As everyone in the Mormon History Association knows, on April 6, 1830, the day the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, Joseph Smith was told, “Behold, there shall be a record kept among you” (D&C 21:1). This is the revelation upon which the office of church historian and recorder is based. And I would suggest, it is the statement that sits at the base of this organization.
Although many of us feel bad from time to time that we do not have more records about the foundation and early life of the church, we do have an amazing amount, a very rich literary foundation. Joseph Smith soon called Oliver Cowdery to be the first church historian and recorder. Cowdery recorded minutes of meetings, patriarchal blessings, membership information, and certificates of priesthood authority. Both Cowdery and Smith began what might have been a narrative history of the church....
