From Deseret News archives:
Miller funding Joseph Smith project
26 volumes are planned about life of LDS leader
Miller likes it so much he is bankrolling a project to boost the worldwide exposure of Joseph Smith, who —175 years ago tomorrow — founded The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Joseph Smith Papers Project is expected to produce 26 volumes stuffed with more than 5,000 documents related to Smith, including journals, diaries, correspondence, discourses, written history and legal cases.
The first three volumes of the project are due out next year, Miller and Brigham Young University church history professor Ron Esplin said Monday during a presentation at the annual conference of the LDS International Society.
The society is a worldwide network of LDS Church members. Esplin asked for their help to place sets of the Joseph Smith Papers in libraries and with scholars.
"When Dean Jessee published 'The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith' in 1984, I made a statement that no longer could scholars write about Joseph Smith without using his own papers," Esplin said. "It wouldn't be credible research. It turns out the book is not in libraries or on the shelves of scholars. Scholars still weren't forced to confront this."
Esplin said the Joseph Smith Papers Project will change the landscape of scholarship on Smith, allowing historians to access original documents by going to the set of volumes or to a Web site.
The project earned a major stamp of scholarly approval last year when it was endorsed by a division of the National Archives, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Miller stepped in to help in 2001, when the project was expected to be nine volumes.
"I was surprised how modest the amount of money was they asked for," Miller said of early meetings with project organizers. "I told them, first, you did not ask for enough money, and second, you need to do more."
Esplin praised Miller during his lecture but said afterward that Miller is humble about his involvement. The acknowledgements at the front of the first volumes have just one line thanking Miller and his wife Gail for their contributions, the amount of which are undisclosed.
The Family and Church History Department of the church and BYU's Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History haver provided space, resources and manpower, but funding comes from the Millers. That money has purchased technology and additional manpower.
