At a general held in , Illinois, on 4–5 May 1839, , , and were appointed to collect anti-Mormon publications and then publish a history that detailed the church’s difficulties in , in part to refute anti-Mormon claims. This appointment corresponded with a letter JS wrote while incarcerated in , Missouri, proposing that a committee be formed “to gether up the libilous publications that are afloat” in order to “publish to all the world” the suffering of the Saints. At the general conference in which Babbitt, Snow, and Thompson were appointed to this task, JS directed Babbitt and Snow to collect anti-Mormon publications while traveling and preaching. They were to send collected materials to Thompson, who would write the history of the church members’ experiences.

Following the conference, JS signed the featured authorization for , , and to use while they fulfilled their duties. Presumably, each man received a copy, but personal copies of the authorization have not been found. copied the authorization into JS Letterbook 2 between 29 May and 30 October 1839; that version is featured here.