180 years ago today - Apr 27, 1838

Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon begin preparing a church history, with George W. Robinson as scribe. This history describes the most well-known accounts of his First Vision and the visits of the angel Moroni. Though the original manuscript history is not known to exist, it was later copied into the 1839 Manuscript History of the Church, Book A-1. Contrary to earlier and later writing, the history indicates that the angel who appeared to Smith was named "Nephi" (rather than "Moroni", as Smith and Oliver Cowdery had separately said in 1835 publications). Some scholars consider this to be a clerical error, though it was never corrected by Smith in later publications. Other scholars believe that Smith saw both Nephi and the angel Moroni.

[There is no account of the First Vision in Robison's handwriting.]

[Source: Marquardt & Walters 1994, pp. ix-x; Marquardt & Walters 1994, pp. xv, xix; Wikipedia: Chronology of Mormonism, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_Mormonism]

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