Prophet's scribes

The fourth annual BYU Church History Symposium Feb. 27 focused on the theme "Preserving the History of the Latter-day Saints."

Keynote addresses by Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy, church historian and recorder, and by Richard E. Turley Jr., assistant church historian, were summarized in last week's Church News. On pages 14 and 15 are reports of presentations by four of the 16 other scholars.

Proceedings of the symposium will be published in book form sometime next year by BYU's Religious Studies Center, which co-sponsored the event.

Previous symposia have focused on Oliver Cowdery, Wilford Woodruff and John Taylor.
The Prophet Joseph Smith wrote of having kept "several good, faithful and efficient clerks in constant employ. They have accompanied me everywhere and carefully kept my history, and they have written down what I have done, where I have been and what I have said."

One of those clerks was 31-year-old William Clayton, the subject of the church history symposium presentation by James B. Allen, former Assistant Church Historian, retired BYU history professor and Brother Clayton's biographer (Trials of Discipleship: The Story of William Clayton, a Mormon).

See the rest of this story at ldschurchnews.com
This story is provided by the LDS Church News, an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is produced weekly by the Deseret News.