"No one can foretell the destiny of this sect. And it would be blasphemy at this day to compare its founder to the Savior. But nevertheless, it may become veritable history in 1,000 years that the standing and character of Joseph Smith as a prophet may rank equal to any of the prophets who have preceded it." John Reynolds, United States Congress, Illinois, 1855. KJZZ Television presents, the Joseph Smith Papers Project, a Television Foreword.

This is a gathering of a peculiar people.

They are here, tens of thousands, because in many ways, this is the geographical center of their spiritual universe. I'm from Ivory Coast, West Africa. South Korea. I'm from Peru. I'm from Phoenix, Arizona. California. The thousands gathering for a General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, and the 13 million others worldwide, are heirs of a heritage quite unique in the annals of gatherings. They symbolize a religious movement and influence that has spread to nearly every significant community and country. It has greater power and means to take care of its own people than does any government, yet it extends its resources to millions who have never breathed the word "Mormon." Church leaders say the power of the movement is centered in the conviction of individual members. That conviction is inseparably connected to the singular experience of a farm boy, born 200 years ago, in Upstate New York. It is arguably the most consequential claim made by any human. Joseph Smith did see the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. He was told not to-- there was no other Church. And he was to follow specific instructions to the Restoration of the true gospel on Earth. I mean, Joseph Smith, he has a fundamental role in my belief, in terms of he just restored this gospel in this dispensation-- at least in our faith. Without him, without his role, I mean, this Church, I mean, these people and this building, or everything, wouldn't exist. I asked Him in a prayer if, actually, Mr. Joseph Smith, the Prophet Joseph Smith, was actually a prophet of God. And yes, I got the answer, and he is the actual prophet of God. "So it was with me. I had actually seen a light. And in the midst of that light, I saw two personages. And they did in reality speak to me. And though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet, it was true. And while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart, 'why persecute me for telling the truth?' For I had seen a vision. I knew it, and I knew that God knew it. And I could not deny it." Joseph Smith Jr. Joseph Smith Jr., an American story with global implications. Well, I believe that Joseph Smith restored Christ's true church through Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It means to me someone that put a new sense in a Christian world. In a way, he was able to understand the divinity of God and Jesus, and then put forward the Book of Mormon. This is the great story of our time. Historian, Joseph Darowski grew up Catholic, came to believe Joseph Smith, and now researches his life. Is there a greater story than someone who would sit across from you and look you in the eye, and be able to say something along the lines of, "yes, I've seen Heavenly Father. I've seen the Savior. I've spoken with them. I've conversed with angels. And if you like, and are willing to pay the price, I can show you how you can experience that in your life." I think that pretty much most of us have a testimony of him. We all believe in him. He's basically the reason why we're here. And I think that everybody loves the Prophet Joseph Smith. [MUSIC - "HOW FIRM A FOUNDATION"] (SINGING) How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord. A great miracle is taking place right before our eyes. Like any other LDS General Conference, the name "Joseph Smith" will ring from the pulpit alongside sermons of obedience, forgiveness, and atonement. This morning, Church President Gordon Hinckley quotes from the boy Joseph's encounter with the Angel Moroni. "He called me by name, and said to me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God. That his name was Moroni. That God had a work for me to do, and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues." That must have seemed incomprehensible for a teenage farm boy. But in fact, it was prophetic. Even this day, even in the morning shadow of the most familiar of LDS icons, the name "Joseph Smith" evokes the contempt he described in his own day. Well there's no question about it, his name probably will be carried out in history. Man will do what he wants to with this church or the name, but in the sight of God, it's-- all he's done is evil. Everything he's done is evil. All this is filthy rags, the Bible says in Isaiah. LDS Conference regularly attracts those who profess the same doctrine that stirred confusion within the boy Joseph in the first place. This group has just finished a chorus of, "Joe Smith is burning now," and then the preaching begins. It has a familiar flavor of the preachers portrayed in LDS films about Smith's first vision. Will you trust the finished word and be saved? Saved or damned? Or will you trust the words of man and be damned? Or we were damned. That's all there is to it. Since the day Joseph Smith first uttered anything about heavenly visions, he's been at the core of a debate that dwarfs the contest about opinion on religion, that first led him to call on God for guidance. In hundreds of publications, he has been described as everything from a charlatan and gold digger to a prophet, who has done more to reclaim the human race than any statesman or religious leader who has ever lived. Scores of authors have found him and his story intriguing, or at least an easy target. Fawn Brodie's, No Man Knows My History, is recognized by many non-Mormon historians as the best work on the life of Joseph Smith. Yet, it is discounted by many others as poorly sourced, and agenda-driven. Tell them, I'm going to lead them myself. If they haven't got guns, get guns for them. Tell them, we're through turning the other cheek! Hallelujah! Most efforts to visualize Joseph Smith on film have ranged from good to evil. What's the difference between a white man and a Mormon? Blamed if I know. About 50 wives. From sad to saccharine, almost all of them inadequate to mirror the image of Joseph in the minds of his followers, or to satisfy the demands of an objective history. Joseph! We have a wonderful movie, recently produced by the Church, that some have wanted to give the subtitle, "Joseph Smith, a Really Great Guy." I've got to think that Joseph Smith, from what he said, did not want to be viewed as quite the-- what do we say-- flawless person that we tend to want to make him out to be. And so, it was a voyage of many a-ha moments. Lee Groberg says, producing the PBS documentary, American Prophet, strengthened his belief about Joseph Smith. But admits, he's too large a character to know entirely. Because Joseph is a complicated guy. And I think there are some things that we don't need to know, even though it'd be interesting to know. We don't need to know, because you've got to leave some little window there for faith. Others who study the life of Joseph Smith would agree. Joseph Smith is an awfully large figure to wrap yourself around. In a sense, he's sublime.

