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These resources focus specifically on the pre-1830 history of the Church.

• Mormon Scripture Studies -[- an e-journal of critical thought -]- A forum for honest, rigorous inquiry that cultivates fresh ideas on all facets of Mormon scripture scholarship.
• Chronology of the Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon. The publication history. http://www.primenet.com/~kitsonk/mormon/comingfo.html
• Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon. A site examining the history of the publication of the Book of Mormon. http://frontpage.inet-images.com/thebishop/LDS/coming_of_bom.htm
• Organizational Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ. A timeline describing the organization of the Church from 1829 to 1836. http://webpages.marshall.edu/~brown/chu-org.html
• Restoration of the Gospel. A collection of articles on the history of the Restoration. Includes information on The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Why did the true Church of Christ need to be restored?, Apostasy, First Vision, Joseph Smith-History, Visitations of Moroni, Faith Once Delivered to the Saints-What Happened to it?, Cumorah, and Christopher Columbus. A Mormons.Org page. http://www.mormons.org/basic/gospel/restoration
• The History of Joseph Smith. His own words, extracted from the History of the Church. http://www.primenet.com/~balexan/pogphst.html
• The Need for the Restoration. A heavily footnoted discourse by Elder Mark E. Peterson. http://www.new-jerusalem.com/stumpus/restoration-need.html
• Similar information is found at http://wymple.gs.net/~gene/mark.html

This information concerns the Church from 1830 to the Kirtland exodus.

• The unofficial Peterborough Branch Page The official Ensign article written when this 150 year old branch, organized in 1843, finally got it's first building. It is an historic accounting of the Saints who migrated from the East coast to Utah and letters written by and articles about the 265 saints who left Peterborough for Utah. It's the branch from which Brigham's 13th wife came from and from where Brigham got his wagonmaster for the trek West to SLC, Jesse C. Little.
• America's Witness for Christ. An excellent introductory site to the Hill Cumorah pageant, with links to information about the Hill, the pageant, the Sacred Grove, the Smith Home, the Martin Harris Home, the Grandin Printing Shop, the Peter Whitmer Home, and the Fayette Chapel. Includes a map of the area. This site is also notable for its LDS News, and for its Heartland family page. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/6130/hcp.htm
• New York Period. Part of Dave Crockett's magnificent suite of Church history resources. Links to articles on the Joseph Smith Home in Palmyra, Accounts of the First Vision, Martin Harris Conversion, Book of Mormon Witnesses, Restoration of the Priesthood, the Urim and Thummim, Timeline for Restoration of Ordinances, and more. http://www.indirect.com/www/crockett/newyork.html
• History of the Mormon Church in New York City. Kent Larsen's fine collection of information on the Church in New York. Includes a Chronology, links, Personal Recollections and Oral Histories, and General New York City History Information. http://www.panix.com/~klarsen/nyc_lds_history

The Kirtland, Ohio, history of the Church

• Josiah Jones. Text of the document Jones, Josiah. "History of the Mormonites, Kirtland, 1831." The Evangelist 9 (June 1, 1841):132-36. http://erdos.math.byu.edu/~smithw/Lds/LDS/Early-Saints/jones,j
• Kirtland Temple Tour. A guided tour (sorry, no pictures) of the Kirtland temple. Tremendously interesting. http://www.zarahemla.com/kirtland.html
• Kirtland Elders' Quorum Record 1836-1841. Text of the historical record. http://erdos.math.byu.edu/~smithw/Lds/LDS/Early-Saints/Kirt-eq-rec
• Kirtland, Ohio Period. Excellent links. http://www.indirect.com/www/crockett/kirtland.html
• Ohio. Text of The Ohio Experience And Joseph Smith And The Restoration. http://erdos.math.byu.edu/~smithw/Lds/LDS/Early-Saints/smith,j-ohio
• WW Phelps. Text of Phelps, William W. Excerpts from Letters from Kirtland, 1835-1836. Microfilm, Family History Library. http://erdos.math.byu.edu/~smithw/Lds/LDS/Early-Saints/phelps,ww
• Zebedee Coltrin. The text from Recollections (1833-1836) of Spiritual Experiences in Ohio recorded in Minutes, Salt Lake School of the Prophets, Church Archives. http://erdos.math.byu.edu/~smithw/Lds/LDS/Early-Saints/coltrin,z

