I Heard Him Relate His First Vision

Abstract

Joseph Smith’s reluctance to tell of his first vision ended in the 1830s. This chapter revises the old conclusion that Smith did not tell his vision until the 1840s. Research presented for the first time in this chapter reveals that he began telling the vision to small, trusted groups in the 1830s, giving him confidence to tell it more widely in the 1840s. These tellings created a transactive memory—the beginnings of the saints’ collective memory of the vision—in which several of Smith’s followers shared a detailed story with rich emotional reactions. These experiences created intimacy between Smith and the believers who heard him and those who heard them.