The Joseph Smith Papers: Histories, Vol. 1 (1832-1844)

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LDS Living Article

The Joseph Smith Papers Project is a collection of primary Joseph Smith documents that is invaluable to American history scholars, Mormon history scholars, and of importance to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The latest volume, Histories, Volume 1: Joseph Smith Histories, 1832–1844 (Church Historian’s Press, $54.95), contains a number of highly readable and compelling historical narratives, some familiar to Latter-day Saints and historians, and some not well-known.
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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.