''The Joseph Smith Papers'' (or Joseph Smith Papers Project) is a

project A project is any undertaking, carried out individually or collaboratively and possibly involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular goal. An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of even ...

researching, collecting, and publishing all manuscripts and documents created by, or under the direction of,

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, h ...

(1805-1844), the founder of the

Latter Day Saint movement The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Jo ...

. The documents, which include transcriptions and annotations, have appeared both online and in printed form. The

Church History Department The Church History Department (CHD) manages the historical and publishing activities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). This includes the Church History Museum, Church Historian’s Press, and various research and colle ...

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 Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church) sponsors the project; the department's imprint, the

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 (LDS Church). It is owned by the LDS Church and operated under the direct ...

, publishes the website and the printed volumes.

History of the project

After Smith's death in 1844, a collection of his papers was carried west by

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as chu ...

and other church leaders. Some significant documents remained with John Whitmer, Smith's widow, Emma, and others. Many of these were not published until years later by the LDS Church, the

Community of Christ The Community of Christ, known from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), is an American-based international church, and is the second-largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. The churc ...

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

Dean C. Jessee Dean Cornell Jessee (born 1929) is a historian of the early Latter Day Saint movement and leading expert on the writings of Joseph Smith Jr. Biography Jessee was one of the sons of Phillip Cornell Jessee and Minerva Boss. He was raised in Springvi ...

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

Mormonism Mormonism is the religious tradition and theology of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects o ...

to issues of ''

BYU Studies ''BYU Studies Quarterly'' is an academic journal covering a broad array of topics related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( Mormon studies). It is published by the church-owned Brigham Young University. The journal is abstracted ...

''. In 1972,

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 ...

was appointed the

Church Historian Church Historian and Recorder (usually shortened to Church Historian) is a priesthood calling in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The role of the Church Historian and Recorder is to keep an accurate and comprehensive record of th ...

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, Jessee's project became a joint venture between

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 ...

's (BYU)

Joseph Fielding Smith Institute 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 (BYU) from 1980 to 2005 that sought to promo ...

and the

LDS Church Archives The Church History Library (CHL) is a research center and archives building housing materials chronicling the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The library is owned by the Church and opened in 2009 in downt ...

. The project was renamed ''The Joseph Smith Papers'' and expanded with added funding from Larry H. and Gail Miller. Its preliminary work was important to the creation of the landmark biography, '' Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling'', which

Richard Bushman Richard Lyman Bushman (June 20, 1931) is an American historian and Gouverneur Morris Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, having previously taught at Brigham Young University, Harvard University, Boston University, and the Univ ...

published in 2005. In August 2004, the project received endorsement by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, a division of 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'' 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 (channel 14) is an independent television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside CBS affiliate KUTV (channel 2) and MyNetworkTV affiliate KMYU (channel 12) in St. George. The ...

in cooperation with the Church History Department.

Publishing

In February 2008, the Church Historian's Press, 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.

Marlin K. Jensen Marlin Keith Jensen (born May 18, 1942) is an American attorney who has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) since 1989. He served as the official Church Historian and Recorder of the church fro ...

, Church Historian and Recorder at the time of the announcement, 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 (BYU Press) is the university press of Brigham Young University (BYU). History Brigham Young University Press was formed in 1967 through the consolidation of BYU's various publishing activities into one central or ...

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 The Nauvoo Temple was the second temple constructed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.''Manuscript History of the Church'', LDS Church Archives, book A-1, p. 37; reproduced in Dean C. Jessee (comp.) (1989). ''The Papers of Jose ...

, and several volumes containing minutes from meetings Joseph Smith attended or oversaw. Before publication, transcripts of the manuscripts are verified three times, and annotation is supplied to illuminate the historical context of each document.." 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 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 () is an American publishing company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, that also operates a chain of bookstores throughout the western United States. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation (DMC), th ...

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

Volumes

The Joseph Smith Papers project anticipates that it will publish around two dozen print volumes, as well as some additional volumes published online. The Joseph Smith Papers have been divided into the following series:

Journals

The ten journals kept by Joseph Smith and his scribes from 1832 to 1844. * Volume 1: 1832-1839 (published November 26, 2008) * Volume 2: December 1841-April 1843 (published November 15, 2011) * Volume 3: May 1843-June 1844 (published November 30, 2015)

Documents

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, of which twelve have been published. Several hundred documents from this series are available on the Joseph Smith Papers website. * Volume 1: July 1828-June 1831 (published September 4, 2013) * Volume 2: July 1831-January 1833 (published December 2, 2013) * Volume 3: February 1833-March 1834 (published December 1, 2014) * Volume 4: April 1834-September 1835 (published May 9, 2016) * Volume 5: October 1835-January 1838 (published May 15, 2017) * Volume 6: February 1838–August 1839 (published September 25, 2017) * Volume 7: September 1839–January 1841 (published April 2, 2018) *Volume 8: February 1841–November 1841 (published May 13, 2019) *Volume 9: December 1841–April 1842 (published October 8, 2019) *Volume 10: May 1842–August 1842 (published May 4, 2020) *Volume 11: September 1842–February 1843 (published October 12, 2020) *Volume 12: March 1843–July 1843 (published April 26, 2021)

Histories

The histories were planned to contain Smith's complete manuscript history, which he began in 1838, and continued by clerks after his death in 1844. According to the website, "the entire multivolume manuscript history" will be published online. * Volume 1: Joseph Smith Histories, 1832-1844 (published March 19, 2012) * Volume 2: Assigned Historical Writings, 1831-1847 (published September 25, 2012)

Legal, business, and financial 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, which may have originally been intended for printing, but will only be available online.

