Earlier this month, the Joseph Smith Papers published Documents, Volume 5, covering October 1835 through January 1838. This volume contains 118 documents, including revelations, discourses, legal documents, and personal letters, as well as more unusual documents such as prayers, banknotes, a map, an essay on abolition, and a study of the Egyptian language. Specific topics addressed in these documents include the completion of the House of the Lord in Kirtland, Ohio, and the building’s dedication; the forced migration of the Latter-day Saints from Clay County, Missouri; the economic collapse in Kirtland in 1837; and Joseph Smith’s attempts to overcome dissent in the church.
This volume brings to life the highs and lows of the early church during the momentous and often emotional months from October 1835 to January 1838. Joseph Smith joyfully spent fall and winter 1835–1836 pronouncing new revelations, organizing quorums, and introducing sacred ordinances. The excitement of the time culminated in spring 1836, when the Saints celebrated the completion of the first Latter-day Saint temple, the House of the Lord in Kirtland.
“Joseph oversaw the continuing organization of the church and dedicated the first temple in this dispensation,” says Brent M. Rogers, coeditor of the book. But the Saints’ delight was soon subdued. “However much that signal event brought a spiritual pinnacle to the church and its members, it was followed by some great trials.”
The euphoria the Saints experienced at the temple’s completion began to fade as the Saints in Missouri faced expulsion from their homes and the Kirtland economy began to collapse. A national financial panic in 1837 hit Kirtland and its citizens hard, and the recently founded Kirtland Safety Society bank crumbled. Tensions ran high, and some Saints—including some of Joseph Smith’s closest friends—declared him to be a fallen prophet. Facing threats to his life, Joseph Smith spent time in hiding until a revelation commanded the First Presidency to leave Kirtland and seek refuge among the Missouri Saints.
The texts presented in Documents, Volume 5, and the extensive annotation accompanying them constitute one of the best sources for researching and understanding this tumultuous period. This volume also highlights the activities and perspectives of women by including letters from Emma Smith to her husband and the accounts of eyewitnesses such as Eliza R. Snow, Mary Fielding, and Vilate Murray Kimball.
Documents, Volume 5, was edited by Brent M. Rogers, Elizabeth A. Kuehn, Christian K. Heimburger, Max H Parkin, Alexander L. Baugh, and Steven C. Harper, with Nathan N. Waite as the lead production editor. Visit our website for more information as well as videos about this volume.