The Joseph Smith Papers, Histories, Volume 1: Joseph Smith Histories, 1832–1844 edited by Karen Lynn Davidson, David J. Whittaker, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jensen, and: The Joseph Smith Papers, Histories, Volume 2: Assigned Histories, 1831–1847 edited by Karen Lynn Davidson, Richard L. Jensen, and David J. Whittaker (review)

Joseph Smith began recording the history of the Latter Day Saints in 1838. His work was continued by church historians who concluded the multivolume history in 1856, more than ten years after Smith’s death in 1844. The Joseph Smith Papers project has published the latest two in a projected twenty-volume series of this documentary edition. Additional material will be available through the project’s Web site at http://JosephSmithPapers.org. Both volumes in the Histories series retain the handsome dust jacket with its forest-green wraparound banner featuring a glossy oval portrait of Joseph Smith on the front and his signature on the back. The two-volume Histories series marks the third of five planned series published thus far. Two of three volumes each in the Journals series and Revelations and Translations series have been published to date.

Each volume in The Joseph Smith Papers follows the project’s style guide. Individual volumes are intended as stand-alone reference works, resulting in some repetition and overlap of material. This is to be expected, given the immense amount of material included in the entire series. Both volumes in the Histories series include extensive annotation and illustrations, primarily reproductions of actual documents or printed material. Transcripts are verified three times, according to the editorial method. A series introduction opens the first volume to give the reader an idea of what types of documents will be included, along with the criteria for their inclusion. Each volume has its own introduction, which gives a broad historical context to the events and issues pertinent to the documents in the volume. The main body of text contains source notes that provide a bibliographical and physical description of each document. Often included is information about handwriting, dating, and provenance. Historical introductions provide context for the documents. At the back of each volume is a group of reference material, including a chronology, maps, map indices, a biographical directory, a glossary, essays on sources, works cited, and acknowledgments, with only slight variations between the two volumes in the Histories series.

Volume 1 contains two short narratives and six histories, both personal and church, which were written, dictated, signed, or supervised by Smith. In a revelation from 1830, God had commanded Smith to keep records: “There shall be a record kept among you, and in it thou shalt be called a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of the church” (1: xiii). As a result, church meeting minutes, priesthood licenses, revelations, journals, correspondence, and other material was collected for incorporation into the official history.

In 1832, Smith recorded his personal history with the help of a scribe. Text in his own handwriting is given in bold font. Four scribes wrote the history from 1834 to 1836. Following that history are transcripts of three related documents that cover 1838 to 1841. They give details about Smith’s “formative visionary experiences, the production of the Book of Mormon, and the first few months of the church he organized” (1:xxxv). These are “drafts” and are presented on facing pages for a side-by-side comparison. The last three documents in volume 1 include an extract from Smith’s private journal from July 1839, a five-page article titled “Church History,” printed in Times and Seasons...