Minutes, 30 April 1832
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Source Note
, Minutes, “” [, Jackson Co., MO], 30 Apr. 1832. Featured version, titled “Minutes of a Council of the litterary Firm, Zion April 30. 1832,” copied [between ca. 6 Apr. and 19 June 1838] in Minute Book 2, pp. 25–26; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 2.
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Historical Introduction
On 30 April 1832, JS and others who were designated as “ over the revelations” gathered in , Jackson County, Missouri, for the first recorded meeting of the . The roots of this new firm reached back to late 1831 in . At a series of held in , Ohio, in November 1831, church leaders decided to publish JS’s revelations in a compilation titled the Book of Commandments and to have ten thousand copies of the book printed. They instructed and to take manuscript copies of the revelations to , where was establishing the church’s printing works. On 12 November 1831, a revelation instructed JS, Cowdery, Whitmer, Phelps, , and to be “stewards over the revelations & ” and “to manage them & the concerns thereof.” After JS and other Ohio leaders traveled to Missouri, a 26 April 1832 revelation instructed three groups of individuals to join themselves together in the management of these “stewartships.” The three groups included those responsible for publishing the church’s revelations; those responsible for maintaining the church stores in Independence and , Ohio; and the two in charge of the church’s temporal affairs.After spending 28–29 April visiting church members in , Missouri, JS returned to , and on 30 April he presided over the first known meeting of the Literary Firm. The firm apparently had a broader scope than just supervising the production of the Book of Commandments; the minutes also discuss the possible publication of an almanac and the preparation of a hymnal. As clerk of the meeting, recorded the minutes. In 1838, copied the minutes into Minute Book 2.
Footnotes
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1
Revelation, 12 Nov. 1831 [D&C 70:3].
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2
Minutes, 1–2 Nov. 1831; Revelation, 11 Nov. 1831–A [D&C 69].
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3
Revelation, 12 Nov. 1831 [D&C 70]. At a conference held the same day, JS, Cowdery, Whitmer, and Rigdon were appointed to manage the revelations. (Minutes, 12 Nov. 1831.)
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4
Minutes, 26–27 Apr. 1832; Revelation, 26 Apr. 1832 [D&C 82].
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5
JS History, vol. A-1, 213.
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6
The minutes of the Literary Firm meeting bear a 30 April date. A later JS history recounts, however, that the meeting was held 1 May. A United Firm meeting that followed the meeting of the Literary Firm may have been held on 1 May, and in his history JS may have confused the date of the United Firm meeting with the date of the Literary Firm meeting. (JS History, vol. A-1, 214.)
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7
The minutes of 30 April 1832 are the first known instance in which the appointed stewards were referred to as the Literary Firm. Since Whitmer and Cowdery left for Independence soon after the November 1831 conferences ended, and since this April trip was the first time JS and Rigdon traveled to Missouri after those conferences, the firm likely did not meet before this meeting.
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1
| Present | |
| Joseph Smith jr. , | |
| , one of the President’s counsellors. | |
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