Episode Twenty One: Printing the Book of Mormon Part 2: It was August 1829 when Hyrum Smith, with Peter Whitmer Jr. acting as bodyguard, delivered 24 pages of the printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon to the printing establishment of Egbert B. Grandin. And the work of printing the Book of Mormon began. It would take about seven months to print…

Episode Eight: If Any of You Lack Wisdom: Joseph Smith said, “At about the age of twelve years my mind became seriously impressed with regard to the all important concerns for the welfare of my immortal soul, which led me to searching….I pondered many things in my heart concerning the situation of the world of mankind—the contentions and divisions.…

Episode Nine: The Space of Time Which Intervened: Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son in the spring of 1820 in answer to his earnest prayer. However, while it may have been the resolution for his personal crisis of faith it marked the beginning of the crisis of persecution that would follow him the rest of his life. This episode of History of t…

Episode Ten: The Years of Preparation: September 21, 1823, 17 year-old Joseph Smith Jr. learned from the angel Moroni of the ancient record buried in a hill not far from his home. He expected to receive that record when he went to the hill. He could not have known that it would take four years of instruction and intelligence before he would be able…

Episode 11: Emma Hale Smith: One of those whose contribution to the Restoration is incalculable was Emma Hale. A revelation, now known as Doctrine and Covenants 25, referred to her as “an elect lady whom I have called.” Emma was Joseph Smith’s wife, companion and confidant. This episode of History of the Saints is about her, her family, and those e…

Episode 12: Multitudes Were on the Alert: It was just after midnight on September 22, 1827, when Joseph Smith and his wife Emma journeyed to the Hill Cumorah and there Joseph received the Gold Plates from the angel Moroni. This episode deals with the story of those who tried every exertion to get the plates from Joseph. Scholars: Steven Harper, Lar…

Episode Thirteen: Martin Harris and the Three Wise Men of the East: By February 1828, Joseph and Emma Smith were living in Harmony Pennsylvania on the Isaac Hale farm. Joseph had copied some of the characters from the gold plates and by means of the Urim and Thummim had translated a few. This episode tells the story of Martin Harris coming to Harmo…

Episode Twenty Seven: The Lamanite Mission Part Two—On to the Missouri: October 1830, Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, Ziba Peterson, and Peter Whitmer Jr., the four missionaries called to preach to the Lamanites, set out on their journey to Indian lands west of the Missouri River. Along the way they stopped in the Kirtland area of northern Ohio wh…

Episode Fifteen: Oliver Cowdery: Chosen Witness. It was in the evening of April 5, 1829 when two visitors came to the door of Joseph and Emma Smith’s small cabin in Harmony, Pennsylvania. They had traveled 130 miles down from Manchester, New York in adverse weather. The two visitors were Samuel Harrison Smith, Joseph’s younger brother and the other…

Episode Sixteen: Translating the Book of Mormon: It was Tuesday April 7, 1829, in Harmony, Pennsylvania when 23 year-old Joseph Smith and 22 year-old Oliver Cowdery began translating the gold plates delivered by the angel Moroni. By July 1st, a span 85 days, they would produce the 588 pages of the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon. That is the sto…

Episode Seventeen: Restoration of the Priesthoods: Joseph smith once said, [The Melchizedek Priesthood] “is the channel through which all knowledge, doctrine, the plan of salvation, and every important matter is revealed from heaven.” This episode of History of the Saints is about the restoration of the Priesthoods. Scholars: Larry Porter, Mark Sta…

Episode Eighteen: The Book of Mormon, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder: Joseph Smith completed the translation of the present Book of Mormon text between April 7, 1829 and July 1, 1829. When all things of its origins are considered, the Book of Mormon is a marvelous work and a wonder—indeed—a miracle. That is this episode of History of the Saints. Sch…

Episode Nineteen: Book of Mormon Witnesses: “Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people unto whom this work shall come, that we through the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record....We beheld and bear record that these things are true. And it is marvelous in our eyes.” So …

Episode Twenty: Printing the Book of Mormon: From the very beginning it had been Joseph Smith’s intent to publish the Book of Mormon to the world. There would be 5000 copies of a book with more than 500 pages, bound in leather, and on frontier America that was a daunting and expensive undertaking. Who could they get to print it? This episode of His…

Episode Twenty Two: The Organization of the Church of Christ: In a revelation to Joseph Smith in the summer 1828, the Lord said, “If this generation harden not their hearts, I will establish my Church among them.” The promise was that the Lord would restore his Church once more among them and Joseph and his brethren anxiously awaited that fulfillme…

Episode Twenty Three: Martin Harris and the Book of Mormon: In August 1829, Martin Harris, a prosperous Palmyra farmer, entered into an agreement with Egbert B. Grandin of Palmyra, a printer, that he would pay for the printing of 5000 copies of the Book of Mormon for $3000, an enormous sum of money for the time and difficult to come by, and to secu…

