Frequently Asked Questions

What are The Joseph Smith Papers?

The Joseph Smith Papers will be a comprehensive edition of extant Joseph Smith documents featuring complete and accurate transcriptions with both textual and contextual annotation. This will constitute an essential resource for serious students of the life and work of Joseph Smith, early Mormonism, and nineteenth-century American religion. For the first time, all of Joseph Smith’s known surviving papers, which include many of the foundational documents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will be easily accessible in one place.

Back To Top
Why was the project undertaken?

Producing a definitive, scholarly edition of Joseph Smith’s papers will allow increased and better scholarship on Joseph Smith and early Mormonism. Scattered documents will be gathered into one multivolume source, and manuscripts of varying legibility will be carefully transcribed and verified. In addition to making the content of these documents more accessible, transcription and publication will help preserve these delicate documents, which are subject to the ravages of age and handling and to possible damage from water, fire, and insects.

Back To Top
How many volumes will be published?

It is expected that approximately twenty printed volumes will be published. In addition, hundreds of additional images and transcriptions, complete with annotation, will be published on the Joseph Smith Papers website, along with the text of the printed volumes. This comprehensive print/web edition will include all known and available Joseph Smith documents.

Back To Top
Why are the volumes so expensive?

The resources required to publish a documentary editing papers volume are substantial, which is why most volumes of the Founding Fathers papers projects sell for about $110. Because the Joseph Smith Papers Project has private funding as well as Church support, we’ve been able to bring the cost per volume down considerably. Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839 carries a retail selling price of $49.95, less than half the cost of similar volumes from other papers projects. Most of the volumes in the Joseph Smith Papers Project will sell for a similar amount because they will be published in the same size (7” x 10” black and white) and with the same component quality that allows volumes to sustain decades of regular library use (acid-free paper, Smyth-sewn binding, dyed cloth cover, and heavy cover board).

The second volume, Revelations and Translations, Manuscript Revelation Books, is an oversized (9” x 12”) volume. Each two-page spread features a full-color reproduction of an early revelation on the left-hand side and a transcription of that revelation on the opposite page, with scribal changes indicated in color. The oversized pages and full color enable scholars and others to read the markings on the documents. This 752-page volume also contains about 200 more pages than the first volume in the Journals series. Because of these enhancements, this volume has a retail selling price of $99.95. As noted above, however, most volumes of The Joseph Smith Papers will be similar in size and price to the first volume, Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839.

Back To Top
What kinds of documents will be included?

Included will be the earliest handwritten texts of the foundational documents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, such as Joseph Smith’s revelations and translations. The Papers will provide insights into Smith’s life and times through his correspondence, journals, discourses, court cases, and business dealings. The edition will also include minutes of important church councils, reproductions of the scriptural canon as it existed during Smith’s lifetime, official histories, and records pertaining to church institutions that were under Smith’s direction or that reflect his personal instruction or involvement.

Back To Top
Have any documents been excluded?

This comprehensive project will publish all known, accessible documents that meet the project’s criteria as Joseph Smith documents. The project has complete access to the archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ. Some documents are in the possession of families or individual collectors, and all will be published for which permission and access can be obtained. Some documents are routine or repetitive, such as forms or certificates, and only samples of those will be published in paper, but all will be listed in a calendar of documents and all will eventually be published online. For example, Joseph Smith signed hundreds of missionary licenses, but only a few samples will be included in the published volumes.

Back To Top
How many Joseph Smith documents still exist?

While the Joseph Smith Papers Project control file currently includes about 6,000 items, it is estimated that about 2,500 are original texts. This is because a letter that was prepared or received might also have been copied into a letterbook or published in a church newspaper. A revelation may have been written down by a scribe, copied by another person, included in a letter, published in a newspaper, or copied into a manuscript compilation of revelations. Each of these would be considered a separate document, and part of the work of the project is determining the most original version of a document to feature. All versions, however, will be listed in a calendar of documents.

Back To Top
Where are these documents located?

