The Joseph Smith Papers - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Joseph Smith Papers (or Joseph Smith Papers Project) is a project researching, collecting, and publishing all manuscripts and documents created by, or under the direction of, Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement

Latter Day Saint movement

The Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...

. The documents will be published with transcriptions and annotations online and in printed volumes. The project is sponsored by the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), while the website and volumes are published under the department's imprint, the Church Historian's Press

Church Historian's Press

The Church Historian's Press is an imprint dedicated to publishing scholarly works about the origin, history, and growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...

History of the project

After Joseph Smith’s death in 1844, a collection of his papers was carried West by Brigham Young

Brigham Young

Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...

and other church leaders. Some significant documents remained with John Whitmer

John Whitmer

John Whitmer was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. He was one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon's Golden Plates...

, Smith’s widow Emma, and others. Many of these were not published until years later by the LDS Church, the Community of Christ

Community of Christ

The Community of Christ, known from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , is an American-based international Christian church established in April 1830 that claims as its mission "to proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace"...

, and independent researchers. The “Roots of the current effort” began in the late 1960s when Truman G. Madsen

Truman G. Madsen

Truman Grant Madsen was an emeritus professor of religion and philosophy at Brigham Young University and director of the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. He was a prolific author, a recognized authority on Joseph Smith, and a popular lecturer among Latter-day...

invited Dean C. Jessee

Dean C. Jessee

Dean Cornell Jessee is a historian of the early Latter Day Saint movement and leading expert on the writings of Joseph Smith, Jr.-Biography:...

, then an employee of the Church Historian’s Office, to contribute documents relating to Joseph Smith and early Mormonism

Mormonism

Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...

to issues of BYU Studies

BYU Studies

BYU Studies is a multidisciplinary journal dedicated to publishing articles on a broad array of topics related to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...

. In 1972 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,...

was appointed the Church Historian and he directed Jessee to continue to "locate, collect, and transcribe Smith’s writings.” This resulted in Jessee’s 1984 publication, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith followed by the two volume Papers of Joseph Smith, the first in 1989 and the second in 1992.

In 2001, Dean Jessee's project became a joint venture between 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...

and the LDS Church Archives. The project was renamed The Joseph Smith Papers and expanded with added funding from Larry H. and Gail Miller

Larry H. Miller

Lawrence Horne "Larry H." Miller was a Utah businessman and philanthropist who was well known as the owner of the NBA's Utah Jazz and the of Triple-A baseball team, the Salt Lake Bees, 41 automotive dealerships throughout the Western United States , and a variety of other business ventures...

.

In August 2004, the Project received endorsement by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, a division of the National Archives

National Archives and Records Administration

The National Archives and Records Administration is an independent agency of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents, which comprise the National Archives...

, to ensure research is conducted according to the highest scholarly standards. The Project was moved back to the Church History Department in 2005.

Although not an official part of the project, a documentary TV series also called The Joseph Smith Papers

The Joseph Smith Papers (TV series)

The Joseph Smith Papers: Television Documentary Series is a documentary television series produced by Ronald O. Barney and the Larry H. Miller Communications Corporation. The series documented the creation of, and work involved in, the Joseph Smith Papers Project...

was created. This series documented the creation of and work involved in the Joseph Smith Papers Project. It was produced by KJZZ-TV

KJZZ-TV

KJZZ-TV, virtual channel 14, is a full-service Independent television station serving Salt Lake City, Utah, USA and surrounding areas, broadcasting in digital on UHF channel 46. The KJZZ transmitter is located on Farnsworth Peak in the Oquirrh Mountains...

in cooperation with the LDS Church Historical Department.

Publishing

In February 2008, The Church Historian’s Press, an imprint of the Church History Department of the LDS Church, was established "for publishing works related to the Church’s origin and growth." The publication of The Joseph Smith Papers is the press's initial project.

Current Church Historian and Recorder, Marlin K. Jensen

Marlin K. Jensen

Marlin Keith Jensen has been a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1989 and has been the official Church Historian and Recorder of the church since 2005. He is the 19th man to hold that calling since it was established in 1830.- Biographical background...

, said the project will include “journals, diaries, correspondence, articles and notices. Everything of a written nature Joseph Smith generated, or over which he had oversight.” High resolution images of many of the original documents were published by Brigham Young University Press

Brigham Young University Press

Brigham Young University Press is the university press of Brigham Young University .-History:Brigham Young University Press was formed in 1967 through the consolidation of BYU's various publishing activities into one central organization....

in 2002 as part of Selected Collections from the Archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The two volume set contains 76 DVDs of images from 1830 to 1923, including complete images of the Joseph Smith Collection, circa 1831-1844, the Revelations Collections, circa 1831-1876, architectural drawings of the Nauvoo Temple

Nauvoo Temple

The Nauvoo Temple was the second temple constructed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly known as the Mormons. The church's first temple was completed in Kirtland, Ohio, United States in 1836. When the main body of the church was forced out of Nauvoo, Illinois in the...

