Important Documents from Latter-day Saint History

I’ve always had the idea running in the back of my mind to compile a list of the most important documents across the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that are not in the scriptures nor book-length publications.  Documents in the list include important summaries of doctrine that capture the thought of an era, documents that outlined and solidified an approach to policy or doctrine in the Church, or which signaled some significant changes.  I’m going to take a stab at it here, though no doubt it will fall far short of the goal.  Still, I’ll try to present in approximate chronological order and break it up into four broad eras, roughly following the time periods covered by each volume of the Saints history series.

Period 1: Up to 1846

• 1832 Joseph Smith’s History
  • The earliest effort on Joseph Smith’s part to write down a history, it is the account closest to the events of the First Vision and the visit of the angel to introduce the Book of Mormon
• Lectures on Faith
  • These were lectures that covered a lot of basic doctrines of the Church prepared in Kirtland and published as the “doctrine” section of the Doctrine and Covenants until the 1920s, when they were phased out (at least partly due to a more trinitarian description of God)
• 1835, Oliver Cowdery’s Charge to the Twelve
  • This has the account of what Oliver Cowdery told the Quorum of the Twelve when they were originally organized, functioning as a sort of charter for the quorum
• 1838, Joseph Smith, Questions and Answers
  • Primarily important for Joseph Smith’s statement about the centrality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Church’s doctrines
• 1840, Orson Pratt’s An Interesting Account of Several Remarkable Visions
  • This is one of the earliest histories of the Church to be published, including being the first published account of the First Vision and a predecessor of the Articles of Faith
• 1842, Hyrum Smith on the Word of Wisdom
  • This is the most contemporary documentation of Church leaders interpreting “hot drinks” as coffee and tea
• 1842, The Wentworth Letter
  • A brief history and summary of Church doctrine that includes the Articles of Faith and the Standard of Truth statements
• 1842, Minutes of the First Meeting of the Relief Society
  • This is the record of the organization of the Relief Society
• 1842 Joseph Smith Remarks to Relief Society, 30 March 1842
  • This document is central to the debates over women and the priesthood in the Church, since Joseph Smith talks about turning the Relief Society into “a kingdom of priests an in Enoch’s day,” which has led to arguments over whether he intended women to become priests or not
• 1842 Editorial, 15 April 1842, Baptism for the Dead
  • This document, issued not long after baptisms for the dead was announced, lays out the doctrinal rationales for proxy work for the dead
• 1842 Joseph Smith Remarks to Relief Society, 28 April 1842
  • Another document that is significant in the debates over women’s role in the Church, this one includes discussion about Relief Society sisters and spiritual gifts, including the gift of healing
• 1842 Revelation, 27 July 1842
  • This is probably the earliest record of the wording for a marriage/sealing ordinance in the Church, though subsequent wording for the official ordinance was significantly different than this private wedding event
• 1843 Joseph Smith Sermon, 9 July 1843
  • One of the more ecumenical of Joseph Smith’s sermons, this one is where he made the statement that “one of the grand fundamental principles of Mormonism is to receive truth, let it come from where it may.”
• 1843 Joseph Smith Sermon, 23 July 1843
  • This sermon is focused around building a heavenly community during a time of persecution, and includes the statement that: “friendship is the grand fundamental principle of Mormonism.”
• 1843 Joseph Smith Sermon, 9 October 1843
  • Sermon at the funeral of James Adams where Joseph Smith explains the differences between types of angels.
• 1844 Joseph Smith’s King Follett Discourse
  • This is generally considered the most important sermon given by Joseph Smith, it covers a lot about the Plan of Salvation through a uniquely Latter-day Saint lens.
• 1844 Joseph Smith’s Sermon in the Grove
  • One of Joseph Smith’s final sermons, this one focuses on the doctrine of a plurality of Gods.
• 1844 Brigham Young on Succession Crisis
  • These sermons were given by Brigham Young when the Quorum of the Twelve was at odds with Sidney Rigdon over who would follow Joseph Smith in leading the Church and outlines their claim to authority.
• 1845, Proclamation of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  • Proclamation written in compliance with the 1841 revelation that is now D&C 124, this was published as a statement to leaders of governments about the restoration of the Gospel.
• 1845 Statement of the Twelve on Joseph Smith’s Charge to the Quorum of the Twelve
  • This is the closest to contemporary document to record what Joseph Smith told the Quorum of the Twelve when he “roll[ed] the burthen and responsibility of leading this church off from my shoulders on to yours.”
• 1845 Brigham Young 1845 Letter to William Smith
  • This is an important document in outlining how Brigham Young viewed his control over the sealing authority in the Church while engaged in a conflict over who should lead the Church with the younger brother of Joseph Smith.
• 1845 Eliza R. Snow, “My Father in Heaven”
  • This classic hymn is the earliest documents in the Church to record the idea of a Mother in Heaven.

