Joseph Smith’s Nauvoo journals include brief references to the revelation about plural marriage that tried his faith and the faith of the Saints. How can we make sense of plural marriage or explain it to others? One place to begin is the introduction to Joseph Smith’s Nauvoo journals found on… Continue reading
Preserved through years of toil, travel, and persecution, The Joseph Smith Papers provide answers to questions about early Church history. Joseph Smith once told a congregation, “You don’t know me—and you never will.” Joseph’s life may remain a mystery to some, but The Joseph Smith Papers —a vast collection of revelations,… Continue reading
Like many of us, Joseph Smith struggled to keep a consistent journal. But what he wrote in his 1832–1834 journal can tell us much about him. Church leaders often counsel us to keep a faithful record of our lives. President Spencer W. Kimball instructed the youth to keep a journal,… Continue reading
Learn about and browse the pages of the first hymnal of the Church. Shortly after her baptism in July 1830, Emma Smith was called by God to compile a hymnbook to edify the Church. The Lord says in Doctrine and Covenants 25:12, “My soul delighteth in the song of the heart;… Continue reading
Oliver Cowdery explains in a letter the true worth of the gold plates that were translated into the Book of Mormon. In 1827, Joseph Smith learned from an angel named Moroni that a record of ancient inhabitants of the Americans was hidden in a hill in Manchester, New York. He… Continue reading
The Book of Moses came to Joseph Smith as a revelation from God, eventually sparking the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. Why is it that only The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a book of scripture named after Moses? Doesn’t the world already have books of… Continue reading
John Whitmer’s history of the Church shows ordinary people working through real-world difficulties. When John Whitmer was commanded in 1831 to record the history of the Church, he simply said, “I would rather not do it.” Regardless, he obeyed, and as Joseph Smith promised, his history has become “a choice record in Israel.”… Continue reading