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 The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude ...

, the published Book of Mormon, and the

Book of Commandments The Book of Commandments is the earliest published book to contain the revelations of Joseph Smith Jr. Text published in the Book of Commandments is now considered scripture by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) as part o ...

. * 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, Part 1: Printer's Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 1 - Alma 35, Facsimile Edition (published August 4, 2015) * Volume 3, Part 2: Printer's Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, Alma 36 - Moroni 10, Facsimile Edition (published August 4, 2015) *Volume 4: Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts (published October 29, 2018)

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) *Administrative Records, Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846 (published September 26, 2016)

Editorial board and project staff

The current and editorial board and project staff are as follows: Editorial Board LeGrand R. Curtis Jr. - Church Historian and Recorder Matthew J. Grow - Managing Director, Church History Department National Advisory Board

Stephen J. Stein Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...

- Chancellor's Professor, Emeritus, of Religious Studies and Adjunct Professor of American History and American Studies,

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

, Bloomington

Harry S. Stout Harry S. Stout is an American historian of religion, who is currently the Jonathan Edwards Professor of American Christianity at Yale Divinity School. He is the editor of the 27 volume series ''The Works of Jonathan Edwards'' and the co-editor wit ...

- Jonathan Edwards Professor of American Religious History and Chair, Department of Religious Studies,

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

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

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

Susan Holbrook Perdue Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian '' sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose" and a flower in general), ...

- Program Director, Documents Compass, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities,

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

General Editors

Ronald K. Esplin Ronald Kent Esplin (born 1944) 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 (BYU). Biography Esplin was born in ...

, Matthew J. Grow, Richard Lyman Bushman Managing Historian Matthew C. Godfrey Associate Managing Historian Robin Jensen Editorial Manager R. Eric Smith Assistant Editorial Managers Nathan Waite Riley Lorimer Project Archivist Robin Scott Jensen Document Specialists Sharalyn D. Howcroft Volume Co-editors Mason K. Allred,

Mark Ashurst-McGee Mark Roscoe Ashurst-McGee (born 1968) is an American historian of the Latter Day Saint movement and editor for the Joseph Smith Papers project. Background From 1988 to 1990, Ashurst-McGee served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- ...

Alexander L. Baugh Alexander L. Baugh (born 1957) is a professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University (BYU). He has largely written on the history of the Latter Day Saint movement in the 1830s Missouri period, but has also written on such top ...

, Christopher James Blythe, Gerrit Dirkmaat, David W. Grua,

Karen Lynn Davidson Karen Lynn Davidson (1943–2019) was a Latter-day Saint hymn writer, author, and literary critic. Davidson wrote widely on the hymns of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and of the Community of Christ. Education Davi ...

Steven C. Harper Steven Craig Harper (born 1970) is a professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University. He was a historian for the Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From 2019, he is the Editor-in-Chi ...

William G. Hartley William George Hartley (born 10 February 1942; died 10 April 2018) was an American historian and author. He wrote many books primarily on family history research, histories of specific families and 19th-century Latter-day Saint history. Biograp ...

, Andrew H. Hedges, Christian Heimburger, Elizabeth A. Kuehn, Gordon A. Madsen, Spencer W. McBride, Max H. Parkin, Brenden W. Rensink, Brent M. Rogers, Royal Skousen, Alex D. Smith,

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 ''Vo ...

, Jeffrey N. Walker, John W. Welch, David J. Whittaker, Robert J. Woodford. Production Editors R. Eric Smith, senior editor, Linda Hunter Adams, Susan Hainsworth, Rachel Osborne, Sarah Gibby Peris, Heather Seferovich, Nathan N. Waite.

Awards

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

Association for Mormon Letters The Association for Mormon Letters (AML) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1976 to "foster scholarly and creative work in Mormon letters and to promote fellowship among scholars and writers of Mormon literature." Other stated purposes have in ...

., and the Steven F. Christensen Best Documentary Award from the

Mormon History Association The Mormon History Association (MHA) 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. MHA was founded i ...

in 2009.

Notes

References

External links

;Indexes
Index to The Joseph Smith Papers, Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839
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Index for Journals, Volume 2
;Miscellaneous
The Joseph Smith Papers websiteThe Joseph Smith Papers: Administrative Records: Minute Book 1 online editionThe Joseph Smith Papers: Administrative Records: Minute Book 2 online editionThe Joseph Smith Papers: Administrative Records: Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book online editionThe Joseph Smith Papers: Documents: Letters, revelations, reports of discourses, minutes, etc. online collection
*

"The Joseph Smith Papers: The Manuscript Revelation Books"
''

Ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

'', July 2009
Church History Library websiteJosephSmith.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph Smith Papers 19th-century documents 2008 non-fiction books Book of Mormon artifacts History books about the Latter Day Saint movement History of the Latter Day Saint movement Papers LDS non-fiction Mormon studies Works by Joseph Smith 2008 in Christianity 21st-century Mormonism