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 (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

(BYU) from 1980 to 2005 that sought to promote the study of the history of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

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 James Arrington (July 2, 1917 – February 11, 1999) was an American 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 man ...

, 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. Esplin was succeeded by

Jill Mulvay Derr Jill Mulvay Derr (born September 8, 1948) was a senior research historian in the Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 2005 to 2011. She previously served as Managing Director of the Joseph F ...

. The Smith Institute operated as part of

BYU's College of Family, Home and Social Sciences The BYU College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences is a college located on the Provo, Utah campus of Brigham Young University and is housed in the Spencer W. Kimball Tower and Joseph F. Smith Building. The BYU College of Family Living was orga ...

. In 2005, with the growth of the

Joseph Smith Papers Project ''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 (1805-1844), the founder of the Latter Day Saint ...

, and with its relocation to the Family and Church History Department in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, 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 Revon Underwood is a historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and a professor at Brigham Young University (BYU). He is also the author of ''The Millennial World of Early Mormonism'' and the editor of ''Voy ...

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.text of Smith Institute statement
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Notes

References

* * Organizations disestablished in 2005 Brigham Young University *Joseph Fielding Smith Institute History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints History institutes Organizations based in Utah Organizations established in 1980 Organizational subdivisions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1980 establishments in Utah History organizations based in the United States {{LDS-stub