History of the Church in Missouri

• Jackson County Missouri, whom owns what. The accompanying file is a picture of the Temple Lot, taken from "Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual," Prepared by the Church Educational System for Religion 324-325, printed in 1981. The property is described as follows:
• Restoration.org John Hajicek writes: I have updated the links at http://www.Restoration.org to now number 267 different sites related to Latter Day Saint groups with history in Independence, Missouri. They include new official church sites, additional history articles, historical associations, bookstores, and more . . .Stop back to see what FIVE THOUSAND other Restoration visitors have seen on this Center Place of the World Wide Web.
• Expulsion of the Mormons. Text of an 1839 document describing the extermination order. http://erdos.math.byu.edu/~smithw/Lds/LDS/Early-Saints/green,jp
• Far West Cemetery. A project to locate the names of early members of the Church buried at Far West. http://www.sunflower.org/~ronromig/mmffpp.htm
• Historian Recounts Mormon Ouster. A recent news article on Missouri Gov. Lilburn Boggs, published in the Jackson County, Missouri, Examiner. http://examiner.net/stories/042597/boggs.html
• Missouri: Mormon History Sites. Text of an article from the Deseret News describing the Missouri era. http://www.desnews.com/cgi-bin/libstory?dn97&9704270123
• Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation. A page of Restoration history. Fun. http://oz.sunflower.org/~ronromig/mmffhp.htm
• Missouri Period. First rate list of links. http://www.indirect.com/www/crockett/missouri.html
• Persecution. Text of the document Pratt, Parley P., History of the Late Persecution Inflicted by the State of Missouri Upon the Mormons. Detroit: Dawson and Bates, 1839. http://erdos.math.byu.edu/~smithw/Lds/LDS/Early-Saints/pratt,p-prs
• Willard Richards. Text of Richards, Willard. "History of Willard Richards"(1836- 1839). The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star. http://erdos.math.byu.edu/~smithw/Lds/LDS/Early-Saints/richards,w

