The Joseph Smith Papers Project is made possible by the help and cooperation of hundreds of people. Though we here primarily identify the individuals and institutions who have contributed to this volume, we are mindful of our ever-increasing debt to our many colleagues and friends who are assisting with later volumes or more general undertakings.
Administrators and officials of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, and Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, have provided support and resources that have facilitated this work. We give special acknowledgment to management and staff at the Church History Library, Salt Lake City, where the bulk of the Joseph Smith papers are housed. We also express deep appreciation to officials of the Community of Christ, Independence, Missouri, who made the four loose leaves from Revelation Book 1 available from their archives. In addition to the Church History Library and the Community of Christ Library-Archives, other repositories have provided valuable material and assistance, including L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University; and the Family History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City.
We express special thanks to Community of Christ historian Mark Scherer and archivist Ronald E. Romig for helping coordinate the photographing of the four loose leaves of Revelation Book 1. Chris McAfee and Russell C. Fuhriman of the Church History Library’s conservation lab provided necessary work in conserving the fragile pages of Revelation Book 1, including the loose leaves. Glenn N. Rowe, of the Church History Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, provided important transcription work and careful custodianship of the documents.
The Joseph Smith Papers Project relies on the skills and dedication of employees of the Church History Department; faculty, researchers, and editors at Brigham Young University; retired scholars and other volunteers; and independent researchers and editors. Among those who contributed to the development of this volume are Linda Hunter Adams, Mark Ashurst-McGee, Ronald O. Barney, Brian P. Barton, Noel R. Barton, Alexander L. Baugh, Kathryn Burnside, Jeffrey G. Cannon, Lee Ann Clanton, Jared P. Collette, Justin Collings, Lia Suttner Collings, Joseph F. Darowski, Kay Darowski, Karen Lynn Davidson, Patrick C. Dunshee, William G. Hartley, Kay Hausheer, Maurice G. Hausheer, Sharalyn D. Howcroft, Elizabeth L. Jensen, Emily W. Jensen, Carol H. Jones, Christopher C. Jones, Viola Knecht, Mary-Celeste Lewis, Mark I. Macdonald, Andrea Maxfield, Kaitlin W. Merkley, Steven Motteshard, Helen Jo Murphy, Benjamin E. Park, Martha Parker, Max Parkin, Elizabeth Pinborough, Ryan W. Saltzgiver, Heather Seferovich, Alex D. Smith, Kelli M. Smith, Anna Staley, Elizabeth Stubbs, Grant Underwood, Norman E. Waite, Kathryn Jensen Wall, F. Michael Watson, Lorin Welker, Vivian Wellman, David J. Whittaker, and Ellen Yates. We also wish to thank Jed Woodworth, a former Joseph Smith Papers staff member, whose significant contributions to Journals, Volume 1 we neglected to mention in the acknowledgments of that volume.
Employees of several other departments at church headquarters in Salt Lake City provided invaluable assistance. Welden C. Andersen, of the Audiovisual Department, shot the textual photographs in this volume. Charles M. Baird, Materials Management Department, prepared the photographs for publication with assistance from Stephen L. Chamberlain, of the same department. The quality and quantity of the textual photographs published herein attest to the expertise of these three gentlemen and to the generosity of their respective managers in allowing us to use so much of their time. Among the skilled professionals in the Curriculum Department who advised us on editorial or design matters are Neil E. Brown, Susan Hainsworth, Daniel B. Hogan, Scott M. Mooy, Andrew D. Olsen, and Scott Welty. We benefited from the wisdom of Craig K. Sedgwick and his colleagues at the church’s Salt Lake Printing Center, a division of the Materials Management Department. Clark D. Christensen, Information and Communications Systems Department, provided technical support.
We are grateful for the expertise of Gene A. Ware, Brigham Young University, who applied multispectral imaging techniques to assist with the recovery of badly faded text. Management and staff at Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, expertly and patiently assisted with the design, typesetting, printing, and distribution of this volume. In particular, we thank Sheri L. Dew, Cory H. Maxwell, Anne Sheffield, Richard Erickson, Suzanne Brady, Laurie C. Cook, and Gail Halladay. We thank Scott Eggers, of Scott Eggers Design, Salt Lake City, for designing the dust jacket and cover. Curt Bench, owner of Benchmark Books, Salt Lake City; Jared Smith, an assistant editor with Gibbs Smith Publisher, Layton, Utah; and Doug Maxwell, director of Print Services at Brigham Young University, shared helpful insights on the design of the volume.
In addition to generous support from the Church History Library and Brigham Young University, our institutional sponsors, the project has been blessed by generous funding by Larry H. and Gail Miller. Larry passed away before this volume was completed, but we are grateful he was able to read and express enthusiasm about earlier drafts. His boundless energy and his vision for what this project could be will always inspire us. We thank the Miller family for their continuing support and friendship.
Finally, we express gratitude to our families, who have stood by us during the long process of preparing this volume.