Review: Matthew J. Grow and R. Eric Smith, eds. The Council of Fifty: What the Records Reveal about Mormon History. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2017.

Authors

Janiece Johnson

Keywords

council of fifty, Joseph Smith Papers, Mormonism, theocracy, archival access

Abstract

Since the late 1960s, the minutes of the Mormon Council of Fifty in Nauvoo have been the Mormon documentary “holy grail” (p. viii). What Mario DePillis called “one of the most secret of the Mormons’ sub rosa organizations” and Klaus J. Hansen labelled the “most important key to an understanding of the Mormon past” was a topic for speculation over decades.1 Lack of prior availability did not inhibit prior commentary, but also spurred on attentive archival work. Code words veiling theocratic claims topped with rumors of a self-appointed king could only be met with great suspicion in a democratic republic. T he secretive nature of the Council’s records in the nineteenth century continued into the twenty-first century to be bolstered by speculation and the continued inaccessibility of the records. As the only volume in the Administrative Series of The Joseph Smith Papers, the release of the Council of Fifty minutes in 2016 challenged the myths. This Council of the Fifty volume of collected essays begins to explore the more mundane realities of these administrative minute books, of a Council focused on ensuring the “safety and salvation of the Saints” (p. vix). Central to the essays is a concerted demystification of the minutes.

BYU ScholarsArchive Citation

Johnson, Janiece (2019) "Review: Matthew J. Grow and R. Eric Smith, eds. The Council of Fifty: What the Records Reveal about Mormon History. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2017.," Mormon Studies Review: Vol. 6: No. 1, Article 28.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr2/vol6/iss1/28