History of the Church in Nauvoo, Illinois

• The Nauvoo Temple Lisle Brown looks at the symbolism, the history, and the architecture of the old temple at Nauvoo.
• Allyn House in Nauvoo. A commercial site with some interesting Nauvoo history. http://www.outfitters.com/com/allyn/nauvoo.html
• Brion Zion's Nauvoo Temple. Frequently asked questions about the Nauvoo Temple, story of the destruction of the temple by arson, and the making of the film The Mountain of the Lord. http://www.wp.com/BrionZion/homenauv.htm
• Carthage. Location of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith. A non-LDS site. http://www.outfitters.com/illinois/hancock/carthage.html
• George Moore. The text of Moore, George. Diary excerpts in Donald Q. Cannon, "Reverend George Moore Comments on Nauvoo, the Mormons, and Joseph Smith," Western Illinois Regional Studies 5 (Spring 1982)):6-16. http://erdos.math.byu.edu/~smithw/Lds/LDS/Early-Saints/moore,g
• History of Hancock County, Illinois. Additional background on LDS historical sites in the county. http://www.outfitters.com/illinois/hancock/history_hancock.html
• Hosea Stout. Text of Stout, Hosea. Diary (1844-1846). Holograph, UHI. Typescript, BYU-S. http://erdos.math.byu.edu/~smithw/Lds/LDS/Early-Saints/stout,h
• In Search of Joseph. One man's project to find a correct image of the Prophet Joseph Smith. The subject is treated with reverence. A fascinating read, with lots of good information about the interment of the Prophet, Hyrum, and Emma. http://home.fuse.net/stracy
• Joseph Smith Daguerreotype. History and replica of the only known photo of the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr.. http://www.comevisit.com/lds/js3photo.htm
• Josiah Quincy. Text from Quincy, Josiah. "Joseph Smith at Nauvoo: Figures of the Past From the Leaves of Old Journals." Boston, 1883. http://erdos.math.byu.edu/~smithw/Lds/LDS/Early-Saints/quincy,j
• Members of the Anointed Quorum. Anointings and endowments performed in Nauvoo from 1842 to 1845. http://webpages.marshall.edu/~brown/aq-list.htm
• Nauvoo Expositor. Partial text, transcribed from the only edition of the Expositor. Unformatted, difficult to read on screen. Unfortunately, the text does not include the inflammatory Prospectus. http://www.sj-coop.net/~tseng/LDS/expositr.txt
• . The same document is also available at http://www.blueneptune.com/~tseng/LDS/expositr.txt
• Nauvoo Temple Tour. Photos, history, diagrams, descriptive tour. Completely fascinating. A valuable document. Worth revisiting. http://www.indirect.com/www/crockett/nauvoo.html
• Nauvoo, Illinois Period. Some good links. http://www.indirect.com/www/crockett/nauvoop.html
• Nauvoo. Historical background and good links. Of particular interest is the link to the Virtual Tour of the Temple Site. http://www.outfitters.com/illinois/hancock/nauvoo.html
• Plural Marriages in Nauvoo. An undocumented list of a few names overlooked in George D. Smith's "Nauvoo: Roots of Mormon Polygamy." Questionable resource. http://webpages.marshall.edu/~brown/pl-nauv.htm
• Ponderings. Journal entries and thoughts describing a visit to Nauvoo. http://www.zarahemla.com/ponder.html
• The William Clayton Nauvoo Diaries and Personal Writings. A chronological compilation of the personal writings of William Clayton while he was a resident of Nauvoo, Illinois. A very, very good resource. http://www.code-co.com/rcf/mhistdoc/clayton.htm
• Tour of Nauvoo. Pictures and descriptions, sponsored by the Religious Education department at BYU. Fantastic history, beautiful photos. http://www.byu.edu/rel1/tour/tour.htm

This is one of the most popular topics for new LDS Web site builders.