And I think we've always had difficulty working with things sublime in trying to explain them, and trying to describe them. You know, and I stand, figuratively speaking, at the feet of Joseph Smith. To me, it's a huge mountain. And I believe what Allan Bloom really said is true, and that is that Joseph Smith remains the most unstudied genius of American religious history. In recent decades, historians have zeroed in on the geniuses of the American story, in particular, the founders. The Thomas Jefferson Papers, published by Princeton University, inaugurated a new era of presenting the founders in the context of their time and place. It has vastly enriched our understanding of the birth of our democracy. The Thomas Jefferson Papers is the granddaddy of all documentary-editing projects in the country. It's been around since 1950, or the late '40s, even, before that. And it's ongoing, in what the Wall Street Journal calls its "magisterial pace," of producing documents. They hope to be finished in 75 years. Now, other institutions have sponsored the publication of papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Susan B. Anthony, and Booker T. Washington, among others. As for this genius of American religious history, Joseph Smith's official story is contained in a six-volume set known as the History of the Church, published nearly 100 years ago. Primary content of what would become the first two volumes was supervised by Joseph himself. The rest is a fragmentary narrative, created by some of his associates. Yet, it is still the instrument by which most everything about Joseph Smith has been measured-- at least from the official Church perspective. The result has been a huge gap. And with a few notable exceptions, the gap has been filled with the literary works of those who are highly critical of the LDS Church, and Joseph Smith. I think he is a difficult person to get to know. There's just some things about his life that the world in general finds so hard to accept, that they can't get by those things. We pretend that we've figured him out. And I think the case is that we know precious little about Joseph. "You never knew my heart. No man knows my history. I cannot tell it, I shall never undertake it. If I had not experienced what I have, I should not have believed it myself. When I am called at the trump of the archangel, and weighed in the balance, you will all know me then." Joseph Smith Jr. The Joseph Smith Papers Project could change that.

