The Joseph Smith Papers
Contents
Extensive Repository of Church History to Be Researched and Published
A 30-volume historical compilation of the origins and growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes casually referred to as the "Mormon Church"), is currently in progress. Elder Marlin K. Jensen, Church Historian and Recorder refers to the Joseph Smith Papers Project "the most important Church history project of this generation", a project that, once completed, will appear on its own website: www.JosephSmithPapers.org. ([1]).
Endorsement from National Historical Publications and Records Commission
Dean Jessee, a Church historian and scholar, has made the study of early Mormon history and Joseph's life his vocation for years, and serves as one of three general editors of the project, with Ronald K. Esplin acting as the managing editor of the project.
Writers and researchers will be working together at the Church headquarters; to this point they have been pooled in separate groups at the Joseph Fielding Smith building on the BYU campus and, as well, at the Church offices. [2]
About the Project
Ron Barney, co-editor of one of the volumes, and the spokesman for the project had this to say:
- We believe that anybody in the future who writes about Joseph Smith will have to go through The Joseph Smith Papers. Some people in the past have been loosey goosey with what they say about Joseph Smith, but that will no longer fly. They may disagree, but they'll still have to go through The Joseph Smith Papers.[1]
The papers will be published over the next few years by The Church Historian's Press, created by the LDS Church for the publication of titles relating to Church history and growth. The papers will eventually be made available online. Marlin K. Jensen stated,
- This is an invitation for anyone interested in the history of the Church to read the foundational documents related to its beginning and development. [2]
The project has sought approval and scrutiny from outside the Church. Hence, the ratification of The National Historical Publications and Records Commission. A national advisory board, which includes three members who are not LDS, is overseeing the project. Harry S. Stout is one of the board's members. He remarked,
- It means they follow the same documentary editing conventions as other approved projects. That means you don't substitute words, you don't paraphrase anything, you don't delete something if you think it's embarrassing. They're following all those conventions and bringing in outsiders as quality checkers.[3]
Ron Barney addressed the problem of context. It is often difficult to understand the content of the writings without comprehending the historical and religious context first. Establishing context has made the task laborious and added months, even years to the process. The project actually began in the 1960's with Dean Jessee's work. There are now over 40 scholars and editors involved. Funding has come from the Church and from Larry H. Miller, a Utah businessman, who has created an endowment for the project.
Advances in technology have enabled the project to move forward in a vital manner. Imaging and document software make it possible to capture and manipulate texts. High resolution color scans can be enhanced and magnified. Final comparisons of digitally created files to original documents are made with the help of ultraviolet light and microscopes. Scholars examine the results according to the category of the documents (journals, documents, revelations, translations, history, legal, business, and administrative) and the scholars' field of expertise. Also included among the papers are diaries, outgoing and incoming correspondence, revelations, contemporary reports of discourses, editorials, and notices. [4] Special annotations are made for notes written in margins or between lines.
- The project intends to publish, either in letterpress volumes or electronic form, every extant Joseph Smith document to which its editors can obtain access. Certain routine documents, such as some notes and certificates and some legal or business documents, will be calendared and published in their entirety online with only samples published in the letterpress edition. The Journals Series of The Joseph Smith Papers presents an unaltered and unabridged transcript of each of Smith’s known journals.[5]
- Readers wishing to view those elements not reproduced in the letterpress volumes may consult the Joseph Smith Papers (future) website, josephsmithpapers.org. The website will include a detailed “diplomatic” transcript of the journals, including all redactions and other subsequently added elements, along with letter-by-letter presentation of all revisions.
The Church has also constructed a 230,000 square foot Church History Library east of the Conference Center near Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City. The new library houses approximately 270,000 books, pamphlets, and magazines, and 240,000 original, unpublished records. The library provides an area open to the public, as well as archival storage rooms and climate-controlled storage vaults.
The Creation of The Church Historian's Press
Updates
The third volume of the Joseph Smith Papers was published in March 2011. It is Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. This book features the printed versions of Joseph Smith’s revelations that were published or in the process of being published during his lifetime.
When the project is completed, it will consist of an anticipated 20 volumes, cut back from the earlier expectation of 30 volumes, because the other volumes will instead be published online. Making all the Joseph Smith papers available online manifests the Mormon Church's desire to make its history transparent. Scholars of all faiths will now have complete access. The Church can't control how such knowledge will be used, whether to uphold or try to destroy the faith or to foster misperceptions, but the Church hopes that scholarship that results from good information will be beneficial for the world and the Church on the whole in the long run. Eventually, most research libraries will have these volumes.
Sixty-five thousand copies of the first book in the series, Joseph Smith’s Journals were purchased, an unprecedented number in the documentary editing world. The Church expects to publish two volumes a year. (To read more about the third volume, click here.)
"Journals, Volume 2" of the Joseph Smith Papers was released on November 15, 2011. This volume deals with the historical period in which the Latter-day Saints established the city of Nauvoo. This publication is the fourth volume of the series.
- "The latest release covers the Prophet's life from December 1841 to April 1843. This 17-month period includes some of the most significant and dramatic events in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- "Among them are the founding of the female Relief Society in Nauvoo, the revelation directing the performance of proxy baptisms for the dead, the translation and publication of the Book of Abraham (now part of the Pearl of Great Price) from ancient scrolls that came into the Prophet's possession, the beginning of construction of the Nauvoo Temple, and the revelation of other ordinances associated with the temple." [3]
The 2013 release of Joseph Smith documents (with further releases upcoming) enables researchers to view documents in chronological order without interrupting narrative:
