"Today we talk about sex far more openly than they did back then."

Kennedy said that, to date, he doesn't know of any writings Emma produced that discuss her husband's polygamy.

Savage said in research for the film, he's come to the conclusion that "Emma stayed consistent with Joseph's public pronouncements through the end of his life," that the practice was a command from God.

"In those days, it had a different definition than what you commonly see today," Kennedy said. "What Joseph Smith had revealed was the celestial marriage covenant. That's very different and distinct."

"Celestial marriage is as different from polygamy as apostate Christianity would be from the restored gospel," Savage said. "Their practice was reflective of a higher law, not the baser aspects of humanity," that are now playing out in news accounts from Eldorado, Texas.

Police there have removed hundreds of children from an FLDS community after allegations of adult men sexual abusing young girls, some of whom allegedly were forced into marriages in their early teens through the use of religious indoctrination.

Though plural marriage was practiced by some early members of the LDS Church, the church disavowed it more than a century ago. The FLDS Church began after some members continued practicing polygamy and broke away from the Salt Lake-based LDS Church.

Folklore about Emma Smith, her relationship with church leaders after her husband's murder and her reasons for staying in Illinois rather than migrating West with the main body of Latter-day Saints often has depicted her as bitter and disenchanted. One of her sons became president of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, now known as the Community of Christ.

"Ultimately, the historical society is about trying to arrive at certain truths," Savage said. "We don't have a specific religious creed within the society, but we do think certain things occurred in history. There's been much misperception on both sides (within the LDS Church and the Community of Christ and other eastern branches of the faith). I don't think either side has really captured the whole picture, because we've been hampered by religious prejudice."

The society was formed to bring together as much existing information as possible about Joseph and Emma Smith from every branch of their progeny "in a way that doesn't infringe on their privacy but allows a broader discussion of their heritage and legacy," Savage said.