Period 2: 1846-1893

• 1847 Brigham Young’s Dream of Joseph Smith
  • This dream where Brigham Young asks Joseph Smith about the practice of adoption sealings of that time includes the memorable quote about listening to the Holy Ghost. It also led to a lesser focus on adoption sealings.
• 1851 Brigham Young’s Statement on the Word of Wisdom
  • Whether it was the intention at the time or not, this moment was used at the turn of the twentieth century as the time when the Word of Wisdom was adopted as a commandment by general vote of the Church membership.
• 1852 Brigham Young’s Statement on the Priesthood Ban
  • Not all significant documents are good ones. This one is the official point at which we can say the priesthood and temple ban on individuals of black African descent went into full effect.
• 1852, Orson Pratt on Plural Marriage
  • This was the official announcement by the Church that we were practicing plural marriage and also provided the main apologetic defenses for the practice.
• 1853, Orson Pratt, “Celestial Marriage”
  • Another significant document written in defense of plural marriage, this article includes both one of the earliest versions of interpreting Jacob 2 in light of the Church practicing polygamy and the publication of the wording for the plural marriage sealing ordinance.
• 1865, Proclamation of the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles
  • Written in response to some publications by Elder Orson Pratt that proposed controversial understandings of the nature of God, this document outlined the order of the Church that new doctrines need to be established by the First Presidency.
• 1867, Brigham Young Discourse, December 8
  • After he disbanded Relief Society for over 20 years, this discourse marks the official green light for reorganizing the Church-wide Relief Society.
• 1868 Eliza R. Snow’s Commission to Reorganize the Relief Society
  • The recollection documents the president of the Church’s vision for the reorganized Relief Society as communicated to the society’s president.
• 1868, Eliza R. Snow, “Female Relief Society”
  • Written by Eliza R. Snow when she was traveling throughout Utah Territory to oversee the reestablishment of the Church-wide Relief Society, this provided an explanation of the society’s basic organizational patterns and objectives and tied the institution to the Nauvoo Relief Society and the New Testament Church.
• 1869, Eliza R. Snow, “Let Us Cultivate Ourselves”
  • This is an example of the addresses President Snow gave as she traveled around to reestablish the Relief Society, advocating for cultivating themselves as part of the society and caring for those in need.
• 1877, First Presidency Circular Letter
  • This letter served as the charter document for Brigham Young’s priesthood reforms during his final years, standardizing stake and ward organization throughout the Church.
• 1882 John Taylor 13 Oct 1882 Revelation
  • One of several revelations received by John Taylor while he led the Church, this is one of only two that were published. It dealt with Church organizational matters, particularly the call of three men to fill vacancies in the leading quorums of the Church.
• 1883, “To the Seventies”
  • This is the other document to include a published revelation by President John Taylor, this one was focused on organizing the quorums of the Seventies by geography rather than ordination.
• 1887, Wilford Woodruff Letter to Heber J. Grant
  • This letter was important in establishing the current practice of the senior apostle becoming the president of the Church after the death of his predecessor. It was originally meant to convince Heber J. Grant that it should be the practice of the Church and was subsequently used by President Grant to assert his right to lead after Joseph F. Smith’s death against claims by the patriarch of the Church.
• 1890 George Q. Cannon Remarks on the Manifesto
  • When the decision to have the Church stop practicing plural marriages was announced in a conference, President George Q. Cannon was asked to speak and he used the opportunity to share the rationales for stopping a defining practice of the Church.
• 1893 Mattie Horne Tingey, “The School of Experience”
  • This document is significant as a presentation from a member of the Church to the World’s Congress of Representative Women and as an example of introducing significant beliefs of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—including the belief in a Heavenly Mother—to an audience of people from a variety of faith traditions.
• 1893 Salt Lake City Temple Dedicatory Prayer
  • The Salt Lake Temple represents the culmination of decades of work during the early settlement of Utah by Latter-day Saints. The prayer to dedicate this temple is a nice counterpoint to the Kirtland Temple dedicatory prayer and addresses some of the major concerns of the time.