Most of the documents are housed in the Church History Library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Community of Christ (formerly The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) preserves others. Some individual collectors have allowed access to important papers. An extensive search has been made to locate and retrieve images of documents from every significant repository in the United States. Institutions such as the Huntington Library in San Marino, California; the Chicago Historical Society; the Library of Congress; and the university libraries at Princeton, Harvard, and Yale all have relevant documents. Newspaper accounts, court records, and other legal and financial records have come from government repositories in many locations.

Back To Top
When did work on the Joseph Smith Papers Project begin?

The project can trace its roots to Joseph Smith himself, and collecting Smith’s papers continued after his death. In February 1846, the documents—then in possession of Brigham Young and other church leaders—were packed into two boxes for the westward trek from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Salt Lake Valley. Over the following one hundred years, numerous volumes and articles were published that drew on these and other early historical documents.

The current effort to publish Smith’s papers began in the late 1960s—and continued in subsequent decades—with the work of Dean C. Jessee. He published one volume of Smith’s personal writings and two volumes of an earlier series, The Papers of Joseph Smith. The effort to expand resources and move beyond a one-man initiative eventually resulted in this comprehensive plan. In April 2001, the Joseph Smith Papers Project was officially established as a collaboration between the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History at Brigham Young University and the LDS Church Archives. That relationship continued until 2005 when the institute closed and those working on the project transferred to the Church History Library in Salt Lake City—the main repository holding Joseph Smith’s papers—to consolidate resources and streamline organization so that the papers could be published more quickly. Today, the project continues with several dozen researchers, historians, writers, editors, volunteers, and other staff.

Back To Top
What does the NHPRC endorsement mean?

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), affiliated with the National Archives and Records Administration, has a mandated mission from the United States Congress to support activities that preserve, publish, and encourage the use of documentary sources relating to the history of the United States. NHPRC endorsement is given to projects that meet rigorous standards in the field of documentary editing. Information required in an application includes the purpose of the project, the significance of its subject to United States history, the plan of work, the publications to be produced, and the qualifications of personnel. Intense scrutiny is given to sample documents and their transcripts. A project’s methodology concerning collection and selection of documents and consistent adherence to stated editorial procedures are examined. Based on their own review and on the blind reviews of outside peers, the commission endorsed the Joseph Smith Papers Project in May 2004.

Back To Top
Who is the target audience for the project?

The Joseph Smith Papers are designed to be reference volumes for scholars and serious students of Joseph Smith and early Mormonism. It is hoped that historians, religious studies specialists, and teachers and writers of American history and religion will benefit from access to the volumes in research and reference libraries. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who have an interest in the Church's history may also make use of The Joseph Smith Papers.

Back To Top
What is The Church Historian’s Press?

Elder Marlin K. Jensen, Church Historian and executive director of the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, announced the creation of the imprimatur The Church Historian’s Press in 2008. The Joseph Smith Papers will bear its imprint, as will other selected historical works that meet similar standards of scholarship.

Back To Top
How does the project ensure that scholarly standards are maintained?

A qualified, well-trained staff adheres to high standards in transcription, verification, and documentary editing. The project conducts various levels of internal and external review on each volume. An external national advisory board reviews each volume and acts as consultants for the project. The four-member board, recognized scholars in American religious history and documentary editing, is made up of one Latter-day Saint scholar and three scholars of other faiths.

Back To Top
Can the LDS church expect to maintain scholarly credibility while publishing its own works?

Over time the project’s scholarship will speak for itself. Demonstrating high professional standards in gathering, transcribing, and annotating documents has earned the project an endorsement by the National Archives and Records Administration’s National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Scholars and editors working on the volumes have expertise in historical methodology, documentary editing, and the scholarship of Joseph Smith and early Mormonism. While deeply committed to the faith Joseph Smith founded, they are also committed to presenting his documents in the best professional manner. Several project members have trained at the Institute for the Editing of Historical Documents, and many experts in the field have been consulted as the project has unfolded.

Back To Top
What resources support the Joseph Smith Papers Project?

The Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Brigham Young University have been instrumental in supporting the project. As the project grew in scope, Larry H. and Gail Miller generously provided additional funding.

Back To Top