This volume is made possible by the help and generosity of numerous people and institutions. We are particularly grateful for 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. Miller 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 the sincerest gratitude to Gail Miller Wilson. Her continued devotion to this work has made this and all other volumes of The Joseph Smith Papers possible.
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- Archives, Independence, Missouri, and to the historians and site directors of the Community of Christ; in particular, we thank Mark Scherer, Ronald E. Romig, Barbara J. Bernauer, and Lachlan MacKay. We also thank the Geauga County Archives and Records Center, Chardon, Ohio, for their helpful and diligent assistance.
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, researchers, and editors at Brigham Young University; and on independent scholars and editors. Those who have assisted us include Mark Ashurst-McGee, Ronald Barney, Andrew Bench, Suzy Bills, Jeffrey G. Cannon, Alice Capener, LaJean Purcell Carruth, Kimberly Angell Dalton, Joseph F. Darowski, Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, Rachel I. Gessel, David W. Grua, Steven C. Harper, Andrew H. Hedges, Christian Heimburger, Whitney Hinckley, Margaret Hogan, Kelley Konzak, Melissa Rehon Kotter, Elizabeth Kuehn, Constance Palmer Lewis, Trevor London, Michael Hubbard MacKay, Scott D. Marianno, Spencer W. McBride, Sharon E. Nielsen, Rachel Osborne, Katie Pitts-Olson, Mitchell Schaefer, Leslie Sherman, Mark L. Staker, Stephanie Steed, Elizabeth Willian, and Zachary Zundel. We especially thank Brent M. Rogers, who provided help in drafting and annotating several documents in this volume, and Kay Darowski, who assisted with early drafts of annotation. We are grateful to Jay R. Eastley and Naoma W. Eastley, volunteers at the Church History Library, who assisted with research and preliminary drafts for the geographical directory; Lee Ann Clanton and Eleanor Brainard, also volunteers, who helped with document transcription; and Noel R. Barton, Brian P. Barton, 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 Paddy Spilsbury and consisting of Marlene Breti, Patsy Hendrickson, James Jacobs, Beverly Jones, Paul Simpson, Laura Tropple, Judith Wight, Nola Wilkinson, and Kathleen Williams. We express thanks for their help. We are also very grateful to Kate Mertes, who created the index for this volume.
We express our thanks to Glenn N. Rowe and Brandon Metcalf, Church History Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for their diligent assistance with the documents; to Gordon A. Madsen and Jeffrey N. Walker for help in understanding legal issues touched on in this volume; and to Weldon C. Andersen of the Publishing Services Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who shot the textual photographs in this volume and helped prepare them for press. We also thank Kiersten Olson for administrative assistance and Patrick Dunshee, Ben Ellis Godfrey, and Deb Xavier for their efforts in marketing the project and the volume.
In addition, we express special thanks to Kay Darowski, Joseph Smith Papers, who oversaw a talented team of student researchers at Brigham Young University. They include Kendall Buchanan, Ethan J. Christensen, Jared P. Collette, Justin Collings, Lia Suttner Collings, Christopher K. Crockett, Eric Dowdle, Vanessa Ann Dominica Dowdle, James A. Goldberg, Angella M. Hamilton, Christopher C. Jones, Cort Kirksey, Elias E. Kurban Sr., Mary-Celeste Lewis, Amy Norton, Jason M. Olson, Benjamin E. Park, Daren E. Ray, Sandra Mason Roller, Ryan W. Saltzgiver, David Harrison Smith, Kelli M. Smith, Timothy D. Speirs, Virginia E. Stratford, M. Nathaniel Tanner, Kathryn Jensen Wall, and Stephen Whitaker.
Many of 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 Blake Baker. Brandon Plewe of the Department of Geography, Brigham Young University, developed the map of the Camp of Israel’s journey. The maps are based on historical research; the names of those who performed the research are listed alongside the maps in this volume, and we thank these individuals for their contributions.
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, Lisa Roper, Amy Durham, Suzanne Brady, Richard Erickson, David Kimball, Derk Koldewyn, Rebecca B. Chambers, Ruth B. Howard, and Vicki Parry.