• Crossing the Plains A more accurate perspective on how the Mormons experienced, the crossing the plains. The first 20 Minutes of the excellent documentary "Struggle for Statehood" makes a great introduction to this subject.
• Fort Bridger Some notes on Fort Bridger just 6 miles from where I lived until age 15.
• The Mormon Pioneer Trail This is the updated URL for the site previously listed at http://www.omahafreenet.org/ofn/trails
• 150 Years Ago Today in Church History. Walking in the footsteps of the pioneers. After tracking the pioneer journey for two years, day by day, the series has now cut back to a weekly report. Very, very well done. http://www.indirect.com/www/crockett/today.html
• 97 Ways to Celebrate in '97. Great ideas for pioneer day. Most will be just as effective in coming years as they were in '97. http://www.ce.ex.state.ut.us/history/sesqui/97ways.htm
• Come Follow Me. A tremendous collection of nationwide newspaper articles relating to the pioneer trek. Worth an afternoon. http://www.standard.net/~followme
• Heritage Gateway Pioneer Page. Pioneer Trail project sponsored by Utah State Office of Education. Campaign for it to stay, as it's the best site anywhere for learning about the Pioneer Trek. http://heritage.uen.org
• History. A brief outline of the history of the Church at the Church's official web site. http://www.lds.org/Global_Media_Guide/History.html
• Mormon Diaries/Journals and Biographies. Another tremendous collection of historical links from Dave Crockett. Pioneer biographies and-most fascinating of all-links to some historical audio clips of Wilford Woodruff, Joseph F. Smith, and Heber J. Grant, maintained by BYU. http://www.indirect.com/www/crockett/bios.html
• Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail. Sponsored by the National Park Service. History, reference materials. http://www.nps.gov/mopi
• Mormon Trail. Discussion of the development and history of the Mormon trail and the celebration of the Mormon Trek. To subscribe, send an e-mail request to mormontr@unlvm.unl.edu . Sponsored by the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
• Pictures of Parley P. Pratt's Grave Site. With text from the grave marker. http://www.cswnet.com/~ramona/ppratt.html
• Pioneer Cooking. Discussions, stories, recipes, techniques related to all aspects of pioneer life, with an emphasis on pioneer cooking. Subscribe with an e-mail request to majordomo@seminary.org with the message subscribe pioneer cooking.
• Pioneer Information. A brief list of pioneering links. http://www.uvol.com/www1st/also/pioneers.html
• Pioneer Moments. A collection of inspiring pioneer stories from the Church News. Worth reading. http://www.desnews.com/cgi-bin/libheads_reg?search=%22Pioneer+moment%22&limit=999
• Pioneer Period. A very good list of links from David Crockett. Excellent sites, many of which were written by Brother Crockett. http://www.indirect.com/www/crockett/pioneer.html
• Pioneer Trails from U. S. Land Surveys. A collection of information about the Western frontier in general, with several sites related specifically to Mormon experiences on the Pioneer Trail. http://www.ukans.edu/heritage/werner
• The Gathering. Clips and excerpts from the book Mormon Pioneers on the Trail to Zion, by Maurine Jensen Proctor and Scot Facer Proctor. Commercial, but interesting. $ http://www.deseretbook.com/gather
• The Mormon Pioneer Story. Information on the Pioneer Trail State Park and the This is the Place Monument. Good history. http://www.uvol.com/pioneer
• The Mormon Pioneer Trail. An incredible site detailing the pioneer trail, with photos, journal entries, maps of each major point on the trail. From the official LDS page. http://www.lds.org/Pioneer/Pioneer_Trail/00_Trail_Main.html
• The Mormon Pioneer Trail. An unbelievably well done page...sponsored, interestingly, by the Douglas-Sarpy (Nebraska) Counties Mormon Trails Association. History of the trail, history of the Church, history of anything of interest, in an easy-to-navigate page. A late find, or it would have been in the top-twenty list. http://www.omahafreenet.org/ofn/trails
• The Mormon Pioneer Trail. Describes the Wyoming portion of the Trail. Schedules, historical fact sheet, campgrounds. Quite nice. http://www.wy.blm.gov/wyomorindex.html
• The Mormon Trail. Sponsored by the Elkhorn, Nebraska, Middle School. Excellent collection of information. Kudos. http://www.esu3.k12.ne.us/districts/elkhorn/ms/curriculum/Mormon1.html
• The Spirit of Pioneering. Utah Pioneer Sesquicentennial Council Page, the State of Utah's contribution to the commemoration. Includes information about the pioneer trek, a detailed calendar of events, suggestions for celebrations, educational materials, more. Ironically, the Nebraska-sponsored sites are better. http://www.ce.ex.state.ut.us/history/sesqui
• Trail of Hope. The story of the PBS broadcast on the Mormon Trail. Includes stories and photos. http://www.trailofhope.com

Sites prepared mostly by California-dwelling Saints

• Brion Zion's Mormon Battalion. History of the Battalion, drafted from the pioneer trek to fight in the war with Mexico. http://www.wp.com/BrionZion/homebatt.htm
• The Route of the Mormon Battalion. A gallery of maps, logs, and more on the Battalion. http://uvol.com/maps/morbat.html
• Mormon Colonization of San Bernardino. Fascinating research on the history and results of California colonization. http://sd.znet.com/~covalt/mormon.htm
• The Huntington Library. A collection of Mormorabilia called "Latter-day Saints in El Dorado: The Mormon Presence in California, 1846-1856." Features letters, diaries, and drawings from California's first Mormon immigrants. The San Marino-based library owns and sometimes displays what it claims is the finest collection of manuscript diaries and journals outside of Utah. http://www.huntington.com
• Voyage of the Brooklyn. Amazing account of the Pioneer Saints who traveled by sea to California. By David Crockett. http://www.indirect.com/www/crockett/brooklyn.html

A unique period in Church history -- that safe place between the pioneer trek and Utah statehood, when members had the peace and freedom to live a higher law.

