Single leaf, measuring 6⅝ × 7¾ inches (17 × 20 cm) and ruled with nineteen blue horizontal lines. The leaf was reduced in size by tearing off the top and right side of the recto. The document was later trifolded for docketing and filed.

The document was docketed by , who served as city recorder and clerk of the Nauvoo Municipal Court from 1841 to 1843. When City of Nauvoo v. Hunter was appealed, Sloan forwarded this and other documents pertaining to the case to the Circuit Court, where they were filed by circuit court deputy clerk on 28 February 1843. The document entered private possession at an unknown time. The church subsequently acquired the complaint. The Church Historical Department (now CHL) published a register of the JS Collection in 1973. Between 1974 and 1984, staff continued to locate documents authored by or directed to JS in uncataloged church financial records and in name and subject files. The department also acquired additional JS documents from donors, collectors, and dealers. These newly located and acquired documents were kept together in a supplement to the JS Collection. A preliminary inventory of the supplement was created in 1992. This group of records was named the JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, and its cataloging was finalized in 2017.