Dean C. Jessee

is one of the general editors of The Joseph Smith Papers, with Ronald K. Esplin and Richard Lyman Bushman. He received an M.A. degree in LDS church history from Brigham Young University. His career includes working for the archives and the History Division of the Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1964 to 1981, followed by nineteen years’ service at the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History at Brigham Young University. His publications include Papers of Joseph Smith, vols. 1 and 2 (1989, 1991), Brigham Young’s Letters to His Sons (1974), and numerous articles dealing with aspects of nineteenth-century Mormon history. He is a past president of the Mormon History Association.