Bifolium measuring 9¾ × 7⅝ inches (25 × 19 cm). When the bifolium is folded so that the letter appears on the recto of the first leaf, the address appears on the recto of the second leaf. The letter included an enclosure of twenty-eight dollars (not extant). The letter was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer. The second leaf was torn when the letter was opened, and its verso contains wafer residue. It was later refolded for filing. Separations along the folds have been repaired.

After the letter was received, notations and two dockets were inscribed by , who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854. This letter was in a collection of papers held by Helen Vilate Bourne Fleming, a descendant of and . The collection was passed down to Fleming’s descendant Helen Marian Fleming Petersen. Shortly after Petersen’s death in February 1988, one of her children found this letter and other items in a box in her home. By December 1988 the materials had been donated to the Church Historical Department (now CHL).