Thoughts on The Joseph Smith Papers

I recently had the privilege, thanks to dear friends, of obtaining a copy of the first volume of The Joseph Smith Papers, which is the first in a series that seeks to publish key documents pertaining to the Prophet Joseph Smith, including, especially, “the diaries, outgoing and incoming correspondence, revelations, contemporary reports of discourses, editorials, and notices.”¹

The first volume, just released December 1, contains Joseph Smith’s personal journal entries, covering the years 1832 to 1839.  While this volume is very impressive and is extremely valuable for those who have any interest in the life of the Prophet, it is only the first installment of an enormous project that has been underway for years and that will continue on for many years to come. 

A recent LDS.org Newsroom release had this to say about the size of the project:

This unprecedented compilation, to be published by The Church Historian’s Press, will eventually comprise 30 volumes, including journals, correspondence, discourses and written histories, as well as legal and business documents.

Elder Marlin K. Jensen, Church historian and recorder, has called the Joseph Smith Papers Project “the most significant Church history project of this generation.” When finished, it will be the most complete and authoritative collection of documents related to Joseph Smith Jr., founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“The Joseph Smith Papers will rank among the most significant projects in the history of American religion,” said Kenneth Minkema, director of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale Divinity School.²

Upon receiving my copy of the book, I was immediately impressed with its presentation. The dust jacket is very fine and has a neat, classical and scholarly look to it.  It is a sizeable volume: 7×10 inches and almost 500 pages.  The book includes photographs of actual pages from Joseph Smith’s journal and full transcriptions of his journal entries, which are presented in the original grammar and spelling.  There are also helpful notes, photos, maps, and other reference materials that help in understanding the background behind the journal entries.

To read more about the Joseph Smith Papers project in detail, please visit the official site: www.josephsmithpapers.org. 

For me, personally, this volume is a wonderful opportunity to get to know the Prophet Joseph Smith in a more profound and intimate way.  I have not had the time yet to get throught the entire book, but I would like to comment on some interesting journal entries that I’ve seen.

On the first page of the Ohio journal, dated 27th of November, 1832, Joseph notes simply that he bought this “Book for Record” for the purpose of keeping “a minute acount of all things that come under my obsevation &c–”((p. 9)). He goes on to make a heartfealt plea to the Lord: “oh may God grant that I may be directed in all my thaughts Oh bless thy servant Amen [p. 1]“ ((p. 9)).

Another simple entry ends with Joseph directing his thoughts to God: “Monday 14th at the same place this day expect to start for Canada Lord be with us on our Journy Amen &c”³. 

So many of Joseph’s entries end in an open prayer in this way. It is almost as if he is writing directly to God, giving an accounting of his daily activities and pleading for the Lord’s help for himself and those he cares for.  These humble and sincere expressions are a window into the intimate friendship that Joseph had with his God.

We get wonderful insight into both the important and little things that he did during his day. Sometimes there is only a short entry, such as “Left for home” or even “Nothing of note today,” but some of these short entries are very meaningful and touching, giving a special view into Joseph’s heart and soul. For example:

November 30th [1832] this day returned home to Kirtland found all well to the Joy and satisfaction of my soul on my return home stopped at Mr Kings bore testmony to him and Family &c–⁴

He often prayed for the well-being of his family:

O may God bless us…to accomplish the Journy…to the land of Kirland…and <find> my Family all well O Lord bless my little children with health and long life to do good in th- generation for Christs sake sake Amen⁵

We see Joseph as a normal human being, getting a better perspective on his own personal struggles:

December 4th this day I been unwell done but litle been at home all day regulated some of my things this Evening feel better in my mind then I have for a few days back Oh Lord deliver out thy servent out of temtations and fill his heart with wisdom and understanding⁶

Joseph Smith??