Period 3: 1893-1955

• 1894 Wilford Woodruff Sermon on The Law of Adoption
  • This discourse included the disclosure of a revelation to focus temple sealings on uniting biological families rather than sealing oneself to significant leaders of the Church. It led directly to the formation of the Church’s renowned genealogical research system.
• 1896 Political Manifesto
  • As the Church distanced itself somewhat from politics and joined into national political parties in the United States of America, there was some discord, particularly over the efforts of Democrats Apostle Moses Thatcher and Seventy B. H. Roberts to run for political office in congress. These disagreements frequently centered on acrimony between Church leaders who were Republicans (often trying to curtail the activities of Democrats in the Church hierarchy) and those who were Democrats (who resented efforts to curtail their activities.  This document was a resolution for leaders of the Church to not run for political office without approval from their superiors and for the Church to not interfere in the choices of individual Church members in political matters.
• 1898 Discourse by George Q. Cannon
  • This is one of the earliest signals given by general authorities that slowing down the gathering to Utah was considered a good idea.  While it didn’t mark a change in doctrine about gathering, it did mark a change in practice by asking missionaries to tell converts “in the various lands where they embrace the Gospel to remain quiet for awhile; to not be anxious to break up their homes to gather to Zion.”
• 1899, Discourse on Tithing by President Lorenzo Snow
  • This is a record of the famous discourse of President Lorenzo Snow in St. George where he announced that the word of the Lord was that Latter-day Saints needed to return to paying tithing. This launched a church-wide campaign on tithing that laid the foundation for the Church to resolve debts and other financial concerns caused by anti-polygamy legislation in the United States of America.
• 1900 Jane Manning James’s Life Sketch
  • This document is significant as one of the few documents by a well-known African American member of the Church during the 19^th century to record their life’s experiences.
• 1901, Lorenzo Snow Sermon, “The Grand Destiny of Man”
  • This is one of the most-often cited documents for a description of the Latter-day Saint view of apotheosis, including the famous couplet “As man now is, God once was; / As God now is, man may be.” I could do without the victim blaming for domestic abuse towards the end, though.
• 1904, The Second Manifesto
  • After the original Manifesto, members of the Church continued to practice plural marriage in secret. Faced with a national investigation during the Reed Smoot Hearings, though, Church leaders were forced to take action to end plural marriage.  This document added teeth to the previous Manifesto by making performing or entering new plural marriages an excommunicable offense.
• 1907, A Declaration to Establishing a More Perfect Understanding Respecting Ourselves and Our Religion
  • As national attention was focused on the Church during the Reed Smoot Hearings and their aftermath, this document was an effort by leaders of the Church to state what the Church believed in and practiced, a sort of updated and greatly expanded Articles of Faith. It was shared in a general conference of the Church and adopted by vote.
• 1907, B. H. Roberts, “Immortality of Man”
