"The interest in Mormonism is a result of the dramatic increase of the church, and the church's effort to be in contact with the religious community," said Brian Birch, director of religious studies at Utah Valley State College. "I think the place of Joseph Smith has been more recognized and more carefully studied as a result of the dramatic growth of the church in the world and in the United States."

The Smith institute received the accreditation in May, but the project has been under way since the early '90s, and it may take years until it is completed.

Among the documents obtained are journal entries made by Smith, and incoming and outgoing correspondence with the First Presidency at the time.

Documents included in the project are strictly checked for forgery. Anything that cannot be verified as authentic is not used.

The documents will be compiled into volumes. For example, researchers plan to compile a financial series that will include Smith's business records and transactions. There also will be a legal series, with records from some of Smith's court cases. Darowski said they may even produce a volume of correspondence, made up of letters written by Smith and his wife, Emma.

Most importantly, Darowski said, the project will provide solid, credible resources for those seeking information about Smith.

"They'll be able to get a more accurate portrait of him, and it will be from his own pen or from the pen of one of his scribes," Darowski said, "not from a historian writing with his or her own agenda."

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