• A Descriptive Tour of the Old Endowment House, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah. A brief tour of the Endowment House that once stood on Temple Square. http://webpages.marshall.edu/~brown/end-hous.htm
• Brion Zion's Deseret Alphabet. (See figure 12.10.) Enroll in Deseret University, and learn the Deseret alphabet. Includes an FAQ, an alphabet tutorial, books written in the Deseret alphabet, fonts, and more. http://www.wp.com/BrionZion/homealph.htm
• Cove Fort. History, photos, and maps of historic central Utah site. I'd visit. http://infowest.com/covefort
• Jacob Hamblin Home. A thumbnail tour, and history lesson, through the Jacob Hamblin Home in Santa Clara. http://www.infowest.com/Utah/colorcountry/History/JHamblin/JHHome.html
• Old Deseret Living History Museum. Pioneer life is recreated in Old Deseret, where 13 authentic pioneer homes and buildings combine with typical pioneer guides in authentic pioneer dress and animals. Old Deseret represents any of the hundreds of Mormon villages that popped up all around the State of Deseret between 1847 and 1869. An online guided tour. http://www.uvol.com/pioneer/olddeshm.html
• Polygamy and Mormon Persecution. Very quick look at the history of plural marriage. You'll have to look elsewhere for any depth. http://www.nettally.com/LDS/polygamy.html
• POLYGAMY. A mailing list for the discussion of the practicality of living the law of celestial plural marriage. Not a forum to debate the doctrine of Polygamy, or the apostasy of any particular church or group of churches. To subscribe, send an e-mail request to majordomo@lofthouse.com with the message subscribe polygamy.
• Sons of the Utah Pioneers. Thumbnail sketches of Mormon pioneer history, from the trail to the first years in the Utah Territory. Includes some worthwhile artwork, but otherwise not very substantial. http://www.uvol.com/sup
• St. George. Photos and brief descriptions of historic sites in St. George, the Southern Utah headquarters of the Church during the administration of Brigham Young. http://www.so-utah.com/zion/stgeorge/homepage.html
• The Deseret Alphabet. Proposal for making the Deseret Alphabet part of the Unicode. Very good historical information and background on the use of the alphabet. http://www.blueneptune.com/~tseng/Deseret/Deseret.html
• The State of Deseret. A brief history of Deseret, along with a map of the terri-tory. http://www.wp.com/BrionZion/who-what.htm#deseret
• UNITED-ORDER. The United-Order mailing list began in January 1997. To subscribe, send an e-mail request to majordomo@bolis.com , with the message subscribe united-order. Subsequent postings go to united-order@ bolis.com

The time frame from the completion of the transcontinental railroad to World War II.

• Chronology of Federal Legislation on Polygamy A Chronology of Federal Legislation on Polygamy, directed at the polygamous families of Mormons from circa 1862- 1904.
• A Tour of Temple Square. See photos and descriptions of historic Temple Square in Salt Lake City. http://www.uvol.com/www1st/tsquare
• History of the Salt Lake Temple. Very well done, with historic photos of the work in progress, and a history of the building of the Temple. http://www.nettally.com/LDS/hist.html
• Utah Historical Quarterly. Table of Contents only, but the site promises to make back issues available on line. http://www.ce.ex.state.ut.us/history/etext.htm
• Utah History Home Page. Links to information on Utah history. No original content. http://www.xmission.com/~drudy/histpage.html
• Utah History Home Page. Learn the four "Are's" of Utah: Archeology. Architecture, Archives, and Artifacts. It's a deep site with lots of sublinks. The depth of the data is not overwhelming, though the site does offer more than the standard USA Today factoids. Warrants repeat visits only because you're not likely to take it all in at one time. http://www.ce.ex.state.ut.us/history/welcome.htm#
• Utah Period. Another page of Utah history links but these all have definite LDS connections: History of the Salt Lake Temple, Australian Saints Shipwreck, Godbeites, and more. About twenty in all. http://www.indirect.com/www/crockett/utah.html