  • H. Roberts is one of the most influential theologians in the Church, and this represents one of his key contributions. In an effort to reconcile Joseph Smith’s description of coming into God’s family as an adoption of eternally existing spirits with subsequent Church leaders’ teachings that coming into God’s family was a process of sexual reproduction and birth of a premortal spirit, Roberts proposed a multilayered creation where an eternally existent “intelligence” is adopted by God and then subsequently given a spirit body through a birth process.  This is one of the main documents where the idea is discussed in detail.
• 1910, The Origin of Man
  • During an era where organic evolution was a matter of religious debate, this document was written as a doctrinal exposition of the Church’s position on the subject.
• 1910, Rudger Clawson, “Our Mother in Heaven”
  • This is one of the most thorough defenses of the idea of a Mother in Heaven to be written by a member of the leading councils of the Church (Elder Clawson was an apostle).
• 1911, B. H. Roberts, “The Atonement”
  • This represents Elder Roberts’s contribution to a uniquely Latter-day Saint view of the Atonement of Jesus Christ by shifting the reasons for punishment to a natural consequence of universal laws.
• 1916, The Father and the Son
  • Written during an era of theological exploration and clarification, this document shaped the Church’s understanding of the relationship between Jesus and God the Father throughout the 20^th
• 1917 Epistle to the Relief Society Concerning These War Times
  • This is a statement by the Relief Society presidency during WWI, incorporating elements of a statement by President Joseph F. Smith into a general statement on war and how members should conduct themselves during martial conflicts.
• 1925, First Presidency Treatise, The Mormon View of Evolution
  • As the Scopes Trial drew national attention to the debates over evolution in religion, the Church issued a new statement on evolution. It is essentially an update to the “Origin of Man” document above, but it is less overtly opposed to organic evolution as an idea.
• 1925, Melvin J. Ballard, Dedicatory Prayer of South America
  • South America (in particular, Brazil) is one of the areas of greatest growth in the Church. This is the text of the dedicatory prayer offered for missionary work on that continent.
• 1931, First Presidency Statement to General Authorities on Evolution
  • Made in the midst of a public argument between Joseph Fielding Smith and B. H. Roberts about evolution, this small document (included in the introductory text in the link) still stands as the official stance of the Church on evolution—basically that we don’t have a stance.
• 1938, J. Reuben Clark, Jr. Sermon, “The Charted Course of the Church in Education”
  • This is a document that is used in the Church for laying out an approach to educating in seminary, institute, etc.
• 1942, First Presidency Statement on War
  • In the midst of WWII, this lengthy statement was shared in general conference as the Church’s official stance on warfare and service in the military.
• 1954, J. Reuben Clark, Jr. Sermon, “When are Church Leader’s Words Entitled to the Claim of Scripture?”
  • In an effort to mitigate the impact of written works by Joseph Fielding Smith that advocate anti-evolution views, President David O. McKay asked J. Reuben Clark, Jr. to go to BYU and give an address that made it clear that apostles do not determine Church doctrine. This address still forms a basis of how doctrine is determined in the Church today.

