The Church’s own FAQ says leaders and manuals have “almost always” drawn from Joseph Smith’s 1838 history, though several official publications discussed other accounts. A few manuals added the 1832 account, and later Institute and Seminary lessons directly teach multiple accounts. Those examples establish publication and specific curriculum content; they do not show what most members encountered or remembered.
Yes, in some courses. The printed 1999 Sunday School lesson focused on Joseph Smith—History. A 2004 institute manual quoted the 1832 account, and the 2025 seminary lesson invites students to read several firsthand accounts. Church magazines discussed the differences as early as 1970. Those publications tell us what readers could find. The manuals show what particular courses invited them to read. Church History FAQ · 2004 institute manual · 2025 seminary lesson
Church magazines discussed the different accounts decades before the Gospel Topics essay. James B. Allen drew on all four firsthand accounts in the April 1970 Improvement Era. In January 1985, Milton V. Backman Jr. explained that the later accounts refer explicitly to two personages while the 1832 account uses “the Lord.” Richard L. Anderson took up that difference again in the April 1996 Ensign and offered an interpretation of the wording. A member who read those articles could learn that the accounts differ and see one way faithful historians understood them. Allen, Improvement Era, pp. 4–13 · Backman, Ensign, January 1985 · Anderson, Ensign, April 1996
Historian Stephen C. Taysom grants that the Church discussed the accounts in publications. He asks what members would have learned from the sources they encountered in ordinary worship and study. The Church’s own First Vision FAQ says leaders and manuals usually drew from the 1838 account and that it remained the most familiar. The Church explains that the 1838 account was more widely available, was prepared as an official history, and became scripture in 1880. Taysom, Sunstone · Church History, First Vision FAQ
| Material | What the reader would encounter |
|---|---|
| 1999 Gospel Doctrine, lesson 3 | The printed teacher’s manual assigns Joseph Smith—History 1:1–26 and Our Heritage, pp. 1–4. The discussion follows the scriptural narrative. The current online teacher’s lesson also includes optional links to resources that discuss multiple accounts. Those links are absent from the printed preparation list. Printed teacher’s manual, pp. 11–15 · Current online lesson |
| 2004 Presidents of the Church Student Manual, chapter 1 | The institute manual has a section devoted to the 1832 account. It quotes Joseph’s search for forgiveness and his description of seeing and hearing the Lord. The quotation is in the chapter itself. 2004 student manual |
| 2007 Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, chapters 1 and 38 | Taysom is right about chapter 1. It teaches from the scriptural account. Note 4 mentions other accounts without comparing their details. Chapter 38 of the same book reproduces the Wentworth Letter’s distinct 1842 telling, where Joseph describes two personages. It appears in a lesson about the letter and the Church’s history. 2007 chapter 1, note 4 · 2007 chapter 38, Wentworth account |
These examples show why the audience matters. A Sunday School reader following the 1999 printed lesson would study a different set of materials than an institute student reading the 2004 chapter. The same adult manual can mention other accounts briefly in one lesson and quote a different account in another.
The 2013 seminary teacher’s manual gives teachers the option to explain that there are four firsthand accounts and five contemporary secondhand reports. It refers teachers to the Ensign articles and suggests an explanation for why Joseph emphasized different details. In 2015, an institute lesson explicitly contrasted the 1832 account’s emphasis on forgiveness with the 1838 account’s place in a history of the Church and assigned the Gospel Topics essay. 2013 seminary, lesson 6 · 2015 institute, lesson 2
The way a talk uses a source matters, too. In April 2020 general conference, President M. Russell Ballard included the 1832 account’s words about forgiveness in his retelling. The written notes identify the sources for the different excerpts. A listener could hear details from several accounts in one narrative. A reader following the notes could see where those details came from. Ballard, Shall We Not Go On in So Great a Cause?, notes 7–12
The 2025 seminary lesson gives examples from the 1832 and 1835 accounts and suggests that students find and read different firsthand accounts in Gospel Library. It invites a comparison in class. That is a more direct encounter with the documents than a reference in a footnote. If you want to make that comparison yourself, the Joseph Smith Papers puts the accounts together with the source notes. 2025 seminary, lesson 8 · Joseph Smith Papers, First Vision accounts
Taysom’s chapter 1 example shows why publication in a magazine tells us little about what a person learned in Sunday School. The 2004 student manual and chapter 38 of the Joseph Smith manual show that some Church courses offered more. Historian Steven C. Harper records that a reader responding to a 2018 article said he had served as a missionary and in bishoprics without ever learning of the differences. To estimate how often the accounts were taught, we would need more evidence about who used the materials and what they heard. Taysom, Sunstone · Harper, Raising the Stakes
I believe Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son. If someone tells me they grew up hearing only the account in the Pearl of Great Price, I can take that experience seriously and share the other accounts. We can read what each says before deciding how to understand the differences. Compare Joseph’s accounts · Trace the custody and publication of the 1832 account
