Gerrit J. Dirkmaat received his PhD in history in 2010 from the University of Colorado. He worked as a historian and writer for the Joseph Smith Papers Project from 2010 to 2014. He was coeditor of Documents, Volume 1 and lead editor of Documents, Volume 3. He was an assistant professor of Church history and doctrine at BYU when this was written, and he continues to work as a volunteer historian and writer on the Joseph Smith Papers Project.