Multiple periods of Church history

• Church History. Eclectic collection of articles on various Church history subjects. Includes Richard Ballantyne, Biography and Autobiography, Beehive, Ezra Taft Benson, Blacks, Building Program, Christus Statue, Colesville New York, Council Bluffs (Kanesville) Iowa, Nineteenth-Century Ecclesiastical Courts, Oliver Cowdery, and Joseph Smith. http://www.mormons.org/daily/history
• Dave Kenison's Church History Stories Collection. A collection of over 400 stories each chronicling events in Church history. Titles include Lorenzo Snow's Introduction to the Church, the Death of Alvin Smith, William Geddes-The Boy Preacher, Brigham Young Talks to Norwegian Oxen, and more. A remarkable collection. http://www.xmission.com/~dkenison/lds/ch_hist
• Gathering and Colonization. Histories of various LDS Pioneer settlements. A Mormons.Org page. http://www.mormons.org/basic/organization/world/gathering
• General Church History Resources. One of several well-done pages from Dave Crockett. Links to history sites, no original content. http://www.ldsworld.com/links/hist.html
• History. Very brief list of links. http://www.wnetc.com/resource/lds/history.html
• Into the Western Country. A fantastic collection of photos and historical items related to Nauvoo, Iowa, pioneer companies, and the Utah Territory. Sponsored by BYU. http://www.lib.byu.edu/~imaging/into/poster.html
• LDS Historical Information. William Smith's excellent collection of papers and original diaries and texts. Includes Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, History of the Church, all the versions of the First Vision, and much, much more. Unfortunately, there isn't a search engine, but it is a very good-albeit unattractive-site. http://erdos.math.byu.edu/~smithw/Lds
• LDS Resources. Arden Eby's list of links to LDS historical resources. Includes other links. http://www.teleport.com/~arden/religium.htm#mormon
• Mormon History & Doctrine. An outstanding collection of historical analysis. Includes the William Clayton journals, a critical text of all variations of the Book of Abraham, and the Egytian Alphabet and Grammar. http://www.code-co.com/rcf/mhistdoc/mhistdoc.htm
• Mormon History Resource Page. Over 150 links covering all periods of LDS history. An outstanding, well organized collection. http://www.indirect.com/www/crockett/history.html
• MORMON-HIST. A discussion list for LDS historical subjects. To subscribe, send an e-mail request to majordomo@sara.zia.com with message subscribe mormon-hist.
• MORMON-J: The LDS Journal History Page. The history page is part of the Mormon-J site for everyone who keeps a written record of Mormon history-public or private. This particular page lists links to journals and biographies, as well as links to a number of other historical documents available online. This page was created by yours truly, so be skeptical of this rating. http://www.jersey.net/~inkwell/mjhist.htm
• Mormonism Researched. Kerry Shirts's new page of essays on the Book of Abraham, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and archaeology. Extensive. Compative. http://www. cyberhighway.net/~shirtail/momronis.htm
• Worldwide Church Period. A page of over twenty links. The central theme is building zion. Links include: Postwar Europe, Africa, Mexico, and more. http://www.indirect.com/www/crockett/world.html
• Zarahemla Book Shoppe's LDS History Links. Very small collection of links. http://www.zarahemla.com/ldshist.html

All material -- including content, structure, categories, descriptions, and ratings -- copyright 1997, 1998, 1999 by LauraMaery Gold, http://www.writerspost.com