The Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History (later renamed to Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History) was an academic research organization at Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...

 (BYU) from 1980 to 2005, which sought to promote the study of the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

History

In 1982, the History Division of the church's Historical Department was dissolved and its staff transferred to BYU, to become part of the Smith Institute. Leonard J. Arrington

Leonard J. Arrington

Leonard James Arrington was an author, academic and the founder of the Mormon History Association. He is known as the "Dean of Mormon History" and "the Father of Mormon History" because of his many influential contributions to the field.-Biographical background:Arrington was born in Twin Falls,...

, who headed the History Division from 1972–1982, also led the Smith Institute from 1980-1986. Arrington was succeeded as head of the institute by Ron Esplin

Ron Esplin

Dr. Ronald Kent Esplin is the managing editor of The Joseph Smith Papers project and the former director of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History at Brigham Young University .- Biography :...

. Esplin was succeeded by Jill Mulvay Derr

Jill Mulvay Derr

Jill Mulvay Derr was an American history professor at Brigham Young University and the director of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History, as well as the president of the Mormon History Association....

.

The Smith Institute operated as part of BYU's College of Home, Family and Social Sciences.

In 2005, with the growth of the Joseph Smith Papers Project, and with its reloction to the Family and Church History Department in Salt Lake City, it was decided to dissolve the institute and have various academic departments at BYU continue research in church history topics. Some of the former faculty members of the institute, such as Grant Underwood

Grant Underwood

Grant Revon Underwood is a historian of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a professor at Brigham Young University...

 were transferred to BYU's history department.

Controversies

In 2003 in response to Grant Palmer's book in which he gave the impression that at least some of the scholars at the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute supported his views on church history, the Smith Institute issued a statement directly rejecting the views advanced by Palmer.