BYU Studies Quarterly 56/4 (2017)

This issue of the journal leads off with a superb arti­cle by Kent P. Jackson, who has spent the better part of a lifetime working on Old Testament materials, especially the book of Moses and the Joseph Smith Translation. This article tracks in detail the timing and scribal evidences of the Prophet's meticulous work on the book of Gen­esis in 1831 and its eventual preparation for publication.

 

An article by R. Devan Jensen and Kenneth L. Alford is the first dedicated to the wartime imprisonment of William Stowell, the principal Mormon pris­oner held during the Utah War, 1857-1858. It includes the stories of his plural wives, Cynthia and Sophronia, who endured extreme difficulty with young children during the Move South.

 

Wade Miller and Matthew Roper use archaeological evidence to argue the animals mentioned in the Book of Mormon had once been present in North America, although dating to an earlier period than that covered in the Book of Mormon, and could have survived even into the Lehite period.

 

Dog lovers everywhere will relate to new information about the reciprocal devotion between Joseph Smith and his faithful dog, Old Major, a large English mastiff, as narrated by Alexander L. Baugh.

 

Matthew C. Godfrey examines varying accounts of Zion's Camp regarding divine intervention, showing that although such accounts are more prevalent in later reminiscences than in contemporary accounts, that need not suggest that participants did not see them at the time.

 

Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Ronald L. Fox dig into the LDS Church photography archive to find new connections between historic photographs taken of the Apostles as Lorenzo Snow became President of the Church after the death of Wilford Woodruff.

 

Other items in this issue offer something new for every reader, whether interested in thoughtful poetry or self-baring prose, or recently published books dealing with topics that range from Mormon art and higher education to missionary work and the widespread human desire to save others.