- Date
- 1854-09-26
- Eras
- Strang era
- Concepts
- mormonismreligionhistoriography
- Within
- Saint James
Summary
The Prophetic Controversy is a letter attributed to James J. Strang, dated Saint James, September 26, 1854, and addressed to Mrs. Corey. In the held later reprints, Strang argues for his own prophetic calling and responds to a challenge framed as a dispute over succession after Joseph Smith.
The project holds 1878, 1886, and 1893 reprints, not an original 1854 printing. Their agreement on the opening title, addressee, date, and general text provides a documented transmission trail, but does not remove the need to distinguish the 1854 letter date from the later editions’ publication history.
Evidence limits
The text records Strang’s own theological and institutional claims. It does not independently prove those claims, establish the recipient’s identity beyond the printed address, or authenticate the physical form, circulation, or complete publication history of an original 1854 issue.
See also
Read the document
50 pages, rendered from the held scan.
Sources
- Held full reprint begins with the title and the letter date/location, and presents Strang’s argument for his prophetic calling. It is a later reproduction of a text dated 1854, not a held original 1854 printing. The article cites this item's OCR text; the archive also holds the scan, rendered page by page 2026-08-08 and named in `pdf_page_source`. 50 pages. The archive holds three reprints (1878, 1886, 1893) of the 1854 letter this article is about; the earliest held printing is shown, and the other two remain cited in the sources block.
- Second held reprint, retaining the Saint James September 26, 1854 letter date in its opening.
- Third held reprint, carrying a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Historian’s Office marking and retaining the Saint James September 26, 1854 opening. It is evidence of later preservation/transmission, not of an 1854 original’s physical form.
Added 2 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “The Prophetic Controversy: A Letter from James J. Strang to Mrs. Corey, 1854; later reprints”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/documents/prophetic-controversy-strang-1854-letter/, accessed [date], citing James J. Strang, The Prophetic Controversy: A Letter from James J. Strang to Mrs. Corey, dated Saint James, September 26, 1854; 1878 reprint. (and 2 further sources listed on the page).
Last revised 2026-08-02. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.
BibTeX for “The Prophetic Controversy: A Letter from James J. Strang to Mrs. Corey, 1854; later reprints”RIS for “The Prophetic Controversy: A Letter from James J. Strang to Mrs. Corey, 1854; later reprints”