The editors of this volume wish to gratefully acknowledge those who gave so generously of their time, means, and expertise in support of this work and the Joseph Smith Papers Project itself. We give special thanks to the administrators and officials of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, which sponsors the project, and to the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation for their ongoing and liberal financial support. We also express special thanks to the management, staff, and missionaries of the Church History Library, Salt Lake City, where the project is centered and where the majority of Joseph Smith’s papers are located.
Numerous other libraries and repositories also provided materials and assistance. These include the Family History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City; the Community of Christ Library-Archives, Independence, Missouri; the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, Illinois; the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah; the Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City; the Special Collections and Archives, Merrill-Cazier Library, Utah State University, Logan, Utah; the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut; the Illinois State Archives, Springfield; the Illinois Regional Archives Depository, Malpass Library, Western Illinois University, Macomb; the International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Pioneer Memorial Museum, Salt Lake City; the Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City; the National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC; the National Archives and Records Administration, Great Lakes Region, Chicago, Illinois; the Quincy Public Library, Quincy, Illinois; the State Historical Society of Iowa, Des Moines; the State Historical Society of Missouri at the Ellis Library, University of Missouri, Columbia; the Daviess County, Missouri, Courthouse, Gallatin; the Hancock County Circuit Clerk’s Office, Carthage, Illinois; the Hancock County Clerk’s and Recorder’s Office, Carthage; the Hancock County Historical Society, Carthage; and the Keokuk Public Library, Keokuk, Iowa.
We express special thanks to Dean C. Jessee, whose unpublished third volume of The Papers of Joseph Smith served as the foundation of this volume, and to Richard Lloyd Anderson, who continues to excel as the quintessential reviewer of Nauvoo history. Our understanding of Nauvoo and Illinois history in general has also benefited from our interaction with Benjamin Pykles, Emily Utt, and Gary Boatright of the Historic Sites division of the Church History Department; Donald L. Enders, formerly of that division; Glen M. Leonard, former director of the Church History Museum, Salt Lake City; Bryon Andreasen, formerly of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and currently with the Church History Museum; and Lachlan MacKay, Mark Scherer, Rene Romig, and Ronald E. Romig, historians and site directors of the Community of Christ. We are also grateful for the insights into Nauvoo plural marriage, ritual, the Council of Fifty, various legal issues, and numerous other topics provided by Gerrit Dirkmaat, assistant professor of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah; Kate Holbrook, historian with the Women’s History Initiative, Church History Library; and Jonathan A. Stapley, Samuel M. Brown, D. Michael Quinn, Brian C. Hales, Jill Mulvay Derr, Jeffrey Walker, and Gordon Madsen.
A number of other people contributed to this volume, including employees and interns of the Church History Department, faculty and researchers at Brigham Young University, individuals associated with other academic institutions and repositories, independent researchers and editors, and volunteers. We are especially grateful for the help of Kay Darowski and her team of research assistants at Brigham Young University, including Lisse L. Brox, Ethan Christensen, Jared P. Collette, Justin Collings, Lia Suttner Collings, 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, Ryan W. Saltzgiver, David Harrison Smith, Timothy D. Speirs, Virginia E. Stratford, M. Nathaniel Tanner, Kathryn Jensen Wall, Stephen Whitaker, and Kally Whittle. We also express thanks to interns Charles Matthew Cox, Stephanie Edgerton, Christina Jenkins, Nathan Jones, Amber Laursen, and Jeremy Lofthouse; missionaries Eleanor Brainard, Lee Ann Clanton, Jay R. Eastley, Naoma W. Eastley, and David H. Kitterman, who worked under the direction of Jeffrey G. Cannon; research assistant Jeffrey Mahas; text verifiers Cort Kirksey and Katie Pitts-Olson; source checkers Whitney Hinckley, Melissa Rehon Kotter, Rachel Osborne, and Keaton Reed; and editorial assistants Kimberly A. Dalton and Stephanie Steed.
We are indebted to several other individuals whose talents and expertise added materially to our understanding of the text and context of Joseph Smith’s Nauvoo journals. These include Gene A. Ware of Brigham Young University, who utilized multispectral imaging techniques to restore faded or erased text; Welden C. Andersen of the Publishing Services Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who took the textual photographs featured in the volume and helped analyze multispectral images of damaged text; and LaJean Purcell Carruth, who deciphered the shorthand that Willard Richards employed in several journal entries.
Maps for 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, Jonathan West, Heidi Springsteed, and Brice Lucas. Several of these maps were based on work done by Brandon Plewe and his team of researchers from Brigham Young University for the previous volumes of Joseph Smith’s journals. 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.
Brian P. Barton, Noel R. Barton, Wayne T. Morris, and Steven Motteshard provided the research for the biographical directory. Amanda Owens oversaw the development of the geographical directory and glossary, and Dana Pike, professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University, and Sharon E. Nielsen of the Joseph Smith Papers helped transliterate several Hebrew words that appear in the journals. Sharon, along with Brady Winslow, also collected the information contained in the organizational charts.
Special thanks are also due to Larry E. Morris, who compiled early iterations of the chronology; Sarah Gibby Peris, who helped copyedit the biographical directory; Kiersten Olson, who served as the administrative assistant for the entire project; Glenn N. Rowe and Brandon Metcalf for assistance with original documents; and Kate Mertes and Kelley Konzak for the excellent index to this volume, which together with previous indexes prepared by the Joseph Smith Papers staff forms the cumulative Journals series index.
We also thank the management and staff at Deseret Book for their help with the design, printing, distribution, and marketing of this volume. We especially acknowledge Sheri L. Dew, Laurel Christensen Day, Richard Erickson, Suzanne Brady, Derk Koldewyn, and David Kimball.