Summer 2005, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Smith-- 50,000 teenagers from the Salt Lake Valley pack the University of Utah's Rice Stadium to sing, "Praise to the Man." [SONG - "PRAISE TO THE MAN"] (SINGING) Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah, Jesus anointed that prophet and seer. Similar gatherings throughout the world testified to the remarkable appeal of a man who admitted, he was not well known or understood. When Joseph Smith famously stated that no man knew his history, he knew better than anyone some of the reasons. He has this intention to write and keep a journal-- to keep a record of his life. And on the very same day that he buys a journal for this purpose, he writes this letter to William W. Phelps. And he writes, "Oh, Lord God, deliver us in thy due time from the little narrow prison, almost as it were, total darkness of paper, pen, and ink, and a crooked, broken, scattered, and imperfect language." So here, we see both the intention and the ideal of record keeping, and Joseph Smith's frustration with record keeping. And that will bear itself out over the course of the journal that follows. Joseph dictated much of his history to scribes, and often relied on them to keep his personal journals. The turnover was high-- some died, some apostatized, and some were just better than others. Can you imagine what kind of a diary you'd have if your neighbor wrote your diary for you? That's what kind of diary we have of Joseph Smith. And this is through the last years of his life, when the crowning events of this dispensation are happening. And he has somebody else write his diary for him. Distinguished Joseph Smith historian, Dean Jesse, has documented the personal writings of Joseph Smith in a book by the same name. We don't have any verbatim reports of his speeches-- we have to rely upon the longhand accounts of people. And the loss of records-- he lamented the loss of records, Joseph, in 1835, speaking to the Quorum of the Twelve, he said, "It gives me deep sorrow that better records were not kept." He said, if we'd had those records, we'd be in a lot better shape than we are today. Archivist, Ron Barney, uses Jessie's important book to demonstrate the challenge of putting texture into the personal history of Joseph Smith. Of the roughly 600 pages of text, only about 30, or 5%, was actually penned by Joseph Smith himself. It's a very strong indicator that Joseph used others to put his thoughts on paper. Dictated his revelations, and felt great comfort in doing that. Never apologized for it. It was something that he felt was necessary for the production of the texts that were necessary to carry on the growth and development of the Church. Barney says the lack of personal writings, especially in the early years, has some connection to Joseph's character, and the character of his family. After the First Vision, he said, "I went home. And as I leaned up to the fireplace, mother inquired what the matter was. I replied, never mind, all is well. I am well enough off." He did not at that time explain what had just happened to him. I think that's characteristic of the way the Smiths thought of themselves. In November of 1835, to the Quorum of the Twelve, as he's trying to prepare them for the endowment in the Kirtland temple, which was to come the following spring, he said, "if you have a manifestation of God, keep it to yourself." That's Joseph Smith. That's Joseph. But more than any other reason, the sheer implications of the mission he claimed produced a backdrop against which characters of all stripes collided. Some followers and friends, some ruthless, even murderous, very few indifferent. This is an incredible story. This is a powerful story. This is the best story there is. And what we have is a bunch of documents that reflect this, but that are very mundane. We've got letters, we've got certificates, we've got journals that sometimes are really good and really profound, and sometimes are weather reports. We've got a hodgepodge of things. And out of that, and within that, is a reflection of this huge Joseph Smith. And out of that, somehow, we've got to compile it in a way that makes it accessible, makes it usable, and that, for anyone who comes to Joseph Smith, at least in some way, hints at the vastness of what's in front of them.

The day dawn is not yet breaking in Sandy, Utah, and Ron Esplin is at the same place this morning as he was last night. But yes, I do, I spend two or three hours either here or in my office, working on the project in the evenings. It's a little tidy here for a historian. Well, my wife's insisted, because the grandkids come down here and play, so I have to keep papers off the floor. Esplin is at the core of a storm-- a good storm, a quiet but ambitious one. One that's been described as the Manhattan Project for Latter-day Saints. Every morning, folks are doing important projects that teach us new things about Joseph Smith's environment, about his life, about the early Latter-day Saint history. And it's fun to be part of that. But we also are trying to impose on ourselves a set of deadlines, and scholars don't like that. Ron Esplin is the managing editor of the Joseph Smith Papers Project, based at the Family and Church Historical department of the LDS Church. He oversees the future publication of what he hopes will be the gate by which all serious scholars and truth-seekers must pass if they are to get the story of Joseph Smith right. Every one of our folks is excited about being involved with this project. Some of them joke quietly about, you know, "I would do this for nothing." Esplin's own publications have included historical works on Benjamin Franklin and Brigham Young. If we hurry, we can catch that one. Seven minutes.

