"I believe the general authorities of the church recognize that we need very bright Latter-day Saints to be able to enter into the national scholarly conversation," Derr said. "It requires a certain kind of openness and familiarity with all of the information.

"We've had 20 years to expand details of the historical record, and faithful scholars can incorporate those nuances and information into history without destroying faith. I think we've gained greater experience with that process, and I feel very optimistic about what will go forward."

Jan Shipps, professor emeritus of history and religious studies at Indiana University-Purdue University, is considered among the foremost non-LDS scholars of LDS history. While she hasn't done research at the LDS Archives for a few years, she believes access to records there "has been relaxing somewhat" over time.

She said she's still scheduled to participate later this summer in a seminar for historians at the Smith Institute, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

After a recent symposium on Joseph Smith sponsored by the Library of Congress and BYU in Washington, D.C., Shipps said there was open discussion about a handful of scholarly presentations she dubbed as "highly orthodox" in tone and content.

In the broader scholarly world, "there is concern that some LDS (scholars) do not know how to operate in the professional world of history, and that question is not going to go away."

As for what the closure of the Smith Institute means for researchers, Shipps said, "I don't think we'll know what it means for two or three years at least."

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E-mail: carrie@desnews.com