LDS historians allow documents to speak for themselves

A main thrust of "The Joseph Smith Papers," one of the most exciting new developments in LDS Church history, is to allow historical documents to speak for themselves.

"We draw on all sources available to us," said Joseph F. Darowski, a Joseph Smith Papers co-editor, stressing that the desire is for things included to be contemporary to Joseph Smith's time, too. The editors also strive to avoid interpretation.

The Joseph Smith Papers were the focus at the videotaping of a special question-and-answer forum Friday in the Conference Center Theater.

Sponsored by the LDS Church History Department and KJZZ-TV, the more than three-hour event featured eight different scholars who are working on the landmark church history project.

The audience, though small at only about two dozen, didn't lack for questions during the taping.

Segments of the program will air in future weeks during KJZZ's second season of "The Joseph Smith Papers" series, airing Sunday nights at 8 p.m. Season one concludes Sunday night and will begin rebroadcasts on BYU-TV in April, expanding its audience outside Utah.

"We have a very rich collections of Joseph Smith documents," said Ronald K. Esplin, the project's managing editor. "Enough to fill three dozen books."

One audience member asked if any non-LDS scholars were involved in the project. Steven C. Harper , another co-editor, said while there are none who work directly on the project's staff in Salt Lake City, there are some non-LDS members on its national advisory board, as well as others being used as consultants.

What discovery has been most exciting?

Esplin said there are many different answers to that, but co-editor Robert J. Woodford said the 1831 handwritten copy of the Book of Commandments and Revelations, given to the project by the late President Gordon B. Hinckley, tops the list for him.

"These are the crown jewels," he said.

American spelling was not standardized in Joseph Smith's time. But Richard L. Jensen, research and review editor for the project, said Joseph Smith's "spelling isn't that bad" and was certainly better than Brigham Young's.

He said he likes seeing the spelling differences because they are more indicative of the era.

The panel conceded there are times when it is simply not clear who authored a particular document. Readers are advised to pay special attention to the book's source notes to know how determinations were made.

"It's a lot of guess work," said Robin Scott Jensen, co-editor, stressing that estimates are made only after 20 to 30 hours of research.

"We don't tell you something we don't know," Esplin added.