Through those works, Esplin developed a keen interest in Joseph Smith, and documentary editing. What is a papers project? What is the aim of having someone's papers? First, the papers project needs to be distinguished from documentary editing-- that's a historical documentary. We're not gathering all the papers about Joseph Smith, we're not trying to publish-- or even get our hands on everything that was ever written about him, or that sheds light on him. What we're trying to do is gather and publish everything that was his paper, by virtue of him having written it, dictated it, or it was produced under his direction by people that he employed, or initiative that he set in motion. The roots of the Joseph Smith Papers Project leads to the aforementioned Dean Jesse, who began gathering Joseph Smith documents in the late 1960s. He published a collection of these writings and dictation in 1984. Inspired by the papers of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Jesse published two volumes of a planned nine-volume set called The Papers of Joseph Smith. Esplin says, it was clear by then that this was not a one-man project. Thus began a long, difficult road to institutionalizing the Papers Project. And from that decision in 2000, to where we are today, it's been a long, tough slog. It's not been easy, because we've had to gather a team, and train people, and gather the resources, and gather the documents, broadly. We got really serious about it in 2001, and that's when we hired our first full-time people. That's when we got authorization, officially, from the Church, to do the project. That, by the way, is essential, because we needed their agreement that we could publish everything the Church owned that is a Joseph Smith document. Without it, we can't do it, because 90% of the documents are here. 2001 was significant for another reason, and it germinated when Utah businessman, Larry Miller, sat in on a lecture about Joseph Smith, presented by expert Ron Barney. Miller asked to meet with Barney shortly after. And I sat down and we kind of exchanged pleasantries and stuff for five or 10 minutes. And finally said, "what can I do for you?" And I said, "I don't know why I'm here. Do you?" And he looked at me, and he said, "no, I don't." He said, "you asked for the meeting." I said, "yeah, I know." So we talked a little bit, and I said, "you know, I can't zero in on it. But it seems like it's got something to do with a project that you, Ron, would be involved with." And he said, "well, it could be so and so's work on this, and maybe it's this." And I think he named four or five prominent Church historians and projects they were working on. But nothing really stuck with him or with me at that time. The two parted without coming to any conclusion as to why they had met. About three or four days later, I called him back and I said, "I figured out why I was there." And his response was really interesting, because he said, "so did I." Then I said, "great. I'm going to come see you again, if that's OK." He said, "sure." So the next day, I went in to see him again. So I said to him, "it seems to be about Dean Jesse's work on the writings of Joseph Smith." And he said, "you're exactly right." The sizable contribution from Miller has helped produce an impressive team of scholars. Bright up and comers and seasoned vets such as Jesse, renowned historian and author, Richard Bushman, from Columbia University, and former Utah State archivist, Jeff Johnson. Some are volunteers. I have had experiences on these nights I'm talking about, maybe numbering four or five or six, where I've been there late at night, reading manuscripts about him, or words from him, things that he's been involved with, feelings he had, where I have felt very, very strongly that this project that we're about with the Joseph Smith papers, A, was the right project to be working on, and B, a project whose time had come.

In the end, what will that Joseph Smith papers look like? We actually have two end products that we care very much about. The first one is a shelf of books-- a shelf of books. And we are planning on having about 30 volumes, more than two dozen for sure. And in addition to that, we will have a living website. The volumes will be important, they'll be on the shelf and usable for many years. Typically, these documentary editing projects are useful for a generation or two-- they're not redone any time soon. But in addition to that, we'll have a living website where we can update and add new documents and expand our range of knowledge about the documents.

