Church History
Doctrine and Covenants 51–57


“Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources: Doctrine and Covenants 51–57,” Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources (2025)

“Doctrine and Covenants 51–57,” Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources

Doctrine and Covenants 51–57

Lush green field with trees in the distance

Site of Leman Copley’s farm, Thompson, Ohio, USA, where a group of Latter-day Saints lived for a short time.

Historical Background

Revelations in Context

Essays on the background of each revelation

The Journey of the Colesville Branch

D&C 26, 51, 54, 56, 59

“A Bishop unto the Church”

D&C 41, 42, 51, 54, 57

The Center Place

D&C 52, 57, 58

Ezra Booth and Isaac Morley

D&C 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 71, 73

Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days

Narrative history of events surrounding the revelations

Volume 1, Chapter 12

After Much Tribulation

People

Biographical facts and historical images of individuals associated with the revelations

Places

Maps and information about places associated with the revelations from The Joseph Smith Papers, Historic Sites, and other helpful sources

Events

Timeline placing each revelation in the context of key events in the Church’s first century

View the chronology

Topics

Essays on subjects related to the revelations

Church Discipline

Consecration and Stewardship

Dissent in the Church

Early Missionaries

Sources

Historical background and the earliest version of each section of the Doctrine and Covenants, as published in The Joseph Smith Papers and the Church History Library catalog

Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51]

Revelation, 6 June 1831 [D&C 52]

Revelation, 8 June 1831 [D&C 53]

Revelation, 10 June 1831 [D&C 54]

Revelation, 14 June 1831 [D&C 55]

Revelation, 15 June 1831 [D&C 56]

Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57]

Conference Minutes, 3 June 1831

A painting showing a young family plowing in the spring.

Building the Church in the 1830s was a temporal endeavor as well as a spiritual one. In this idealized depiction, a young family completes spring plowing in preparation for a bountiful harvest. John Leo Fairbanks, Life Is the Reward of Love and Labor, ca. 1920, oil on canvas, Church History Museum.