Episode Twenty Four: The New York Revelations: On April 6, 1830, the Church of Christ was organized once again upon the earth. On the very day of that organization a revelation was received that outlined principles for the governing of the Church—Doctrine and Covenants 21. From that time forward revelations continued to come instructing the Saints …

Episode Twenty Five: The Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible: Joseph Smith Jr. had been raised in a Bible-reading family amid a Bible-fearing culture. Of course it was an integral part of his life. In the course of translating the Book of Mormon he learned that many plain and precious truths had been taken from the Bible and must needs be restore…

Episode Twenty Six: The Mission to the Lamanites Part 1: It was September 1830 when Joseph Smith received a revelation that we now know as DC 28. In that revelation the Lord says to Oliver Cowdery, “And now behold I say unto you that you shall go unto the Lamanites and preach my Gospel unto them and inasmuch as they receive thy teachings thou shalt…

Episode Twenty Eight: The Move to the Ohio: In 1843 in Nauvoo, Joseph Smith would say, “the main object of the gathering was to build unto the Lord a house whereby He could reveal unto his people the ordinances of His house and the glories of His kingdom.” He was speaking of the Gathering. It was the winter of 1830-31, when the call was sounded for…

Episode Fourteen: The Lost Manuscript: In this episode of History of the Saints we tell the story of the Lost Manuscript of the Book of Mormon—the so-called 116 pages—the Book of Lehi. What happened and what did it mean? Scholars: Mark Staker, Andrew Hedges, Michael MacKay, Larry Porter, Steven Harper, Richard Bennett…

Episode Seven: The Early Years on Palmyra: Palmyra, New York was first settled in 1789 and was called Swift’s Landing after its founder, General John Swift. Then in 1796 the name was changed to Palmyra. By the summer of 1816, word had spread of cheap productive farmland in Palmyra. It was a place of promise and a thriving and growing community. The…

Episode Six: The Early Years of the Joseph Smith Sr. Family: Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack were married January 24, 1796 at Tunbridge Vermont. They began their life together with a $1000 wedding present and part ownership of a “handsome” farm, but within a few years they had lost that farm. Those early New England years were difficult enough that …

Episode Five: The Grandfathers of Joseph Smith: President Brigham Young said of Joseph Smith, “The Lord had his eyes upon him and upon his father and upon his father’s father and upon their progenitors clear back to Abraham….He has watched that family and that blood as it has circulated from its fountain to the birth of that man.” (DBY 108) This ep…

Episode Four: The Prelude to the Restoration: Elder Mark E. Petersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, “The Restoration of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in these latter days together with the advance preparation of conditions which made it possible, was indeed a divine drama which had many stages and many scenes, some of which were w…

Episode Three: The Rise of the Bible: Young Joseph Smith read from the Bible in the spring of 1820 and the history of this world was indisputably and dramatically altered. It may be assumed that everyone in 1820 had a Bible and that it had always been there—and in English, but of course as this episode of History of the Saints will show that was no…

Episode Two: The First Vision: President Gordon B. Hinckley called the First Vision “The hinge pin on which this whole cause turns….Everything turns on the reality of that First Vision.” In this episode of History of the Saints we tell the story of that monumental and foundational theophany that is so important to Mormonism. Scholars: Steven Harper…

Episode One: The Last Days of Brigham Young: Brigham Young governed the Church for 33 years—longer than any other man. He died August 29, 1877 in Salt Lake City. This episode is the story of the legacy and last days of President Brigham Young.

The first season of the acclaimed History of the Saints documentary television series begins where the last season of the Joseph Smith Papers left off; the Martyrdom of Joseph Smith at Carthage, and follows the Latter-day Saints through the last days of Nauvoo and across the plains in search of their new home somewhere over the Rocky Mountains. His…

What objects will carry the Church into the future? Let's discuss.Oleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the priesthood ban on African AmericansOleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the role the Church's pavilion played in the worlds fairOleh Joe Hawkins

History on the wheat project and the beginnings of the welfare programOleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the emergence of the largest genealogical society in the worldOleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the manifesto to end polygamy in the LDS ChurchOleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the emergence of a new book of scripture in 1880Oleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the Utah War of 1857Oleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the reformation of 1856-57Oleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the creation and placement of the Deseret Stone on the Washington Monument.Oleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the creation of the Church's choir and their successes.Oleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the 1848 harvest and the challenges involved in the Salt Lake ValleyOleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the final push to Utah!Oleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the organization and trek of the famous Mormon BattalionOleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the Mormon voyage from New York to San FranciscoOleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the Mormons expulsion from Nauvoo and the preparations for their trek west.Oleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the succession crisis after the death of the prophet Joseph Smith in 1844.Oleh Joe Hawkins

History around the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum SmithOleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the creation of the Nauvoo Temple PlansOleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the beginnings of plural marriage in the Mormon ChurchOleh Joe Hawkins

Details around the emergence of the Mormon Relief Society and the role the Nauvoo relief society minute book played in it.Oleh Joe Hawkins