• Index to Journals, Volume 2 Available

    An index to Journals, Volume 2: December 1841–April 1843 is now available here. Bound hard copies will also be sent free of charge upon request. To request a bound copy of the index (or the index to Journals, Volume 1) from Deseret Book Company (the distributor for The Joseph Smith Papers), please fill out the Index Request Form. The third and final volume of the Journals series will include a comprehensive index to all three volumes.

  • Church Historian’s Press Inaugurates Histories Series

    The Church Historian’s Press is pleased to announce the launch of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers. The first volume of the series, Histories, Volume 1: Joseph Smith Histories, 1832–1844, is now available for purchase. The volume contains several highly readable and interesting accounts of Joseph Smith’s life and of the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The volume’s editors are Karen Lynn Davidson, David J. Whittaker, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jensen.

    The day the church was established, a revelation to Joseph Smith commanded, “There shall be a record kept among you.” Despite lawsuits, financial problems, violent opposition, and the difficulties attendant to life on the western frontier of the United States, Joseph Smith and other church leaders created a rich historical record, including letters, compilations of revelations, minute books, letterbooks, financial and administrative records, and Joseph Smith’s journals. Additionally, they endeavored to write the story of the church’s “rise and progress” in general and the story of the church’s founder in particular. Their various efforts to write this narrative are found in the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers.

    Learn more about Volume 1: Joseph Smith Histories, 1832–1844

  • New Content on Joseph Smith Papers Website

    The Joseph Smith Papers Project announces the addition of new content to its website, josephsmithpapers.org:

    Also recently added are History, 1838–1856, volume B-1, and documents dating from 1840. In the coming months more documents from the Documents, Histories, Revelations and Translations, and Administrative Records series will be added. Eventually the website will contain images and transcripts of all extant and available Joseph Smith papers.

     

  • Community of Christ Makes Documents Available to Joseph Smith Papers Project

    We are pleased to announce the addition to this website of more than a dozen documents owned by Community of Christ. Management and staff of the Joseph Smith Papers project express our gratitude to officials of Community of Christ for their generosity in allowing us to post these documents under a licensing agreement. Community of Christ, headquartered in Independence, Missouri, maintains copyright ownership of the images.

    Documents made available by Community of Christ include Joseph Smith’s first manuscript revision of the Old Testament, letters from Joseph Smith to his wife Emma, copies of revelations, and other documents. For more information about these documents, please see the News page.

    We look forward to a continuing relationship with Community of Christ and other repositories in providing access to additional documents on this website. The generous cooperation from outside institutions is vital to our goal of publishing images and transcripts of all extant Joseph Smith documents on this site.