Review
Title: The Joseph Smith Papers: Documents, Volume 11, September 1842-February 1843
Editors: Spencer W. McBride, Jeffrey D. Mahas, Brett D. Dowdle, Tyson Reeder
Publisher: The Church Historian’s Press
Genre: Religious Non-Fiction
Year Published: 2020
Number of Pages: 667
Binding: Hardbound: alk. Paper
ISBN: 978-1-62972-804-9
Price: $54.95
Reviewed by Cheryl Bruno for the Association for Mormon Letters
The Joseph Smith Papers project, launched in 2008, brings together documents created by Joseph Smith “whether written or dictated by him or created by others under his direction,” (xxxiv) as well as papers which were owned by Smith, such as received correspondence. This prodigious amount of paperwork is being organized and preserved in electronic form on the website josephsmithpapers.org and published as transcriptions in a series of bound volumes. In addition to the tremendous value of preserving important historical documents regarding the founder of the Latter Day Saint restoration movement, the project’s benefit includes the work of scores of trained historians who have made available their research on historical context, descriptions, sources, and authorship of the documents. I believe the Joseph Smith Papers project is the most important thing the LDS church has done since the removal of the Priesthood ban in 1978.
Documents, Volume 11 presents texts from a six-month period of time: September 1842 to February 1843. Smith spent part of this time hiding from officers of the law who were attempting to arrest him for his alleged complicity in the attempted murder of former Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs. Eventually, federal district judge Nathaniel Pope ruled that because Joseph Smith had not been in Missouri at the time of the attempted assassination, he could not be extradited to that state for trial (xxii-xxiv). Another subject that informs the documents of this period were conflicts and events resulting from rumors of plural marriage instigated largely by John C. Bennett. Smith presided over cases of church discipline, notably regarding issues surrounding mismanagement of the construction of the Nauvoo Temple and the Nauvoo House. Additionally, Joseph Smith was acting as mayor of Nauvoo during this period and participated in civic management.
Because the documents are arranged in chronological order, this volume can be read as a history of this part of the Church’s Nauvoo period. The book is divided into four successive parts headed by short introductions. Each document is introduced by a brief source note and a historical introduction of several paragraphs to several pages in length. Next, the document transcript is given, along with numerous clarifying footnotes.
Volume 11 was edited by Spencer W. McBride, Jeffrey D. Mahas, Brett D. Dowdle, and Tyson Reeder. One of their challenges in putting together the book was to decide which papers should be included in the printed publication and which should only be available on the website. These are not easy decisions. In my own research, I encountered a document on the JSP website which I believe is important to the subject of Joseph Smith’s involvement in the attempted murder of Lilburn Boggs. However, it was not included in Volume 11. This document (“Appendix 1, Document 9, Wilson Law and others Affidavit, 4 Jan 1843”) is an affidavit in which Hyrum Smith, Willard Richards, Henry Sherwood, John Taylor, and William Clayton attest they sat with Joseph Smith in Nauvoo Lodge on May 6 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm.[1] This would place Smith in Nauvoo and not in Missouri at the time of the crime. A look at the Nauvoo Masonic Lodge minutes shows that the lodge did meet on that day and time, and Hyrum Smith was in attendance. However, none of the other men, including Joseph, were there. According to the minutes, Joseph Smith was not present in lodge meetings until May 20, two weeks later. The implications of this document are notable. Did Richards, Sherwood, Taylor, Clayton, and Hyrum Smith (master of the lodge) use their Masonic membership improperly to provide an alibi for Joseph?
Browsing through these historical documents has provided me many hours of education and entertainment. Besides the important historical information it offers, there are many tidbits of the daily life of Joseph Smith and his associates which make this six-month period come alive. I’d like to share a few that enlightened me, informed me, or sometimes caused me to chuckle. For example, I was interested to read that in addition to several men from the Andover, Ohio branch of the church who sent donations on November 16, 1842, to assist with the building of the Nauvoo Temple, one woman sent a contribution as well. According to William Clayton’s entry in the Book of the Law of the Lord, Clarissa Gleason donated one quilt and “2 plain Wives”[2] (228).
On December 4, 1842, a man named James Toner, claiming to be president of “the Nauvoo Temperance Society” located in Newberry, Pennsylvania, wrote to Joseph Smith inquiring about employment opportunities in Nauvoo for “young mechanics.” Toner referenced “a number of Young men belonging to the Society” who might wish to move to Nauvoo “if sufficient inducements are offered.” Toner also requested a “Mormon Bible for the use of our society” (252). The source note for this letter indicates that it was first docketed by church historian Willard Richards. It was later refiled by Thomas Bullock. It appeared in a 1904 inventory produced by the Church Historian’s Office and included in 1973 in the Joseph Smith collection at the Church Historical Department. All of this shows a line of continuous institutional custody (251). This type of careful accounting is typical for each piece in the collection. It is important in making sure that all the documents included in the project are authentic. In the historical introduction to this letter, the editors describe their research which found “no other record of such a society existing, and there is no apparent connection between the city of Nauvoo and any temperance society in Pennsylvania or anywhere else in the United States” (252). Irregularities were also found in the postmark on the letter. Rather than being stamped, it was handwritten, “in the same handwriting and ink as the letter itself.” The editors conclude that perhaps “Toner worked in a post office or that he fraudulently or improperly mailed the letter to JS” (252). Footnotes for this entry also describe Nauvoo mayor John Bennett’s championing of temperance in his February 1841 inaugural address and the response of the city council two weeks later with the passage of an ordinance forbidding the sale of liquor. Joseph Smith and other church leaders opposed the formation of temperance societies, however, not wishing the Saints to be “unequally yoked with unbelievers” (252, n. 307). From this one entry, I benefited from the research of the editors of the volume and learned much about the history of the Nauvoo period.
A poignant letter to Joseph Smith from Caroline Youngs Adams mailed on January 14, 1843, describes her feelings upon being confronted by her husband George’s mistress and baby, conceived on his mission in England. Caroline begs Joseph to “use his prophetic gift to discern whether her husband was guilty of adultery” (321).
A partial transcript of a discourse presents Smith’s teachings on the subject of the Kingdom of God, which he explains “was set upon the earth in all ages from the days of Adam to the presant time” (334). The editors explain the doctrinal ramifications of the speech, which “addressed the question of whether John’s baptism functioned as valid Christian baptisms…or if baptism by the Holy Ghost, available after the day of Pentecost, was the only acceptable type of baptism in Christianity” (333). With this discourse (in addition to many others, of course), Smith sets Mormon doctrine apart from much of the rest of Christendom.
As a frequent user of the Joseph Smith Papers website, I wondered what the print volume could offer readers that was not readily available online. The website is easily searchable and includes documents not included in the book. I discovered that being able to read the documents chronologically was extremely valuable. Though a bit more broken up than a history book, the documents themselves, with footnotes and editors’ comments, enthralled me. They carried me along from day to day in the life of Smith and his associates in a way that the website cannot do. This is a large book, almost 600 pages in length. But its format lends itself to short, frequent readings. One can study a document at a time or several at one sitting.
I was already converted to the importance of the Joseph Smith Papers project, now Volume 11 has whet my appetite for the Documents volumes.
[1] Volume 11 does include an affidavit sworn by Joseph Smith on January 2, 1843, which testifies that he was in Nauvoo at the time of the assault upon Boggs (312-315). The editors have chosen to let this affidavit represent the several that were collected regarding this matter.
[2] The able historians of the JSP note “Gleason’s actual donation probably consisted of a quilt and two handkerchiefs colloquially referred to as wipers.” (228)