On 11 March 1844 in Nauvoo, Illinois, Joseph Smith organized a council that he and his closest associates saw as the beginning of the literal kingdom of God on earth. Among other things, the council explored possible Latter-day Saint settlement sites outside the boundaries of the United States and oversaw Joseph Smith’s electioneering campaign for United States president. In 2016, the Joseph Smith Papers Project published in print the minutes from the Council of Fifty in Nauvoo. We are pleased to announce that those minutes are now available on our website, including images of the record books. For more on the Council of Fifty, see the volume introduction, “The Council of Fifty in Nauvoo, Illinois.”
In addition to the minutes of the Council of Fifty, this latest web content release includes more than 125 documents from March, April, and May 1844, including letters, discourses, deeds, and Nauvoo City Council business. Some highlights:
In the Legal, Business, and Financial Records series, we have added documents to four Missouri legal cases against Joseph Smith (for riot, treason, and arson), as well as editorial introductions to the riot case and several Ohio court cases.