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Introduction

As we consider the rich heritage we have received as Latter-day Saints and the faith and sacrifice of those who have gone before us, there is no question that the Lord blessed the early Saints of this dispensation, who were given "power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness" (D&C 1:30). Since its organization on 6 April 1830, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has attracted a great host of converts and received much attention from the general public. In 1852, Charles Mackay, an English author, published a small engraved work that he claimed was the first public history of "that new religion" founded in America by Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805-1844), "one of the most remarkable persons who has appeared on the stage of the world in modern times" (The Mormons, or Latter-day Saints [London: Office of National Illustrated Library, 1852], p. iv). While it is certain that Mackay was not the first to write a public history of the Latter-day Saints, he was undoubtedly correct when he stated that Joseph Smith was a remarkable person. The Saints agree that their Prophet was an exceptional and inspired leader, but both Latter-day Saint and non-Latter-day Saint historians have also generally recognized that the church he founded and the converts to it were also extraordinary. Clearly this history is worth retelling to each succeeding generation.

Since the book of scripture known as the Doctrine and Covenants is intimately tied to the early history of the restored Church, our work draws many of its themes and topics from the text of this modern witness of Christ. The 1981 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants contains 138 sections and 2 official declarations. Of these, 133 were received principally through the Prophet Joseph Smith. The 7 remaining sections and declarations were received or recorded by or under the direction of Oliver Cowdery, John Taylor, Brigham Young, Joseph F. Smith, Wilford Woodruff, and Spencer W. Kimball (see D&C 102, 134, 135, 136, 138, Official Declarations 1 and 2).

These important revelations, commandments, letters, prayers, and inspired writings are recognized by the Latter-day Saints as "the will of the Lord, … the mind of the Lord, … the word of the Lord, … the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation" (D&C 64:4). Through the pages of the Doctrine and Covenants, the world of the dedicated women and men of the Church is uncovered as they attempted to understand their personal missions, especially as those missions related to the coming forth of the kingdom of God in the latter days.

This book is an attempt to reveal our common Latter-day Saint history in a new and exciting way. It does not follow the customary method of describing the story based on a strictly chronological review of dates, names, and places. It uses material culture-artifacts-as a means of visualizing social settings. Material culture research is both an old and a new discipline in the United States, yet it still has not won a wide following among historians. While the definition of the term material culture is debated among scholars, we use the term to mean "artifacts." (See Thomas J. Schlereth, "Material Culture and Cultural Research," in Material Culture: A Research Guide, ed. Thomas J. Schlereth [Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1985], pp. 3-7.)