Winner of the Mormon History Association Best Documentary History/Bibliography Award, 2014. This second volume of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers  opens in the summer of 1831 with the designation of Jackson County, Missouri, as the location of Zion and follows a period of administrative growth and doctrinal development in the church Joseph Smith founded. The volume contains revelations, correspondence, minutes of meetings in which Joseph Smith participated, and licenses provided to church officers. It documents the creation of the United Firm, the decision to print Joseph Smith's revelations, and the first meeting of the School of the Prophets. The volume also illuminates Joseph Smith's family life through two poignant letters from Joseph to his wife Emma. Well researched, scrupulously proofread, and expertly annotated, these volumes, and this edition, will surely stand as the definitive one for many generations. --Kenneth P. Minkema, Review of Documents vols. 1 and 2 of the Joseph Smith Papers, Journal of the Early Republic 35, no. 1 (Spring 2015), 157-159 The volumes published thus far represent the high-water mark for LDS documentary editing. . . . The editors should be commended for their painstaking attention to detail and the overall quality of the publications. --Thomas A. Wayment, "Review: The Joseph Smith Papers, Documents, Volumes 1-2," Religious Educator 15, no. 3 (2014): 129-131 This series is where the "trickle down" effect of the Papers in the hands of future historians and biographers will probably be most powerful. As has come to be expected, these volumes feature painstaking precision and a primary source focus. A fine achievement and a welcome addition to any library, either for a researcher or interested reader. --Bryan Buchanan, Review of Documents vols. 1 and 2 of the Joseph Smith Papers, Association for Mormon Letters Discussion Board, Jan. 25, 2014 The second volume in the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers illuminates Joseph Smith's life from July 1831 through January 1833. Covering a period in which Joseph Smith emphasized church record keeping, this volume contains revelations, correspondence,minutes of meetings in which Smith participated, and licenses provided to church officers. These documents allow readers to see both the administrative growth of the Church of Christ and Joseph Smith's maturation as its leader. On 20 July 1831, Joseph Smith dictated the revelation that opens this volume, a document stating that Jackson County, Missouri, would be the location of the city of Zion--the New Jerusalem to which God's elect would be gathered in preparation for the second coming of Jesus Christ. The logistical and organizational challenges that arose as the city of Zion was developed play a prominent role in the volume. Documents in this volume record the establishment of new ecclesiastical offices to address those organizational difficulties, and they chart the rise of the United Firm, an administrative body in both Missouri and Ohio that was created to govern the church's mercantile and publishing endeavors. By presenting the texts of over forty of Joseph Smith's revelations and visions, this volume also chronicles doctrinal developments in the church. These revelations were pronouncements in the voice of Deity that Smith's followers accepted as God's word, and their substance ranged from providing instruction to individual church members to issuing warnings to the earth's inhabitants of the imminent disasters preceding Christ's return. Some revelations unfolded stunning new doctrines, including an account of the three kingdoms of heavenly glory awaiting God's children and a detailed delineation of the two priesthoods God had bestowed on humankind. Others provided specific direction to church members on the establishment of the city of Zion in Missouri and emphasized the importance of gathering to that area. The revelations were considered so significant that church leaders decided in November 1831 to publish them as the Book of Commandments--a decision documented by several revelations and minutes in this volume. But Joseph Smith was not only the leader of a religious movement. He was a man with a family and faith and hopes and difficulties all his own. Included in this volume are two holograph letters from Joseph Smith to his wife Emma. These poignant letters depict a man who enjoyed the company of Emma and their daughter, Julia, who missed them when he was traveling, and who worried about their safety and well-being. The volume also contains a personal history that Joseph Smith began preparing in the summer of 1832, which recounts significant life events,including the appearance of heavenly messengers to him and his early attempts to translate the Book of Mormon. Other documents show Joseph Smith's interactions with leaders in the church, including his frustration with Missouri leaders who questioned his leadership. These documents, which have