, and several volumes containing minutes from meetings Joseph Smith attended or oversaw. Annotated transcriptions of the Joseph Smith related document from this DVD collection, in addition to the number of Joseph Smith documents housed in widespread repositories and in private collections will make the documents far more accessible to scholars of American religious history, historians, researchers, and the public.

Before publication, transcripts of the manuscripts are verified three times, and annotation is supplied to illuminate the historical context of each document..” To assure quality, all citations and footnotes are verified, often double-checked, by production editors and carefully copy edited. The manuscripts are also examined by editors over the project, and drafts of volumes are reviewed by external scholarly reviewers and General Authorities of the LDS Church.

The first volume of The Joseph Smith Papers, entitled, The Joseph Smith Papers, Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839, was released in December 2008. Despite the $50 retail price, unexpectedly high demand caused the initial printing of 12,500 copies to sell out in two weeks, and the publishers to triple their projected second printing order to 16,500. Many Christmas purchasers bought gift certificates for the coming printing and some extant copies were resold for over twice the retail price.

As of October 10, 2009 over 48,000 copies of volume 1 were sold. The second volume of the The Joseph Smith Papers, entitled The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Volume 1: Manuscript Revelation Books was available for purchase September 23, 2009. The original sales projection for this volume was 3,000 copies. Within two weeks, over 6,100 copies were sold in Deseret Book

Deseret Book

Deseret Book is the largest Latter-day Saint book publisher and also owns a chain of LDS bookstores in the western United States. Over 150 people work in its Salt Lake City headquarters...

retail stores and over 11,000 copies were requested by other bookstores.

Awards

In 2008, Journals, Volume 1: 1832-1839 received the Special Award in Textual Criticism and Bibliography from the Association for Mormon Letters

Association for Mormon Letters

The Association for Mormon Letters is a nonprofit founded in 1976 to promote quality writing "by, for, and about Mormons." The broadness of this definition of Mormon literature has led the AML to focus on a wide variety of work that has sometimes been neglected in the Mormon community...

., and the Steven F. Christensen Best Documentary Award from the Mormon History Association

Mormon History Association

The Mormon History Association is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the study and understanding of all aspects of Mormon history to promote understanding, scholarly research, and publication in the field...

in 2009.

Projected volumes

According to the Joseph Smith Papers website, “the print edition of The Joseph Smith Papers will consist of about twenty volumes”. The Joseph Smith Papers have been divided into the following series:

Journals

The Journals series consists of the ten journals kept by Joseph Smith and his scribes from 1832 to 1844.

Volume 1 1832-1839 (Published November 26, 2008).
Volume 2 1841-1843
Volume 3 1843-1844

Documents

The Documents series will contain correspondence, sermons and other addresses, official declarations and pronouncements, editorials and articles from periodicals, early versions of revelations, and "selected minutes and proceedings." Twelve volumes are projected for the print edition. Several hundred documents from this series are available on the Joseph Smith Papers website.

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7
Volume 8
Volume 9
Volume 10
Volume 11
Volume 12

History

The History series will contain Joseph Smith's complete manuscript history, begun by Smith in 1838, and continued by clerks after his death in 1844. Two volumes will be included in the print edition. According to the website, "the entire multivolume manuscript history" will be published online.

Volume 1
Volume 2

Legal and business records

The series will contain legal papers in which Smith was a judge, witness, plaintiff or a defendant, and financial records including land transactions and "accounts of church-owned businesses." Only one volume is projected to be included in the print edition. Additional material will be available online.

Volume 1

Revelations and translations

This series will contain the earliest known manuscripts text of revelations received by Joseph Smith and published in his lifetime including the printer's manuscript of the Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...

, the published Book of Mormon, and the Book of Commandments

Book of Commandments

The Book of Commandments is the earliest published volume said to contain the revelations of Joseph Smith Jr. Text published in the Book of Commandments is now considered scripture by Latter-day Saints as part of the larger Doctrine and Covenants....

Volume 1 Manuscript Revelation Books, Facsimile Edition (Published September 22, 2009)
Volume 1 Manuscript Revelation Books (Published March 9, 2011)
Volume 2 Published Revelations (Published March 18, 2011)
Volume 3 Book of Mormon Printer’s Manuscript

Administrative records

The Administrative Records series will publish records relating to the "institutions that were established under Smith's directions" as well as minutes for meetings Smith attended.

Minute Book 1 (Published online, 2011)
Minute Book 2 (Published online, 2011)
Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book (Published online, 2011)

Editorial board and project staff

The current editorial board and project staff are as follows:

Editorial Board

Marlin K. Jensen

Marlin K. Jensen

- Church Historian and Recorder

Richard E. Turley Jr. - Assistant Church Historian and Recorder

Reid L. Neilson - Managing Director, Church History Department

Matthew J. Grow
Director, Products Division, Church History Department

Max J. Evans - Director, Collections Division, Church History Department

National Advisory Board

Stephen J. Stein - Chancellor's Professor, Emeritus, of Religious Studies and Adjunct Professor of American History and American Studies, Indiana University

Indiana University

Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...

