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The Joseph Smith Papers

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The Joseph Smith Papers (or Joseph Smith Papers Project) is a a project researching, collecting, and publishing all manuscripts and documents created by or sent to Joseph Smith, Jr.(1805-1844), the founder and first prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and in general, the Latter Day Saint movement.[1]

History of the Project

After Joseph Smith’s death in 1844, a collection of his papers was carried West by Brigham Young 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, and independent researchers. The “Roots of the current effort” began in the late 1960’s when Truman G. Madsen invited Dean C. Jessee, then an employee of the Church Historian’s Office, to contribute documents relating to Joseph Smith and early Mormonism to issues of BYU Studies. In 1972 Leonard J. Arrington was appointed the Church Historian and he directed Jessee to continue to "locate, collect, and transcribe Smith’s writings.”[2] 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.[3]

In 2001, Dean Jessee's project became a joint venture between Brigham Young University and the LDS Church Archives. The project was renamed The Joseph Smith Papers and expanded with added funding from Larry H. and Gail Miller.[4]

In August 2004, the Project received endorsement by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, a division of the National Archives[5], to ensure research is conducted according to the highest scholarly standards.[6] The Project was moved back to the Church History Department in 2005.[3]

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 in cooperation with the LDS Church Historical Department.[7]

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.[8]

Current Church Historian and Recorder, Marlin K. Jensen, 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.”[8] High resolution images of many of the original documents were published by Brigham Young University Press 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, and several volumes containing minutes from meetings Joseph Smith attended or oversaw.[9] Annotated transcriptions of the Joseph Smith related document from this DVD collection, in addition to the number of Joseph Smith documents housed in wide-spread 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..”[10] 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.[11] 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.[12]

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 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.[13], and the Steven F. Christensen Best Documentary Award from the Mormon History Association in 2009. [14]

Projected Volumes

According to the Joseph Smith Papers website, “two or three volumes will be published each year until the project is completed.”[15] The Joseph Smith Papers have been divided into the following series:[16]

Journals

The Journals series consists of the ten journals kept by Joseph Smith and his scribes from 1832 to 1844.[3]

  • Volume 1 1832-1839 (Published December 2008).[8]
  • 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."[17]

  • Volume 1 1828-1831 (Projected release date: 2010)[16]
  • Volume 2 1832-1833
  • Volume 3 1834-1835
  • Volume 4 1836-1838
  • Volume 5 1839-1840
  • Volume 6 1841-1842
  • Volume 7 1842-1842
  • Volume 8 1842-1842
  • Volume 9 1843-1843
  • Volume 10 1843-1844
  • Volume 11 1844-1844

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.[18]

  • Volume 1 1805-1833 (Projected release date: 2010)[16]
  • Volume 2 1805-1833
  • Volume 3 1834-1837
  • Volume 4 1838-1839
  • Volume 5 1839-1842
  • Volume 6 1842-1843
  • Volume 7 1842-1844

This 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."[18]

Revelations and Translations

This series will contain the earliest known manuscripts text of revelations received by Joseph Smith and published in his life time including the printer's manuscript of the Book of Mormon, the published Book of Mormon, and the Book of Commandments.[18]

  • Volume 1 Manuscript Revelation books (Published September 22, 2009)[16]
  • Volume 2 Early Revelation manuscripts
  • Volume 3 Book of Mormon printer’s manuscript
  • Volume 4 Published Scripture

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.[18]

  • Volume 1 Minute books
  • Volume 2 Letter books

Editorial Board and Project Staff

The current editorial board and project staff are as follows:[19]

Editorial Board

Marlin K. Jensen - Church Historian and Recorder

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

Steven L. Olsen - Managing Director

Max J. Evans - Director, Collections and Research Division

Jill Mulvay Derr - Special Projects Division

National Advisory Board

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

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

Mary-Jo Kline - Author of A Guide to Documentary Editing and editor of Political Correspondence and Public Papers of Aaron Burr

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

Managing Editor Ronald K. Esplin

General Editors Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, Richard Lyman Bushman

Program Manager David L. Willden

Program Archivist Jeffery O. Johnson

Research and Review Editors Richard Lloyd Anderson, Richard L. Jensen

Volume Co-editors Mark Ashurst-McGee, Ronald O. Barney, Alexander L. Baugh, Joseph I. Bentley, Joseph F. Darowski , Kay Darowski, Karen Lynn Davidson, Steven C. Harper, William G. Hartley, Andrew H. Hedges, Robin Scott Jensen, Gordon A. Madsen, Max H. Parkin, Alex D. Smith, Steven R. Sorensen, Morris A. Thurston, Grant Underwood, Jeffrey N. Walker, David J. Whittaker, Robert J. Woodford.

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

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

Consulting Scholar John W. Welch

Notes

  1. ^ "Search for Joseph Smith Documents". Church History. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  2. ^ (Jessee, Esplin & Bushman 2008, p. xxxix-xl)
  3. ^ a b c (Jessee, Esplin & Bushman 2008, p. xl)
  4. ^ Walch, Tad (April 4, 2005). "Miller funding Joseph Smith project". Deseret Morning News. Salt Lake City, Utah. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  5. ^ "Publications Projects Endorsed by the National Archives". Retrieved 2008-12-03.
  6. ^ Choate, Amy (August 12, 2004). "Joseph Smith research gets top endorsement". Deseret Morning News. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
  7. ^ Elaine Jarvik (4 November 2007). "TV show to preview Smith Papers Project". Deseret News. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
  8. ^ a b c "New Publishing Imprint Set to Boost Mormon Scholarship". Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. February 25, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  9. ^ "Selected Collections from the Archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Volumes One and Two)". Brigham Young University Press. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
  10. ^ (Jessee, Esplin & Bushman 2008, p. Preface)
  11. ^ "Landmark Publication Launches: Inaugural Volume of Joseph Smith Papers Now Available". The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
  12. ^ Arave, Lynn (December 9, 2008). "New Joseph Smith book sells out quickly". Deseret News. Salt Lake City, Utah. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
  13. ^ "AML Awards:Special Award in Textual Criticism and Bibliography". Association for Mormon Letters. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
  14. ^ "MHA 2009 Award Winners". Mormon History Association. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
  15. ^ "Two or three volumes will be published each year". The Joseph Smith Papers. Retrieved 2009-02-25.
  16. ^ a b c d "About The Volumes". The Joseph Smith Papers. Retrieved 2009-02-25.
  17. ^ (Jessee, Esplin & Bushman 2008, p. xl–xli)
  18. ^ a b c d (Jessee, Esplin & Bushman 2008, p. xli)
  19. ^ "Project Organization". The Joseph Smith Papers. Retrieved 2009-02-21.

Sources

See also

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