In an undertaking as large and complex as the Joseph Smith Papers Project, hundreds of people, in many areas of expertise, are called upon to contribute. The editors of the two letterpress volumes of the Histories series are grateful to many colleagues and friends who have given of their time and knowledge to move these volumes forward. In addition, the Histories volumes build on some important already-existing scholarly works, particularly volume 1 of The Papers of Joseph Smith, edited by Dean C. Jessee and published in 1989.
The resources of various archives and repositories have been essential to the Histories volumes. We thank the management and staff of the Church History Library, Salt Lake City, where the Joseph Smith Papers Project is housed; the Family History Library, Salt Lake City; and the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. We express deep appreciation to the staff of the Community of Christ Library-Archives, Independence, Missouri, for not only granting access to John Whitmer’s history but also providing generous help as we prepared it for publication. We also relied on guidance and support from historians and site directors of the Community of Christ; the suggestions of Ronald E. Romig were particularly helpful, as was the assistance of Mark Scherer, Barbara J. Bernauer, and Lachlan MacKay. We are also indebted to the Missouri History Museum, St. Louis; and to the Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City.
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 Linda Hunter Adams, Gayle Y. Anderson, Grant A. Anderson, Angela Ashurst-McGee, Charles Baird, Alexander L. Baugh, Richard S. Bennett, Donald Bradley, Eleanor Brainard, Alex D. Braunberger, Lee Ann Clanton, Joseph F. Darowski, James Wesley Davidson, Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, Patrick C. Dunshee, Jay R. Eastley, Naoma W. Eastley, Glen Ellsworth, Donald L. Enders, Mark Esplin, Barbara Faulring, Scott Faulring, Amanda Kae Fronk, Matthew C. Godfrey, Jared Hamon, William G. Hartley, Andrew H. Hedges, Peter V. Hilton, Whitney Hinckley, Sharalyn D. Howcroft, Tyler Humble, Jacqueline Jacobsen, Elizabeth L. Jensen, Emily W. Jensen, Jeffery O. Johnson, David H. Kitterman, Melissa Rehon Kotter, Michael N. Landon, Jamie Layton, Riley M. Lorimer, Mary C. Lynn, Michael Hubbard MacKay, Allison Mathews, Chris McAfee, Kaitlin Merkley, Pauline K. Musig, Michael Nelson, Veneese Nelson, Sharon E. Nielsen, Amanda Owens, Benson Parkinson, Sarah Gibby Peris, Elizabeth Pinborough, Ronald Read, Brent Rogers, Leslie Sherman, William W. Slaughter, Alex D. Smith, Mark L. Staker, Elizabeth Stubbs, Norman E. Waite, Nick Walker, April Williamson, Julia K. Woodbury, Robert J. Woodford, Jed Woodworth, and Ellen N. Yates.
We express our thanks to Glenn N. Rowe, Church History Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for his tireless assistance with the documents; to Gordon A. Madsen, Joseph Smith Papers, for assistance in understanding legal issues referred to in these documents; and to Larry E. Morris, Joseph Smith Papers, for drafting the chronology. Welden C. Andersen of the Audiovisual Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, shot the textual photographs in this volume and helped prepare them for the press. We also thank Anna Staley and Viola Knecht for administrative assistance. John Hajicek provided valuable insight into John Corrill’s history.
The index to the first two volumes of the Histories series, as well as the other indexes of The Joseph Smith Papers, are better because of the guidance and help provided by John P. Kaminski, Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution; Margaret A. Hogan and Hobson Woodward, Papers of John Adams; Tom Downey, Papers of Thomas Jefferson; Jennifer E. Stertzer, Papers of George Washington; Frances Lennie, Indexing Research; David K. Ream, Leverage Technologies; and Melvin Bashore, Church History Department.
Over the years these volumes have been in production, many student researchers at Brigham Young University, under the guidance of Kay Darowski of the Joseph Smith Papers, have provided valuable research support. They include Kendall Buchanan, Jared P. Collette, Justin Collings, Lia Suttner Collings, Christopher K. Crockett, Eric Dowdle, James A. Goldberg, David W. Grua, Angella L. Hamilton, Christopher C. Jones, Cort Kirksey, Mary-Celeste Lewis, Jason N. Olson, Benjamin E. Park, Daren E. Ray, Sandra Mason Roller, Timothy D. Speirs, Virginia E. Stratford, M. Nathaniel Tanner, Kathryn Jensen Wall, and Stephen Whitaker.
The maps in this volume were prepared in consultation with Max H Parkin and developed under the direction of Brandon Plewe of the Department of Geography, Brigham Young University, with assistance from Brent Beck, Lyle Briggs, Benjamin Clift, Derek Farnes, Vania Hernandez, Tyler Jones, Isaac Montague, Kent Simons, Jared Tamez, and Lissa Thompson.
We thank the management and staff at Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, for their assistance with the design, printing, and distribution of this volume. Especially appreciated are the contributions of Sheri L. Dew, Cory H. Maxwell, Anne Sheffield, Richard Erickson, Suzanne Brady, Gail Halladay, Derk Koldewyn, Emily Fairchild, Holly Kuck, Katherine Nelson, Abigail Thurman, and Rebecca Chambers.
In addition to generous support from the Church History Library and Brigham Young University, our institutional sponsors, we acknowledge the ongoing encouragement and financial support of the Larry H. Miller and Gail Miller Family Foundation. The Millers are true friends of Mormon historical scholarship.