Are there any things that you have found, or expect to find, that maybe we don't want to know about? You know, when you get into real history, you always have to adjust your understanding and your expectations. That's true in American history, it's true in Latter-day Saint history, because the ritualized version that we tell one another on Pioneer Day, or on the 4th of July, is just too condensed. It doesn't get into the rich detail. But at the level of the rich detail, people's lives and history are fascinating. And we've never found anything that you need to be afraid of, or that we can't understand as part of what Latter-day Saints, or other people in mortality, would have to deal with-- the good and the bad, the weaknesses of life, the great striving against incredible odds. And doing it with some grace, in many cases. I think our folks are fascinated by the human story in all of this. Not just to Joseph Smith, but of everybody else. Is this us? This is it.

In your greatest desire for this project, what do you hope that it does for both the membership and for the outside world? For Latter-day Saints, I hope that finally, we come to terms with our documentary record in a very comprehensive way. We've always cared about history, we've always done history, but 150 years plus later, we don't even have a list of all the Joseph Smith documents, let alone an understanding of that documentary record. It's so foundational to us, it's past time that we understand it in detail, and that our own story can be told from our records and our point of view. Does a complete Joseph Smith papers make it more difficult for the enemies of the Church to do what they do? It makes it more difficult to misrepresent him. There is a sense in which one cannot write responsibly about Joseph Smith without using also his own records, once they're easily accessible on the shelf. Today, you can get by with some slipshod or shoddy scholarship, because it's so hard to get into the record. Once this is on the shelf, that's no longer credible, and scholars will hold themselves and each other to a higher standard of Mormon scholarship. This is a secure area because we do use documents here. The document repository is upstairs. But this is a secure area where the scholars and archivists can bring the documents for their studies. Secure, quiet, small rooms with focused faces hovering over some of the most significant documents of the last two centuries. The first revelation that's copied into this volume is, as you can see here, "the vision," or what is known today as Section 76. It's the vision wherein Joseph and Sydney saw the three degrees of glory-- celestial kingdom, terrestrial, telestial. And they copied this down into this volume. Shortly after it was received-- vision of Joseph and Sydney, given February 16, 1832-- Whose handwriting? This is unique. This is Frederick G. Williams until here, and then this little portion here is Joseph Smith. You don't have very many revelations copied in Joseph Smith's handwriting. So we have Frederick G. Williams, Joseph Smith, and then back to Frederick G. Williams, here. Robin Jensen is one of three sets of eyes that will compare every word of typed text with the original manuscript. It's a laborious, but necessary process to verify the content of any historical document. That you've got people-- Joseph Smith, Frederick G. Williams, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon-- famous people in history have touched this book, have handled it, have written in it-- it's the same with a George Washington letter. The contents are great, but just the fact that you have a letter that George Washington also handled is just spectacular. So I think that's something that I just love about this job. Mark Ashurst-McGee is working on a three-volume set dedicated to Joseph Smith's journals. The 1835 to '36 journal happens to end with a keystone of LDS doctrine. This is Joseph Smith's second Kirtland journal. Was written in 1835 and 1836. And we're looking at the final entry in the journal, which is the entry for 1836, April 3. And it covers the day when the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and accepted the House of the Lord. And then Moses, and Elias, and Elijah appear, and deliver to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery their priesthood keys of authority. Sharalyn Howcroft is part of the legal team that has made some extraordinary finds. There are things that we are finding that, frankly, has not been discussed in scholarship. And so, while other series in the Papers Project have had the luxury of people having gone before them to chart the path, in many respects, the legal series has not. And so a lot of our research is grassroots research, directly with the manuscripts. Groundbreaking series-- we started out thinking there were three dozen court cases. Brigham Young once talked about the some 30-odd cases that Joseph Smith was involved in. But now we know that there were more than 200 instances where he was involved in judicial proceedings-- as a witness, defendant, or plaintiff. We have access to the original documents. So we're-- What's that like? It is a truly remarkable experience. It is one thing to know the history. It's another thing to handle the documents that are made, that are essentially the source of that history. It doesn't matter to me whether those who so examine do so from a perspective that he was a prophet, as in my case. Or whether they think of him merely as another man. Whichever approach, it seems to me that he emerges, just from his business and legal dealing, as a man of remarkable integrity, a man who pays his debts, a man who builds communities, a man who abides by the law.