And the struggles he had in working with less-than-perfect people:

this afternoon at Mr Pattricks expect to hold a Meeting this Evening &c–people very superstitious Oh God esta[b]lish thy word among this people held a meeting this Evenning had an attentive conngregation the spirit gave utterance⁷

November 19th from the 13th u[n]till this date of nothing of note has transpired since the great sign in the heavins this day my <hart>is somewhat sorrowfull but feel to trust in the Lord the god of Jacob I I have learned in my travels that man is trecheous [trecherous] and selfish but few excepted Brother <Sidney [Rigdon]> is a man whom I love but is not capab[le] of that pure and stedfast love for those who are his benefactors as should posess possessthe breast of an man a Presedent of the chu[r]ch of Christ [p. 20] this with some other little things such as a selfish and indipendence of mind which to[o] often manifest distroys the confidence of those who would lay down their lives for him but notwithstanding these things he is <a>very great and good man a man of great power of words and can <gain> the friendship of his hearrers very quick he is a man whom god will uphold if he will continue faithful to his calling O God grant that he may for the Lords sake Amen…((19 November 1833, p. 18))

In the last entry above, he mentions “the great sign in the heavins,” a reference to the Leonid meteor shower that he and other members witnessed. He saw it as a sign of the proximity of the Second Coming of Christ. 

…in the morning at 4 O’ clock I was awoke by Brother Davis knocking at (my) door saying Brother Joseph [p. 18] come git (up) and see the signs in the heavens and I arrose and beheld to my great Joy the stars fall from heaven yea they fell like hail stones a litteral fullfillment of the word of God as recorded in the holy scriptures and a sure sign that the coming of Christ is clost at hand Oh how marvellous are thy works Oh Lord and I thank thee for thy me[r]cy unto me thy servent Oh Lord save me in thy kingdom for Christ sake Amen⁸

Another aspect that I greatly appreciated was the record of many of Joseph’s visions, most likely written down as he was giving them or soon after. One random example:

Revelation. Given the same day, and read at the same time, of the preceeding ones July 8th 1838
O! Lord, show unto thy servents how much thou requirest of the properties of thy people for a Tithing?
Answer.
Verrily thus saith the Lord I require all their surpluss, property to be put into the hands of the Bishop of my Church of Zion, for the building of mine house and for the Laying the foundation of Zion, and for the priesthood, and for the debts of the presidency of my Church, and this shall be the begining of the tithing of my people, and after that, those, who have thus been tithed, shall pay one tenth of all their interest anually, And this shall be a standing Law unto them forever, for my holy pri<e>sthood saith the Lord, Verrily I say unto you, it shall come to pass, that all those who gather unto the land of Zion, shall be tithed of their surpluss properties, and shall observe this Law, or they shall not be found worthy to abide among you. and I say unto you, If my people observe not this Law, to keep it holy, and by this law sanctify the Land of Zion unto me, that my Statutes and my Judgements, may be kept thereon that it may be most holy, behold verrily I say unto you, it shall not be a land of Zion unto you, and this shall be an ensample unto all the stakes of Zion, even so Amen.

While I could certainly go on, these quotes should serve to give an idea of the priceless information that this project will provide.  This volume that has been released is but the first of many. In the “journals” series, there will be three more volumes after this one! Then there will be seven volumes of histories, eleven volumes of “documents”, three volumes of “legal and business,” three volumes of “revelations and translations,” and four volumes of administrative papers. Whereas most members of the Church (and oustside scholars) have had to rely largely on limited volumes such as The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, this series will open up a new world of understanding of the Prophet and his life.

About the Book
Joseph Smith Papers, Journals, Volume 1: 1832-1839
General Editors: Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, Richard Lyman Bushman
Publisher: The Church Historian’s Press
ISBN-13: 978-1-57008-849-0
Published 1 December 2008; hardcover, $49.95

For a very interesting introduction to this work, provided by LDS scholar Richard Bushman, follow this link:

http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/Essays/Bushman.pdf

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1. see http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/AboutTheProject.htm [↩]
2. Emphasis mine. [↩]
3. 14 October 1833, p. 14 [↩]
4. 30 November 1832, p. 10 [↩]
5. 3 March 1834, p. 29 [↩]
6. 4 December 1832, p. 11 [↩]
7. 24 October 1833, p. 14 [↩]
8. 13 November 1833, p. 16 [↩]