Item Detail
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26055
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1
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0
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English
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Letters from Joseph F. Smith to His Adopted Son Edward Arthur Smith
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Joseph F. Smith : Reflections on the Man and His Times
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Provo, UT
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Religious Studies Center, BYU ; Deseret Book Company
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114-132
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Sometime in the mid-1940s, LaVon Lyons Moore saw a piece of paper blowing around in her grandmother's backyard. As she picked up the paper to throw it in the trash, she realized it was a letter written on First Presidency stationery from Joseph F. Smith to her late grandfather Edward Arthur Smith. A quick scramble recovered at least twenty-five letters to Edward, Joseph's adopted son, but many more were lost to a fire in a backyard fireplace.
From these letters, we learn that Edward and his adopted father sustained a frequent and regular correspondence throughout their lives. For this article, the author has reviewed the contents of these letters and selected the most frequently referenced topics, which cover education and personal development, the importance of work, family health issues, and religious doctrine and instruction. [From the text]