Inside the Joseph Smith Papers project

As scholars at the Church History Department painstakingly compile Joseph Smith's "papers," MormonTimes.com" will provide readers with a look inside the ambitious project.What started decades ago as the work of one man, the Joseph Smith Papers project has evolved into an expansive effort to collect, transcribe, verify and publish all documents created or owned by the Prophet. The pioneering work done by scholar Dean Jessee is now being furthered by a team of scholars, whose work will reach a milestone later this year with the publishing of the project's first volume.The purpose of the project is to make accurate and credible information about Joseph Smith readily available. Church Historian Marlin K. Jensen calls the effort "the single most significant historical project of our generation."MormonTimes.com takes readers inside the project with a series of articles about the scholars, the process and the discoveries made along the way. The first profiles Ronald K. Esplin, a Brigham Young expert who came to be managing editor of the Joseph Smith Papers. The second details how scholars came to understand the identity of Dr. Nathan Smith, Joseph Smith's leg surgeon, and how some consider their crossing paths to be a "remarkable" occurrence.