This article compares the ambiguous copy of an unpublished address titled, “A Few Items from a Discourse Delivered by Joseph Smith, July 19, 1840,” with a recently resurfaced original manuscript from which the foregoing copy was taken. It includes the text of the original, in the handwriting of Martha Jane Knowlton and Howard Coray. This new discovery gives some clarification of the question of reliability but also emphasizes, to students of history, the value of tracing one’s information to original sources.