Period 4: 1955-2021

• 1963, Statement on Civil Rights
  • Included in an address by President Hugh B. Brown, this was written and shared as a statement about the Church’s stance on the prominent civil rights movement of that era.
• 1972, Bruce R. McConkie, “The House of Israel”
  • This address was the full explanation of a new doctrine of gathering for the Church–not one of physically relocating to a central location, but one of gathering into the Church itself.  This is influential in how we speak of the gathering today and provides the doctrinal undergirding of that view.
• 1974, Spencer W. Kimball, “When the World Will Be Converted”
  • In this address, given shortly after he became president of the Church, Spencer W. Kimball shared his vision for missionary work moving forward, including the idea of missions being primarily carried out by people from the country or neighboring countries to where they were serving.
• 1975, Belle S. Spafford, “Latter-day Saint Women in Today’s Changing World”
  • This is an example of talks that Church leaders gave about women’s roles in an era when the Equal Rights Amendment was a matter of public debate in the United States of America
• 1978, First Presidency Statement on God’s Love for All Mankind
  • An official statement of the First Presidency about love and respect for all of humankind, regardless of religious affiliation.
• 1978, Bruce R. McConkie, “All Are Alike Unto God”
  • Speech given at BYU by Elder Bruce R. McConkie shortly after the announcement that all worthy men in the Church could be ordained to the priesthood affirming that it was a legitimate revelation from God that led to the change.
• 1981, Spencer W. Kimball, “A Report of My Stewardship”
  • This was the official introduction of the threefold mission of the Church that was prominent in discussions until this last decade.
• 1986, Ezra Taft Benson, “The Book of Mormon—Keystone of Our Religion”
  • This was one of the more important addresses in Ezra Taft Benson’s campaign to get Latter-day Saints to read the Book of Mormon more frequently.
• 1987, Ezra Taft Benson, “To the Mothers in Zion”
  • This talk is emblematic of the strongly conservative views that Church leaders communicated as the expectation for women’s roles during the 20th century
• 1991, Gordon B. Hinckley, “Daughters of God”
  • This address included an effort to clarify the position of Church leaders that we should not pray Heavenly Mother in the Church, characterizing those who do so as “well-meaning, but they are misguided.”
• 1995, The Family: A Proclamation to the World
  • This one doesn’t really need an introduction.
• 1997, Gordon B. Hinckley, “Some Thoughts on Temples, Retention of Converts, and Missionary Service”
  • This was important as the announcement of the initiative to build small temples, which enabled the Church to extend temples to more locations than they would have otherwise
• 1999, Gordon B. Hinkley, “Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep”
  • This address is the one that includes the oft-discussed idea “every new convert needs three things” and is important for its focus on retention after conversion.
• 1999, Eugene England, “Why the Church is as True as the Gospel”
  • This influential essay, written by BYU professor and theologian Eugene England, discusses the idea of learning by working together with imperfect people in the Church.
• 2000, The Living Christ
  • A statement issued by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve to celebrate Jesus Christ, it is an important document in encapsulating and defining basic Church doctrines about Jesus the Christ.
• 2010 Statement on Blood Atonement
  • This statement, while not the first to denounce the concept taught by Brigham Young and other Church leaders in his time, is significant for stating that we do not believe or practice the idea on the basis of our belief in a powerful Atonement of Jesus Christ that can cover all sins.
• 2012 “Understanding Mormon Disbelief”
  • This survey was key in paving the way for the Gospel Topics Essays and alerting leading general authorities of the Church about the reasons for members leaving.
• 2014, Dallin H. Oaks, “The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood”
  • This talk was given at the height of the protests from the Ordain Women group at general conference.  It has proven influential because of its suggestion that women work with delegated priesthood authority in the Church.
• 2015, Terryl Givens, “Christ, Atonement, and Human Possibilities in Mormon Thought”
  • This essay, included in the Oxford Handbook of Mormonism, is one of the best examinations of the Atonement of Jesus Christ through the lens of Latter-day Saint doctrine available.
• 2015 Statement on Religious Freedom
  • This statement is an expression of support for other faiths and was issued in direct opposition to Donald Trump’s campaign, which included promises of bans on immigration from several predominantly Muslim countries.
• 2015, D. Todd Christofferson, “Why the Church”
  • This general conference address is significant as one of the foremost efforts to explain why the Church is necessary in an era that questions that idea.
• Gospel Topics Essays:
  • These essays were written as a way to address controversial issues in the Church head-on and offer some significant statements about doctrine, including the idea that plural marriage is the exception, not the rule; that teachings of previous Church leaders about race are explicitly rejected by the current administration; etc. Some of the most significant essays are:
  • Book of Mormon Translation
  • Mother in Heaven
  • Plural Marriage in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  • Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo
  • Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah
  • The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage
  • Race and the Priesthood
  • Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham
• 2020 Restoration Proclamation
  • Whether or not this one stays significant is yet to be seen. But it is significant in defining the Church’s official stance on events in its history in one compact place.
• 2020, Russell M. Nelson, “Let God Prevail”
  • This talk includes the most straightforward denunciations of racism by a president of the Church.
• “The Endowment,” General Handbook
  • This the first time that the Church has allowed a portion of the endowment ceremony to be printed to help people prepare for the temple.

 

So, there you have it—my list of documents that I’ve noticed are particularly significant or noteworthy over the course of the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I recognize that I have my blind spots (especially when it comes to the international church) and that my interests affect my selection (i.e., I probably focus more on discussions about a Heavenly Mother than other compilers would).  That being said, I would love feedback to improve this list and make it a solid place to reference important documents for Latter-day Saints.  With that being the case: