Rediscovering the Sites of the Restoration: The 1888 Travel Writings of Mormon Historian Andrew Jenson, Edward Stevenson, and Joseph S. Black

On September 6, 1888, three Church history missionaries—Andrew Jenson, Edward Stevenson, and Joseph S. Black—left on a factfinding mission to the Church’s historic sites in Missouri, Illinois, New York, Ohio, and Iowa. They spent a majority of their time visiting the sacred spaces of the Restoration. The observations they made became the subjects of a lengthy correspondence to the Deseret News. These letters were later compiled into a pamphlet, allowing the Saints in the West to vicariously experience the early days of the Restoration. Some notable historical themes in their observations include a desire for the establishment and redemption of Zion and the promise that righteous Saints would be restored to their lands to build up Zion.