In September 1831, W.W. Phelps was charged by a church conference in Ohio to establish a press in Jackson County, MO. Acquiring a press and type in Cincinnati, Phelps wasready to print a monthly newspaper by January 1832. He was, however, unable to print a newspaper until Martin Harris arrived with paper for the press. He printed the first regular issue of The Evening and the Morning Star in June 1832, and included the “Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ,” which is Section 20 in our scriptures today, among other items of news. Despite Phelps’ pledge to avoid controversy and politics in the pages of the Star, in July 1833 he greatly offended local Missourians by commenting on slavery and mentioning abolition. Already irritated by the rising political power of the recently-arrived Saints, the citizens of Jackson County destroyed his home, where he printed the newspaper, and tossed the printing press and type out of the second floor window.
This is a single issue of the Star printed in June 1833. It includes The Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ, which was reprinted from the June 1832 number. Many Latter-day Saints would first encounter Joseph Smith’s revelations in the pages of the Star, and it was an important conduit of information for Church members until its destruction—so much so that Oliver Cowdery quickly set up a new press in Kirtland, printing the first Kirtland number in December 1833.