction was that a lot of things happened during that time, and yet this volume is being said to cover a relatively quiet period, before things really get busy. Indeed there are seven more volumes to come in the Documents series, which will presumably cover the rest of 1841 through mid 1844.
During this time, Nauvoo was growing, with revelations having just been received about building the temple and the Nauvoo House, and the Saints were being gathered. Some of the important documents included relate to the Nauvoo City Council and Nauvoo Legion, land and financial transactions, Orson Hyde’s trip to Jerusalem, three revelations, and fifteen sermons given by Joseph Smith. The following are some examples.
There were weekly educational meetings held, referred to as the Nauvoo lyceum, where Joseph Smith and others spoke, with two to three speakers and debate during each meeting. William P. McIntire took notes at some of these, including a talk given by Joseph Smith on February 9:
The Nauvoo City Council, based on the bad experiences they had in Missouri, passed a religious freedom ordinance on March 1 declaring:
Thomas Cooke Sharp was the editor of the Warsaw Signal. He had been friendly (or at least neutral) to Joseph Smith and the church in his writing, and had even been invited to the laying of the Nauvoo temple cornerstone. But then he became very critical, going as far as to start an anti-Mormon political party. Joseph responded with this letter:
In October 2, the Nauvoo House cornerstone was placed. Many items were sealed in it, including the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon, which Joseph apparently thought of including at the last minute, and ran home to get it. It was thought that it would be kept safe, but unfortunately it was close enough to the Mississippi River that later flooding caused significant damage.
Some observers later noted the significance of including that manuscript. Frederick Kesler wrote that he saw “the prophet Joseph Smith Hide up the manuscript of the Book of Mormon I stood nearby heard and saw what was done on that important occation.” Warren Foote later wrote, “I was standing very near the corner stone, when Joseph Smith came up with the manuscrip of the Book of Mormon, and said that he wanted to put that in there, as he had had trouble enough with it.” Another observer, John Brown, wrote that JS said the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon had been “a great deal of trouble to preserve” and that he stated, “I now deliver it up to the Lord and will not have the care of it any longer” (page 298, footnote 85).
John Laws was a nonmember politician in Philadelphia that apparently had friends and family members that had joined the church. He had written letters to newspapers defending against criticism of the church, and wrote a letter to Joseph Smith on October 18 to get more information about some allegations:
On November 16, Joseph Smith wrote a letter to John M. Bernhisel. Bernhisel was a recent convert that had asked Joseph to pick out a plot for him in Nauvoo for him to come to. He had sent a letter with money for the purchase and a book by John Lloyd Stephens called Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan. “The work recounted ‘a journey of nearly three thousand miles in the interior of Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan, including visits to eight ruined cities, with full illustrations from drawings taken on the spot by Mr. [Frederick] Catherwood,’ an English artist. Stephens’s book was mentioned in a June 1841 article in the Times and Seasons, which declared that accounts like Stephens’s ‘prove beyond controversy that, on this vast continent, once flourished a mighty people’ and gave ‘more proofs of the Book of Mormon’” (page 367, footnote 447). In the letter thanking him, Joseph said, “I received your kind present by the hand of Er. [Wilford] Woodruff & feel myself under many obligations for this mark of your esteem & friendship which to me is the more interesting as it unfolds & developes many things that are of great importance to this generation & corresponds with & supports the testimony of the Book of Mormon; I have read the volumnes with the greatest interest & pleasure & must say that of all histories that have been written pertaining to the antiquities of this country it is the most correct luminous & comprihensive” (page 367).
This volume shows how things were in Nauvoo in 1841 and Joseph’s leadership of both Nauvoo and the church. The actual documents are available online at the Joseph Smith Papers website, but, as always, the annotations and other helpful information in the book make it a worthwhile purchase for those interested in the history of the church and the life of Joseph Smith.
… (more)
During this time, Nauvoo was growing, with revelations having just been received about building the temple and the Nauvoo House, and the Saints were being gathered. Some of the important documents included relate to the Nauvoo City Council and Nauvoo Legion, land and financial transactions, Orson Hyde’s trip to Jerusalem, three revelations, and fifteen sermons given by Joseph Smith. The following are some examples.
There were weekly educational meetings held, referred to as the Nauvoo lyceum, where Joseph Smith and others spoke, with two to three speakers and debate during each meeting. William P. McIntire took notes at some of these, including a talk given by Joseph Smith on February 9:
Joseph said in answer to [Hosea] stout [p. [10]] that adam Did Not Comit sin in [e]ating the fruit, for God had Dec[r]eed that he should Eat & fall— But in complyance with the Decree he should Die— only he should Die was the saying of the Lord therefore the Lord apointed us to fall & also Redeemed us— for where sin abounded Grace did Much More abound— for Paul says Rom.— 5— 10 for if— when were Enemys we were Reconciled to God by his Son, much more, being Reconciled, we shall be saved by his Life— (page 30).
