Item Detail
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33944
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0
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0
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English
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Laying Down Heads in Written and Oral Composition
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Visions in a Seer Stone: Joseph Smith and the Making of the Book of Mormon
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14-32
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"Following the organization of the 'Church of Christ' in 1830, Joseph Smith developed and refined the administration of his nascent church with a series of ongoing revelations. Included among these early directives was a command to keep historical records dealing with the rise and progress of the Mormon faith. Subsequently, in 1832, Smith, with the help of Frederick G. Williams as a scribe, started working on a history of the church. The handwriting in the manuscript reveals that Smith alternated between dictating to Williams and writing in his own hand. This initial draft, however, was relatively short and soon abandoned. Even so, the manuscript remains instructive. Apart form being an important resource for understanding the ways in which Smith would develop and articulate his representation of the growing church, the text becomes significant for another, more fundamental reason: the manuscript reveals Smith's personal method and style of composition." [From the text]