Without the help, generosity, and cooperation of numerous people and institutions, this volume, and the Joseph Smith Papers Project itself, would not be possible. The editors are grateful for the contributions and talents of many individuals who gave freely of their time and resources in helping us develop this volume. 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, and to management and staff of the Church History Library, Salt Lake City, where the majority of Joseph Smith’s papers are located and where the project is centered. We also thank officials of the Community of Christ, Independence, Missouri, who have made many Joseph Smith documents available from their archives. We express deep appreciation to the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation for their continued financial and emotional support of the project. Their generosity and encouragement have enabled us to meet an ambitious production schedule while adhering to the highest scholarly standards. We are very grateful for their support.
In addition to the Church History Library and the Community of Christ Library-Archives, many other repositories provided valuable material and expertise. These include the Family History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City; the Yale University Divinity School Library, New Haven, Connecticut; and the Chicago History Museum, Chicago. We thank the management and staff at all of these repositories for their helpful and diligent assistance. The L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, also provided meaningful help, and we especially thank Larry Draper and Russ Taylor for their aid.
The production editing staff of the Joseph Smith Papers Project lent their talents and dedication to the creation of this volume. In addition to those named in the front matter of this volume, we thank Alison Palmer, who oversaw work on the biographical directory, assisted with text verification, and consulted on style and layout issues; Kelley Konzak, who helped compile the index; Sharon E. Nielsen, who helped create the document calendar; and Larry E. Morris, who compiled the volume’s chronology. Rachel Osborne and Nathan N. Waite also provided important consultation. Many interns and contractors also assisted with copyediting, source checking, and other production work on this volume. They include Linda Hunter Adams, Ruth D. Eldredge, Amanda Kae Fronk, Whitney Hinckley, Margaret A. Hogan, Shannon Kelly, Melissa Rehon Kotter, Jamie Layton, Allison Mathews, Sarah Gibby Peris, Katie Pitts-Olson, Julia Kathleen Ventura, and Vonnie S. Zullo.
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, on faculty and researchers at Brigham Young University, and on independent scholars, editors, and researchers. We are grateful for assistance from Ronald O. Barney, Jeffrey G. Cannon, Joseph F. Darowski, Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, Jay R. Eastley, Naoma W. Eastley, Andrew H. Hedges, David H. Kitterman, Michael Hubbard MacKay, Wayne Morris, Michael Nelson, Veneese Nelson, Brent M. Rogers, and Alex D. Smith, all of the Joseph Smith Papers. We thank Gordon A. Madsen, Joseph Smith Papers, for help in understanding legal issues touched on in this volume. Noel R. Barton, Brian P. Barton, and Steven Motteshard provided professional genealogical research services in support of the biographical directory. Other professionals in the Church History Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who generously assisted us include LaJean Purcell Carruth, Steven C. Harper, Jennifer L. Lund, and Chris McAfee. Others to whom we are indebted for help and insights are Alexander L. Baugh, Christopher James Blythe, Alex D. Braunberger, Samuel M. Brown, and Thomas A. Wayment. We specifically thank Max H Parkin, Larry C. Porter, Gregory A. Prince, and Mark L. Staker for their careful review and insightful and candid comments on drafts of this volume.
Thanks are due to Kay Darowski, Joseph Smith Papers, who oversaw a talented team of student researchers at Brigham Young University. They include Lisse L. Brox, Matthew B. Christensen, Jared P. Collette, Justin Collings, Lia Suttner Collings, Renee Collins, Daniel J. Combs, Christopher K. Crockett, Eric Dowdle, Vanessa Ann Dominica Dowdle, James A. Goldberg, David W. Grua, Angella M. Hamilton, Christopher C. Jones, Cort Kirksey, Elias E. Kurban Sr., Mary-Celeste Lewis, Russell Jay McDonald, Kara Nelson, Amy Norton, Jason M. Olson, Benjamin E. Park, Josh E. Probert, Daren E. Ray, Sandra Mason Roller, Ryan W. Saltzgiver, Kelli M. Smith, Timothy D. Speirs, Virginia E. Stratford, M. Nathaniel Tanner, Kathryn Jensen Wall, and Stephen Whitaker. Several research interns at the Church History Library also provided support, insights, and good humor throughout the project. These include Andrew Bench, Karen Boothe, Donald Bradley, Noel Coleman, Aaron Day, Katherine Anne Harmer, Bradley Kime, Scott Marianno, Scott Nielson, Sheri Lynn Peterson, Mitchell K. Schaefer, Drew Sorber, Amy Tauraa, Christopher W. Taylor, Jeffrey Tucker, and Devon Zimmerman. We would especially like to thank Sherilyn Farnes, whose help was invaluable in tracking down sources, images, and documents, and in performing other research.
We express our thanks to Glenn N. Rowe, Church History Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for his assistance with the documents; and to Welden C. Andersen of the Publishing Services Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who shot the textual photographs in this volume. Melanie Price and Natasha Greenwood of the Publishing Services Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, provided prepress support. We also thank Viola Knecht for administrative assistance, and Patrick C. Dunshee and Stephanie Dawson for their work in marketing this volume and the project in general. The volume benefited from careful review by the project’s leadership, advisory board, and editors.
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 Blake Baker, Gary Christensen, Keith Kato, Brice Lucas, Heidi J. Springsteed, and Jonathan West. The maps are based on work done for previous volumes by the Department of Geography, Brigham Young University, under the direction of Brandon Plewe.
We also thank the management and staff at Deseret Book Company for the professional help and advice they provided regarding the design, printing, distribution, and marketing of this volume. In particular, we thank Sheri L. Dew, Cory H. Maxwell, Anne Sheffield, Richard Erickson, Suzanne Brady, Gail Halladay, David Kimball, Derk Koldewyn, Vicki Parry, and Stephanie Simonson.