Bifolium measuring 12¼ × 8 inches (31 × 20 cm) when folded. Each page is ruled with thirty-five horizontal printed lines. The minutes of a 12 January 1842 branch conference referred to in the letter are inscribed on the first three pages. The letter begins at the bottom of the third page and continues onto the fourth page. The document was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer.

The minutes and letter were presumably received in , Illinois, in late 1842. The document was docketed by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844. Another docket was inscribed by , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1859. Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office in 1891 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941, added to the Hawkins docket. The document is part of the JS Collection Supplement at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The Church Historical Department published a register of the JS Collection in 1973. Between 1974 and 1984, staff continued to locate documents authored by or directed to JS in uncataloged church financial records and in name and subject files. The department also acquired additional JS documents from donors, collectors, and dealers. These newly located and acquired documents were kept together in a supplement to the JS Collection. A preliminary inventory of the supplement was created in 1992. This group of records was named the JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, and its cataloging was finalized in 2017. The minutes and letter have presumably been in continuous institutional custody.