Bifolium measuring 10 × 8 inches (25 × 20 cm). Each page is ruled with twenty-seven horizontal blue lines. The letter was written in blue ink on the first leaf and addressed on the verso of the second leaf. The recto of the second leaf is blank. The letter was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red adhesive wafer, and postmarked. When the letter was opened, a hole was torn in the second leaf; some of the torn paper, including text, remains affixed to the wafer.

, who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854, docketed the letter. , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865, inscribed another docket. The document was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) circa 1904. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early dockets, its listing in a circa 1904 inventory, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection indicate continuous institutional custody.