The Nauvoo City Council, based on the bad experiences they had in Missouri, passed a religious freedom ordinance on March 1 declaring:
Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Nauvoo, That the Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Latter-Day-Saints, Quakers, Episcopalians Universalits Unitarians, Mahommedans, and all other religious sects and denominations whatever, shall have free toleration and equal Privilieges in this City, and should any person be guilty of ridiculing abusing, or otherwise depreciating another in consequence of his religion or of disturbing, or interrupting any religious meeting, within the Limits of this City, he shall on conviction thereof, before the Mayor or Municipal Court be considered a disturber of the public peace, and fined in any Sum not exceeding five hundred Dollars, or imprisoned not exceeding six months, or both at the discretion of said Mayor, or Court (page 52).
Thomas Cooke Sharp was the editor of the Warsaw Signal. He had been friendly (or at least neutral) to Joseph Smith and the church in his writing, and had even been invited to the laying of the Nauvoo temple cornerstone. But then he became very critical, going as far as to start an anti-Mormon political party. Joseph responded with this letter:
Mr. [Thomas] Sharp, Editor of the Warsaw Signal:
Sir—You will discontinue my paper—its contents are calculated to pollute me, and to patronize the filthy sheet—that tissue of lies—that sink of iniquity—is disgraceful to any moral man.
Yours, with utter contempt,
JOSEPH SMITH.
P. S. Please publish the above in your contemptible paper.
J.S.
In October 2, the Nauvoo House cornerstone was placed. Many items were sealed in it, including the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon, which Joseph apparently thought of including at the last minute, and ran home to get it. It was thought that it would be kept safe, but unfortunately it was close enough to the Mississippi River that later flooding caused significant damage.
Some observers later noted the significance of including that manuscript. Frederick Kesler wrote that he saw “the prophet Joseph Smith Hide up the manuscript of the Book of Mormon I stood nearby heard and saw what was done on that important occation.” Warren Foote later wrote, “I was standing very near the corner stone, when Joseph Smith came up with the manuscrip of the Book of Mormon, and said that he wanted to put that in there, as he had had trouble enough with it.” Another observer, John Brown, wrote that JS said the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon had been “a great deal of trouble to preserve” and that he stated, “I now deliver it up to the Lord and will not have the care of it any longer” (page 298, footnote 85).
John Laws was a nonmember politician in Philadelphia that apparently had friends and family members that had joined the church. He had written letters to newspapers defending against criticism of the church, and wrote a letter to Joseph Smith on October 18 to get more information about some allegations:
It is possible that one or more communications published in the public Ledger and Daily Chronicle of this City over the signature of J L in refutation of the aspersions cast upon the “Latter Day Saints” has met your eye if this shall have been the Case you can more readily estimate the motives of the writer in seeking for information from the only source that will be relied on. The authors of the communications refered to was prompted to the task by feelings of indignation at what he believed to be a conspiracy of News Paper Editors and others to overthrow Mormonism by the summary process of exterminating its proselytes by sanguinary means and not by reason and argument It is very evident that the unexpected and unwished for oppositions to their schemes has had a salutary effect in causing a cessation of hostilities for the present but whether to be revived again time will make manifest.
On November 16, Joseph Smith wrote a letter to John M. Bernhisel. Bernhisel was a recent convert that had asked Joseph to pick out a plot for him in Nauvoo for him to come to. He had sent a letter with money for the purchase and a book by John Lloyd Stephens called Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan. “The work recounted ‘a journey of nearly three thousand miles in the interior of Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan, including visits to eight ruined cities, with full illustrations from drawings taken on the spot by Mr. [Frederick] Catherwood,’ an English artist. Stephens’s book was mentioned in a June 1841 article in the Times and Seasons, which declared that accounts like Stephens’s ‘prove beyond controversy that, on this vast continent, once flourished a mighty people’ and gave ‘more proofs of the Book of Mormon’” (page 367, footnote 447). In the letter thanking him, Joseph said, “I received your kind present by the hand of Er. [Wilford] Woodruff & feel myself under many obligations for this mark of your esteem & friendship which to me is the more interesting as it unfolds & developes many things that are of great importance to this generation & corresponds with & supports the testimony of the Book of Mormon; I have read the volumnes with the greatest interest & pleasure & must say that of all histories that have been written pertaining to the antiquities of this country it is the most correct luminous & comprihensive” (page 367).
This volume shows how things were in Nauvoo in 1841 and Joseph’s leadership of both Nauvoo and the church. The actual documents are available online at the Joseph Smith Papers website, but, as always, the annotations and other helpful information in the book make it a worthwhile purchase for those interested in the history of the church and the life of Joseph Smith.
