Documents in Joseph Smith’s Handwriting
Although Joseph Smith left a sizable collection of written records,
few documents remain that are considered holographs, that is,
written in his own handwriting. In his earliest
history, in one of the rare passages we have in his own
handwriting, Joseph Smith wrote of learning to read and write
despite limited formal education: “It required the exertions of all
that were able to render any assistance for the support of the
Family therefore we were deprived of the bennifit of an education
suffice it to say I was mearly instructid in reading writing and the
ground rules of Arithmatic which const[it]uted my whole literary
acquirements.”
The
majority of the time, Joseph Smith relied on scribes and clerks to
compose, copy, or take down his dictation of the thousands of pages
attributed to him, including sacred texts, correspondence, journals,
histories, administrative records, and other documents. The scarcity
of surviving records he personally wrote gives added significance to
their pages. In many cases, they allow a deeper connection to his
personality, thoughts, and emotions than texts penned by scribes or
reproduced in print. Readers should bear in mind, however, that
because a large portion of Joseph Smith documents survive as copies,
there is not always a correlation between holographs and more direct
access to Joseph Smith’s mind. In some cases, documents not found in
his handwriting may have a closer connection to Smith than texts in
his own hand.
The
list below presents the journal entries and letters or other
documents written, either entirely or substantially, in Joseph
Smith’s hand. Documents with very minor portions written by Joseph
Smith, or those with just his signature, are not included. As
explained in our Editorial Method, Smith’s
handwriting is rendered in bold in transcripts.
Images of the documents can be enlarged for viewing details of the
original. If the document listed is currently on our website, a link
is included; other documents will be forthcoming.
Book of Mormon Manuscript Excerpt, circa May 1829 [Alma
45:22]
Entries from Journal,
1832–1834
Entries from Journal,
1835–1836
Letter to Almira Mack Scobey, 2 June 1835 (at end of Letters to John Burk, Sally Phelps, and Almira Scobey, 1–2 June
1835)