D&C: Sources
Doctrine & Covenants > Types of Documents in the Doctrine & Covenants
The purpose of this page is to explain the various types of documents found in the Doctrine & Covenants. This page should remain short enough to read in about fifteen minutes.
The stereotypical Doctrine & Covenants section is a revelation that Joseph Smith received and dictated to a scribe during a Church conference. Although many sections do fit this stereotype, many others do not. The various types of documents found in the Doctrine & Covenants include:
- • dictation by Joseph Smith for the Lord – D&C 1, 38, 50, 51, 88
- • received through the urim and thummim – D&C 3, 6, 11, 17
- • received as the translation of an ancient text – D&C 7, 93a
- • repetition of the words of a visiting angel – D&C 2, 13, 27
- • description of a vision or visitation – D&C 76, 110, 137, 138
- • prophecy – D&C 87
- • revealed prayer – D&C 65, 109
- • excerpts from letters – D&C 85, 121-123, 127, 128
- • excerpts from sermons – D&C 130, 131
- • minutes of a meeting – D&C 102
- • written over time in drafts – D&C 20, 109
A few sections were written at least in part by other people:
- • Joseph Smith assisted by four others – D&C 109
- • Oliver Cowdery – D&C 102 (minutes), 134 and draft of D&C 20
- • John Taylor – D&C 135 (following Joseph Smith’s death)
Some sections have been changed over time for various reasons, such as:
- • one section split or separate sections combined – D&C 14-16, 30, 42
- • received or written down in pieces over time – D&C 27, 72, 88, 107
- • edited over time to reflect additional information
- • D&C 20 to add references to new priesthood offices
- • D&C 51 to clarify implementation of the law of consecration
- • D&C 81 to replace Jesse Gause’s name with successor in office
During 1831 Joseph Smith’s scribes, mostly John Whitmer, copied revelations from loose sheets of paper into a bound book of blank pages now known as Revelation Book 1. In late 1831 this book was taken to Missouri for William Phelps to use in printing the Book of Commandments (the original 1833 edition of the Doctrine & Covenants, roughly corresponding to D&C 1-75). But the Jackson County printing press was destroyed as printing reached D&C 64, and only about a hundred incomplete copies survived. As later revelations made their way to Missouri, they were also copied into Revelation Book 1.
Back in Ohio, new revelations were copied during 1832-1834 by Joseph Smith’s scribes, mostly Frederick Williams, into a new manuscript book long known as the Kirtland Revelation Book, but now also called Revelation Book 2. By May 1835 Revelation Books 1 and 2 were both being used in Ohio to print the second 1835 edition of the Doctrine & Covenants (roughly corresponding to D&C 1-107).
On June 12, 1844 it was announced that the third 1844 edition of the Doctrine & Covenants would be available in about a month, but the printing was not completed until after Joseph Smith’s death on June 27. This edition added D&C 103, 105, 112, 119, 124, 127, 128, as well as D&C 135. A similar 1845 edition was printed in England, and both editions were reprinted several times.
The next substantively revised edition of the Doctrine & Covenants was the 1876 edition printed shortly before Brigham Young’s death in 1877. This edition added D&C 2, 13, 77, 85, 87, 108-111, 113-118, 120-123, 125-126, 129-132, 136 and thus brought the Doctrine & Covenants text to essentially its current form.
The visions now found in D&C 137-138 were canonized and added to the Pearl of Great Price in 1976, and for the current 1981 edition they were moved to the Doctrine & Covenants.
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