… (more)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 10
- Also by
- 9
- Members
- 112
- Popularity
- #174,306
- Rating
- 4.6
- Reviews
- 3
- ISBNs
- 17
The book starts with the usual material for this series, including a timeline of Joseph Smith’s life, maps, an explanation of the Joseph Smith Papers Project, a volume introduction, and an explanation of the editorial method. The book is then divided into seven parts, based on time periods. There is an appendix with blessings to Don Carlos Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Frederick G. Williams, and Sidney Rigdon. And then there is the usual reference material with source notes, a chronology, geographical directory and maps, pedigree chart, biographical directory, organizational charts, essay on sources, works cited, a cross-reference with the Doctrine and Covenants, index, etc. At the very back is a note about resources available on the Joseph Smith Papers website that relate to the series as well as this particular book.
Most of the first and second chapters of the Book of Abraham are included as “Book of Abraham Manuscript, circa Early June - circa November 1835-A [Abraham 1:4-2:6].” There is a historical introduction that explains how the papyri were obtained and what is known about the translation, as well as the publication in Times and Seasons. A footnote points out that “Though a notice printed in the 1 February 1843 issue of the Times and Seasons suggested that JS would publish ‘further extracts’ from the Book of Abraham, there is no documentary evidence that other extracts were produced. All extant manuscripts generated by JS and his associates during their study of the Egyptian papyri, dated circa 1835 to circa 1842, are available at the Joseph Smith Papers website, josephsmithpapers.org.” (page 77)
This is followed up by “Egyptian Alphabet, circa Early July - circa November 1835-A.” This is explained as “the only extant document among the larger collection of Egyptian-related materials that contains JS’s handwriting; portions of the text are also in the handwriting of Cowdery and Parrish. Five pages in length, the manuscript contains various characters, some of which are followed by their pronunciation and interpretation…. That the characters in the Egyptian alphabet presented here were copied from more than one source suggests that what is termed as ‘Egyptian alphabet’ may have been part of a comprehensive project that synthesized characters from various source texts” (page 82.) It is unknown how the document was produced, but the interpretations do not match modern translations. It “may have been an effort by JS and his associates to decode characters that they assumed stood for larger concepts.” (page 83)
There are many documents related to the Kirtland Temple, including minutes of the dedication with all the words to the hymns sung and the dedicatory prayer. There is a diagram of the temple and a photo of the interior. “The spiritual outpouring that occurred in Kirtland, Ohio, when the House of the Lord was dedicated on 27 March 1836 continued in the days following that special event. Three days after the dedication, participants reported, the promised endowment of power occurred at a solemn assembly. This event marked the culmination of a series of instruction from JS and other church leaders, the organizing of the church’s priesthood structure, and the administration of rituals. JS’s journal records that another significant event took place on the afternoon of 3 April: JS and Oliver Cowdery experienced a vision of Jesus Christ and visitations from Moses, Elias, and Elijah…. FInally, 6 April 1836, the sixth anniversary of the church’s organization, was ‘set apart as a day of prayer to end the feast of the Passover and in honor of the jubilee of the church.’ That day men ordained to the priesthood met to observe and participate in sacred ordinances. According to Heber C. Kimball, as the meeting continued, ‘the spirit of prophecy was poured out upon the Assembly,’ and this ‘marvellous spirit’ continued for several days.” (page 213)
Part 5 contains documents associated with the Kirtland Safety Society. The volume introduction and the section introduction give the history of the institution in the broader context of the financial troubles of the time, which were both the motivation for its creation and the cause of its downfall. The documents include the Constitution of the Kirtland Safety Society Bank, Articles of Agreement for the Kirtland Safety Society Anti-Banking Company, pictures of the notes that were produced, and associated agreements and correspondence. “Extant sources offer little credible documentation of monetary losses caused by the Kirtland Safety Society’s closure, but it is clear that only a few individuals invested sizable funds in the institution. Joseph Smith invested the most money, several thousand dollars, and no one lost more in the collapse of the Safety Society than he did. The devaluation of society notes and the unwillingness of other banks to accept the notes as payment contributed to the financial hardships in Kirtland, but most individuals there were more adversely affected by the broader Panic of 1837, which caused the price of goods to increase and land values to decrease drastically.” (page xxxii)
As with the other volumes from the Joseph Smith Papers Project, there is much of interest between the covers of this book. Many hours can be spent perusing its contents by anyone interested in the Kirtland period of church history or in the life of Joseph Smith in general. I found that my reading of the material about the Kirtland Temple enhanced my experience covering the same topic in Sunday School today.
… (more)