The Church History Department has recently made available a series of videos on the life and ministry of each president of the church, from Joseph Smith through President Monson. The series is called “Prophets of the Restoration.” Because my primary interest at the moment is in Joseph Smith, I include a separate link here to the videos about him. I am planning to watch some of the videos with our family in an upcoming family home evening. In fact, these videos can provide material for a number of family nights!
While you are exploring the videos, be sure to also check out some of the articles in the Revelations in Context series, which give detailed historical background about a number of the sections of the Doctrine and Covenants. If you read one of these before your Gospel Doctrine class, you will come across as a real history whiz! My favorite of those I have read so far is probably the one Jed Woodworth wrote on the Word of Wisdom. You may remember that Jed assisted Richard Bushman with the research and writing of Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling.
Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon 