This volume is made possible by the help and generosity of numerous people and institutions. We are particularly grateful to the administrators and officials of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, which sponsors the project. We also express deep appreciation to the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation for its continued support of the project. The foundation’s generosity and encouragement have enabled us to meet an ambitious production schedule while adhering to the highest scholarly standards. In particular, we express sincere gratitude to Gail Miller. Her continued devotion to this work has made this and all other volumes of The Joseph Smith Papers possible.
The Joseph Smith Papers Project relies on the skills and dedication of employees and volunteers in the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as on other scholars and editors. Employees who have assisted us include Mason K. Allred, Mark G. Coulson, Brett D. Dowdle, Melissa Garrison, Lorin Groesbeck, Christian K. Heimburger, Shannon Kelly Jorgensen, J. Chase Kirkham, Elizabeth A. Kuehn, Jeffrey D. Mahas, Catherine Reese Newton, Sharon E. Nielsen, Jay A. Parry, Adam H. Petty, Jenny Rollins, Alex D. Smith, Angela M. Thompson, and Jordan T. Watkins. We especially thank Darcee Barnes and Megan Sanderson for their research assistance. We express our gratitude to Bryon Andreasen, Chad Foulger, and Robert L. Stott for help in understanding legal issues documented in this volume. We are grateful to Christy L. Best, who helped identify and catalog documents; Jay R. and Naoma W. Eastley, volunteers at the Church History Library, who assisted with research and preliminary drafts for much of the Geographical Directory; and Eleanor Brainard and Lee Ann Clanton, also volunteers, who helped with document transcription. We are indebted to Tyler Thorsted, who assisted with multispectral imaging of manuscripts. We also thank Brian P. Barton, Noel R. Barton, Wayne T. Morris, and Steven Motteshard, who provided professional genealogical research services in support of the Biographical Directory. Other research used in the Biographical Directory was provided by a volunteer team headed by Patricia L. Spilsbury and consisting of Anita Hicks, Brenda Homer, Carrie Jacobs, Debbie Larkin Means, Shirley Larkin Romney, Judy Wight, and Kathleen Williams. We thank them for their help. We are also grateful to Kate Mertes, who created the index for this volume; Carolyn Call of the Joseph Smith Papers, who skillfully typeset the volume; and Margaret A. Hogan, who carefully proofread the volume. We express our thanks to Brandon Metcalf for his diligent assistance with documents and to the staff of the Preservation Division, Church History Department, who, among other things, facilitated digitization of the textual images. Thanks also to Benson Y. Parkinson of the Publishing Services Department for improving the complex process of publishing simultaneously in print and digital channels. We also thank Deborah Gayle Gates for administrative assistance and Debra Xavier Abercrombie, Ben Ellis Godfrey, and Miryelle Erine Resek Woods for their efforts in marketing the project and the volume. We are also indebted to Jeffrey G. Cannon, Matthew J. Grey, Jeffrey O. Johnson, Christopher C. Jones, Benjamin E. Park, William V. Smith, Jonathan Stapley, and Thomas Wayment for assistance with various research and translation queries.
Many libraries and repositories have provided essential assistance. We sincerely thank the management and staff of the Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, where the majority of Joseph Smith’s papers are located; the Family History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City; and the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. We express special thanks to the Community of Christ Library and Archives, Independence, Missouri, and to the historians and site directors of the Community of Christ; in particular, we thank Mark Scherer, Lachlan MacKay, Ronald E. Romig, and Rachel Killebrew for their assistance and support. We also thank Debbie Hamm, Christopher Schnell, Cheryl Schnirring, and Glenna Schroeder-Lein at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, Illinois; Kerry Asbridge at the Hancock County Clerk’s and Recorder’s Office, Carthage, Illinois; and John Neally at the Hancock County Circuit Clerk’s Office, Carthage, for their assistance with documents and questions. We likewise thank the staffs at the Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City; the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut; the Illinois State Archives, Springfield; the Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City; and the Boston Public Library for their excellent assistance.
The maps in this volume were developed by Geographic Information Services, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, under the direction of David Peart, with cartography by Jonathan West, Blake Baker, John Martineau, and Andrew Thorup. Several of these maps were based on work done by Brandon Plewe and his team of researchers from Brigham Young University for earlier volumes of The Joseph Smith Papers. We thank those who were involved in the cartography and research for these maps. Their names are listed alongside the maps in this volume.
We also thank the management and staff at Deseret Book for the professional help and advice they provided regarding the design, printing, and distribution of this volume. We especially appreciate the contributions of Sheri L. Dew, Laurel Christensen Day, Celia Barnes, Richard Erickson, David Kimball, and Derk Koldewyn.