As historians continue to sort through the beginnings of Mormonism, Dan Vogel's comprehensive inventory of all relevant primary documents is an unparalleled achievement. In this first of a multi-volume series, Joseph Smith's family--Emma, Katharine, Lucy, Joseph Sr., William, and others--recount how they became convinced of his high calling, feeling "the spirit of God like a burning fire shut up in bones." These narratives are carefully presented in their...

Who else, besides Joseph Smith, saw the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated? Martin Harris, one of the Three Witnesses, said that he saw the holy record with his "spiritual eyes," that the plates were otherwise kept concealed in a wooden box, wrapped in a cloth, and that nobody saw them. The Eight Witnesses, according to Harris, hesitated to sign a written testimonial for the...

The Bancroft Library, one of the premier research institutions in the world, was founded in 1859 by Hubert H. Bancroft, a San Francisco bookseller, publisher, and collector. The documents and artifacts he amassed on the American West—from Alaska to Panama—were unsurpassed. In 1906 the University of California acquired the Bancroft collection and now celebrates the centennial of that acquisition. Over the past century, the library has expanded to include...

These diaries cover a decade, 1880-1898, in which Roberts was active in Utah as a young church leader. They are his apprenticeship years when he developed the skills that would characterize the rest of his career. Besides illuminating the character of the man himself, they also add much to our knowledge of this pivotal time in history.

In 1886 John Nuttall was famously on the polygamy "underground" with LDS President John Taylor. The revelation confirmed the continuance of polygamy less than a year before the Manifesto would reverse that determination. In 1889 the issue of concern was a federal challenge to Mormon citizenship because of suspicion that Mormons swore an oath of vengeance against the United States as part of the temple ceremony.

It was because of Smoot's political clout that Mormon immigrants were allowed to leave Ellis Island; that LDS colonists in Chihuahua were provided safe passage out of Mexico; and that missionaries were allowed back into Australia, Europe, New Zealand, and South Africa after World War I. On the other hand, his protection of Mormon sugar interests in Idaho and Hawaii caused instability in Cuba, his insistence on punitive reparations...

The first Latter-day Saint temple ceremonies were performed, not in Kirtland, Ohio, but on the second floor of Joseph Smith’s Red Brick Store in Nauvoo, Illinois. For nearly four years beginning in 1842, the prophet’s modest mercantile functioned as the de facto temple—the site of the first washings, anointings, endowments, and sealings. In contrast, the grand edifice known as the Nauvoo Temple was in operation for only two months...

James Henry Moyle was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under U.S. president Woodrow Wilson, Commissioner of Customs under President Theodore Roosevelt, and special assistant to treasury secretary Henry Morgenthau. He was also president of the LDS Eastern States Mission.

In the eleven years since the New Mormon Studies CD-ROM was first released, computers have bulked up to about eight times as much RAM and fifteen times the speed. Taking advantage of these developments, the 2009 edition has greater computational capacity and is quicker. The content has not changed—only the software has. You will find that you can enjoy the same ease of installation and functionality as with your original...

Award-winning researcher and writer Devery S. Anderson has brought together in this volume a comprehensive collection of documents relating to Mormon temple worship. These are official communications, most of them never before presented to the general public, limited only by what would be inappropriate to discuss publicly. They include rulings by the First Presidency on changes to the ceremonies, letters to temple and stake presidents and bishops reminding them...