, Bloomington

Bloomington, Indiana

Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....

Harry S. Stout - Jonathan Edwards Professor of American Religious History and Chair, Department of Religious Studies, Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

Terryl L. Givens - James A. Bostwick Chair and Professor of Literature and Religion,
University of Richmond

University of Richmond

The University of Richmond is a selective, private, nonsectarian, liberal arts university located on the border of the city of Richmond and Henrico County, Virginia. The University of Richmond is a primarily undergraduate, residential university with approximately 4,000 undergraduate and graduate...

Susan Holbrook Perdue - Program Director, Documents Compass, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, []University of Virginia

University of Virginia

The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

General Editors
Dean C. Jessee

Dean C. Jessee

Dean Cornell Jessee is a historian of the early Latter Day Saint movement and leading expert on the writings of Joseph Smith, Jr.-Biography:...

, Ronald K. Esplin, Richard Lyman Bushman

Managing Editor
Ronald K. Esplin

Associate Managing Editor
Jeffrey N. Walker

Associate Editor
Ronald O. Barney

Program Manager
David L. Willden

Production Manager
R. Eric Smith

Project Archivist
Robin Scott Jensen

Document Specialists
Christy L. Best, Jeffrey G. Cannon, Sharalyn D. Howcroft

Volume Co-editors
Mark Ashurst-McGee

Mark Ashurst-McGee

Mark Roscoe Ashurst-McGee is an American historian of the Latter Day Saint movement and editor for the Joseph Smith Papers project.-Biographical background:...

, Ronald O. Barney, Alexander L. Baugh

Alexander L. Baugh

Alexander L. Baugh is a professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University . He has largely written on the history of the Latter Day Saint movement in the 1830s Missouri period, but has also written on such topics as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Great...

, Joseph I. Bentley

Joseph I. Bentley

Joseph I. Bentley was a major real estate lawyer in California. Since his retirement in 2003 he has served as an adjunct law professor at Brigham Young University and as the business and legal documents editor for the Joseph Smith Papers Project....

, Joseph F. Darowski , Kay Darowski, Karen Lynn Davidson

Karen Lynn Davidson

Karen Lynn Davidson is a Latter-day Saint hymnwriter, author and literary critic. Davidson has written widely on the hymns of both The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and of the Community of Christ....

, Steven C. Harper

Steven C. Harper

Steven Craig Harper is a professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University .-Biography:Harper is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . He earned his B.A. in history from BYU in 1994, an M.A. in American history from Utah State University in 1996, and a...

, William G. Hartley

William G. Hartley

William George Hartley is an American historian and author. He had written many books primarily on family history research, histories of specific families and 19th-century Latter-day Saint history.-Biography:...

, Andrew H. Hedges

Andrew H. Hedges

Andrew H. Hedges was, from 1995-2009, a professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University and a co-editor of the Joseph Smith Papers....

, Robin Scott Jensen, Gordon A. Madsen

Gordon A. Madsen

Gordon A. Madsen is a former state legislator and assistant attorney general in Utah. He is currently working as a co-editor of the business and legal papers in the Joseph Smith Papers Project. Madsen is married to Carol Cornwall Madsen....

, Max H. Parkin, Alex D. Smith, Steven R. Sorensen, Morris A. Thurston, 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...

, Jeffrey N. Walker, David J. Whittaker

David J. Whittaker

David Jay Whittaker is a Mormon historian and bibliographer. He has authored or co-authored seven books and about fifty scholarly articles. He was the curator of Western and Mormon history manuscripts for the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library of the Harold B. Lee Library. He was also a...

, Robert J. Woodford

Robert J. Woodford

Robert John Woodford is an expert on Joseph Smith and the Doctrine and Covenants. He was a teacher in seminaries and institutes with the Church Educational System for many years. He is one of the editors with the Joseph Smith Papers Project and along with Steven C...

.

Consulting Scholar
John W. Welch

John W. Welch

John Woodland "Jack" Welch is an LDS law and religion scholar who currently teaches at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University .- Biography :...

Research and Review Editors
Richard Lloyd Anderson

Richard Lloyd Anderson

Richard Lloyd Anderson is an emeritus professor of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University . His book Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses is widely considered the definitive LDS work on this subject...

, Richard L. Jensen

Richard L. Jensen

Richard Louis Jensen is an American historian who specializes in the study of 19th-century Latter Day Saint history in Europe and of 19th-century European Latter Day Saint immigrants in the United States....

Production Editors
R. Eric Smith, senior editor, Linda Hunter Adams, Susan Hainsworth, Rachel Osborne, Sarah Gibby Peris, Heather Seferovich, Nathan N. Waite.

External links

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