The Joseph Smith Papers

After 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 Smith's widow, Emma, and others, such as John Whitmer. Many of these were not published until years later by the LDS Church, the Community of Christ, and independent researchers.^[3]

The "roots" of the project began in the late 1960s 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."^[4] 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.^[5] This preliminary publication of Smith's documents was important to the creation of the landmark biography, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, which Richard Bushman published in 2005.^[6]

In 2001, Jessee's project became a joint venture between Brigham Young University's (BYU) Joseph Fielding Smith Institute and the LDS Church Archives. The project was renamed The Joseph Smith Papers and expanded with added funding from Larry H. and Gail Miller.^[7] (The Millers provided a donation of $10 million in bonds and additional cash contributions.^[8]) In June 2004, the project received endorsement by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, a division of the US National Archives,^[9] ensuring research was conducted according to the highest scholarly standards.^[10] The project was moved to Salt Lake City in 2005, when BYU's Joseph Fielding Smith Institute dissolved.^[5]

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 was the press's initial project.^[11] Marlin K. Jensen, Church Historian and Recorder at the time of the press' establishment, said the papers project would include "journals, diaries, correspondence, articles and notices. Everything of a written nature Joseph Smith generated, or over which he had oversight."^{[11][note 2]} Prior to publication of the documents, transcripts of the manuscripts were verified three times, and annotation was supplied to provide the historical context for each document.^[13]

The first volume of The Joseph Smith Papers, entitled, The Joseph Smith Papers, Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839, was released in December 2008.^[14] 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.^[15]

The final printed volume, number 15 of the Documents series, was published on June 27, 2023.^[1] Even though the print volumes are completed, new content will continue to come and the website will see "substantial work" beyond 2023.^[16]

Initially, the project anticipated that it would publish around two dozen print volumes, as well as online publication of additional documents not included in the print editions.^[17][18] After the release of the final volume, the printed volumes numbered 27.^[1]

The papers are divided into the following seven series:^[19]

The Administrative records series published records relating to the "institutions that were established under Smith's directions" as well as minutes for meetings Smith attended.^[20]

• Administrative Records, Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846 (published September 26, 2016)^[21]

Contains correspondence, sermons and other addresses, official declarations and pronouncements, editorials and articles from periodicals, early versions of revelations, and "selected minutes and proceedings."^[22] Several hundred documents from this series are available on the Joseph Smith Papers website.^[23]

• Volume 1: July 1828-June 1831 (published September 4, 2013)^[24]
• Volume 2: July 1831-January 1833 (published December 2, 2013)^[25]
• Volume 3: February 1833-March 1834 (published December 1, 2014)^[26][27]
• Volume 4: April 1834-September 1835 (published May 9, 2016)^[28]
• Volume 5: October 1835-January 1838 (published May 15, 2017)^[29]
• Volume 6: February 1838–August 1839 (published September 25, 2017)^[30]
• Volume 7: September 1839–January 1841 (published April 2, 2018)^[31]
• Volume 8: February 1841–November 1841 (published May 13, 2019)^[32]
• Volume 9: December 1841–April 1842 (published October 8, 2019)^[33]
• Volume 10: May 1842–August 1842 (published May 4, 2020)^[34]
• Volume 11: September 1842–February 1843 (published October 12, 2020)^[35]
• Volume 12: March 1843–July 1843 (published April 26, 2021)^[36]
• Volume 13: August–December 1843 (published June 23, 2022)^[37]
• Volume 14: 1 January–15 May 1844 (published April 17, 2023)^[38]
• Volume 15: 16 May–28 June 1844 (published June 27, 2023)^[1]

Contains Smith's financial records, including tithing books.^[39] The documents from this series are available only online.^[19]

Contains Smith's manuscript history, which he began in 1838, and continued by clerks after his death in 1844.^[20]

• Volume 1: Joseph Smith Histories, 1832-1844 (published March 19, 2012)^[40]
• Volume 2: Assigned Historical Writings, 1831-1847 (published September 25, 2012)^[41]

Contains the ten journals kept by Smith and his scribes from 1832 to 1844.^[5]

• Volume 1: 1832-1839 (December 1, 2008)^[14]
• Volume 2: December 1841-April 1843 (published November 15, 2011)^[42]
• Volume 3: May 1843-June 1844 (published November 30, 2015)^[43]

Contains records of cases in which Smith was a plaintiff, defendant, witness, or judge. Also contains records related to the trial of his accused assassins and his estate's disposition.^[44] While an ebook study aid was published in 2024, the documents from this series are available only online, with minimal annotation.^[45]

• Legal Records: Case Introductions (ebook study aid, published April 17, 2024)^[44]

Contains the earliest known manuscripts text of revelations received by Smith and published in his lifetime including the printer's manuscript of the Book of Mormon, the published Book of Mormon, and the Book of Commandments.^[20]

• Volume 1: Manuscript Revelation Books (published March 9, 2011)^{[citation needed]}
  • Volume 1: Manuscript Revelation Books, Facsimile Edition (published September 22, 2009)^[46]
• Volume 2: Published Revelations (published March 18, 2011)^{[citation needed]}
• Volume 3, Part 1: Printer's Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 1 - Alma 35 (published August 4, 2015)^[47]
• Volume 3, Part 2: Printer's Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, Alma 36 - Moroni 10 (published August 4, 2015)^[47]
• Volume 4: Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts (published October 29, 2018)^[48]
• Volume 5: Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon (published January 25, 2022)^[49]