“Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources: Doctrine and Covenants 135–136,” Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources (2025)
“Doctrine and Covenants 135–136,” Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources
Doctrine and Covenants 135–136
Jail in Carthage, Illinois, USA, where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred on June 27, 1844.
Historical Background
Revelations in Context
Essays on the background of each revelation
Upon seeing the bodies of her sons, Lucy Mack Smith commented, “As I looked upon their peaceful, smiling countenances, I seemed to almost hear them say: mother, weep not for us; we have overcome the world by love; we carried to them the gospel, that their souls might be saved.” These molds of the faces of Joseph Smith Jr. and Hyrum Smith were made by George Cannon with layers of plaster and fabric strips after their deaths. Joseph and Hyrum Death Masks, 1844, plaster, Church History Museum.
Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days
Narrative history of events surrounding the revelation.
Volume 1, Chapter 44
C. C. A. Christensen, Winter Quarters 1846–47, ca. 1880, oil on board, gift to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the five children of Jeanette Taggart Holmes (2009).
Volume 2, Chapter 3
This painting of Phebe Carter Woodruff holding Joseph Woodruff was done in 1845 from life while her husband was serving a mission in England. Joseph was their first child born after Phebe and Wilford received their temple endowments, a fact that held special significance for them when Joseph passed away at Winter Quarters the following year. In his journal, Wilford recorded how important this painting was as the grieving family looked forward to the reunion promised by those covenants: “Mrs. Woodruff took out of her family box her portrait to see the likeness of her little Joseph we had buried.” Thomas Ward, Phebe Carter Woodruff and Child Joseph, 1845, oil on canvas, Church History Museum.
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
A few of the many headstones at the Winter Quarters Cemetery, Omaha, Nebraska. The Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple is in the background.
Topics
Essays on subjects related to the revelations
Deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith
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
The Word and Will of the Lord Concerning the Camp of Israel [D&C 136]