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| Joseph Smith Papers Project | |
|---|---|
| Name | Joseph Smith Papers Project |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Joseph Smith; Latter Day Saint movement; American religious history |
| Genre | Documentary editing; archival publication |
| Publisher | The Church Historian's Press; University of Illinois Press; Church History Department |
| Pub date | 2008–present |
Joseph Smith Papers Project is an editorial initiative to collect, transcribe, annotate, and publish the documentary record associated with Joseph Smith and the early Latter Day Saint movement. The project produces multi-volume print editions and a digital archive intended for scholars of American religious history, early American republic studies, and the history of Mormonism. It assembles sources ranging from personal journals and revelations to legal documents, correspondence, and administrative records.
The project grew out of initiatives within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints's archival efforts and collaborations with academic institutions such as the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and the Mormon History Association. Influences included previous documentary editions like the Papers of Thomas Jefferson and the Papers of James Madison, and the scholarly standards established by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Key figures in early planning included historians affiliated with the Church History Department and editors who had worked on projects connected to the Brigham Young University and the Library of Congress. The undertaking aimed to bring to bear editorial methodologies practiced in projects such as the Collected Papers of John Adams and the Papers of Andrew Jackson.
The editorial scope encompasses manuscripts directly authored by Joseph Smith, contemporaneous records created by associates like Oliver Cowdery, Emma Smith, and Brigham Young, and institutional records of entities including the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints) and its successor bodies. Methodology follows documentary editing conventions found in the American Antiquarian Society and uses paleography, diplomatic transcription, and annotation conventions comparable to the Modern Language Association style used in historical editions. Editors employ provenance research similar to that of the National Archives and Records Administration and arrange apparatuses—introductions, textual notes, and variant readings—mirroring practices from the Yale University Press documentary projects. The project adheres to standards promoted by organizations such as the Society of American Archivists and engages peer review from scholars associated with the American Historical Association and the Western History Association.
Print and digital publications are organized into series including documentary journals, revelations and translations, administrative records, legal and business papers, and personal correspondence. Volumes reproduce materials such as the Book of Mormon translation manuscripts, legal affidavits from court cases like those involving Libel cases in Missouri and Illinois courts, and minutes from the Kirtland Safety Society and other financial enterprises. The series presents correspondence with figures such as Sidney Rigdon, Martin Harris, Hyrum Smith, and later leaders like Wilford Woodruff. Editions publish texts ranging from early revelations received in Palmyra, New York to later administrative documents from Nauvoo, Illinois and records connected with the Extermination Order in Missouri. Editorial commentary situates documents in contexts involving interactions with contemporary actors such as John C. Bennett, William Law, Thomas Ford and national events like the Second Great Awakening.
The digital archive provides searchable transcriptions, color images of originals, and editorial annotations accessible through platforms maintained by the Church Historian's Press and partner academic publishers. The online portal supports full-text search, metadata files compliant with standards used by the Digital Public Library of America, and interoperability with repositories such as the HathiTrust Digital Library and the Internet Archive. Digitization efforts employed imaging techniques comparable to those used by the National Library of Scotland and cataloging practices aligned with the Library of Congress subject headings. Users encounter linked inventories, finding aids, and bibliographic entries keyed to systems like WorldCat.
Scholars from institutions such as the University of Utah, Indiana University Bloomington, Harvard University, and Princeton University have cited the project in studies of American religion, print culture, and 19th-century social movements. Reviews in journals associated with the Journal of Mormon History, the American Historical Review, and the Journal of American History recognized the project's contributions to documentary editing and debates about primary sources in studies involving figures like Ralph Waldo Emerson and themes connected to the Second Great Awakening. The project influenced exhibitions at venues including the Smithsonian Institution and the Hale Museum and has facilitated scholarly conferences organized by the Mormon History Association and panels at the American Academy of Religion.
The editorial team has included historians, archivists, paleographers, and project managers associated with the Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the JSP editorial board, and academic partners such as the University of Illinois Press. Funding sources have encompassed allocations from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints's institutional budgets, grants from bodies like the National Endowment for the Humanities, and publication partnerships with university presses including the University of Illinois Press. Administrative oversight interacts with archival stewardship at repositories such as the Church History Library in Salt Lake City and collaborative digitization agreements with institutions like the New York Public Library and regional historical societies.
Category:Archival projects Category:Documentary editing Category:History of the Latter Day Saint movement