And in Carthage, it cost him his life, because he was willing to submit to man's law. The Papers Project will feature one volume dedicated to various authorized histories written in connection with Joseph Smith and early Mormonism. One of those was written by a relatively obscure man named John Corrill, whom you might call a short-timer. He was quite close to the Prophet. He's mentioned in Joseph Smith's journals. And he was a good writer, an educated man. And really very useful to the Church. He handled the interior design of the Kirtland temple to a large degree. But that all ended. He was excommunicated in 1838. So far, the Papers team is getting high marks from national experts for documentary editing practices. It's the reason a papers project, done right, can take decades. Michael Stevens and Steven Burg, authors of the book, Editing Historical Documents, describe document editing as a form of translation-- converting original documents into readable text. Document editing is the process of taking documents of historical significance, and transcribing and annotating them. For example here, at the bottom of this page, Joseph Smith concludes his entry with a plea to the Lord. He writes, "Lord, spare the life of thy servant, amen." And looking under through the ultraviolet light, you can see that under the word "the," was originally written the word "me." So when Joseph Smith first wrote this down, he wrote, "Lord, spare me." Then he wrote "the" over "me," and changed it to "Lord, spare the life of thy servant." And this is just a small window into Joseph Smith's soul, and the intensity of his religious expressions. The objective of a documentary edition, like the Joseph Smith Papers Project, is to make available for interested readers and researchers alike, documents of important figures through journals, correspondence, speeches, and to provide the historical context necessary to understand those documents. And it's turned out to be larger than we anticipated. President Hinckley has often said, all that we have in the Church today is but a length and shadow of Joseph Smith. And in saying that, I want to be careful to stress that, Joseph Smith, himself, would have viewed himself as a means to an end, not as the end, itself.

"The temple was filled with angels. Which fact I declared to the congregation. The people of the neighborhood came running together, hearing an unusual sound within. And seeing a bright light, like a pillar of fire, resting upon the temple. And were astonished at what was taking place." Joseph Smith. Central to the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the belief that God can communicate with people and give them direction. It's referred to in the LDS lexicon as "modern revelation." It suggests God's children need guidance for the time in which they live, and that God's prophets are entitled to receive revelation for the entire Church. Of course, in Joseph Smith's day, the notion of direct revelation from God was heresy. For starters, it's interesting to note, Parley Pratt's pamphlet, in which he wrote a satirical discussion, an argument between the devil and Joseph Smith. So here's a dialogue between the devil and Joseph Smith that's written by Parley Pratt. And in it, the devil blames Joseph for reinvigorating an article of faith that he had successfully extinguished till that time. And Joseph wonders, "what is that?" And the devil asserts, "it is revelation, direct revelation." That's telling. Americans in the 1830s had rejected the possibility of Moses-like revelations from a living God with a real voice. And so Mormonism, in that way, is countercultural-- radically countercultural. Robert Woodford has spent much of his professional life researching and writing about the revelations that flooded the early era of Mormonism. He is co-editor of two volumes about revelations and documents for the Joseph Smith Papers Project. They will include what he calls one of the most remarkable statements made on the subject of revelation. It came from one Robert W. Taylor, in 1903, before the US Senate. Taylor was the attorney who led the hearings against allowing Utah's Reed Smoot into the Senate, because Smoot was a Mormon who believed Joseph Smith received revelation from God. Here, he quotes Taylor at the hearings. "Now, a Senator of the United States might believe anything else in the world but that, and not be ineligible to a seat in the body to which he belongs. He might believe in polygamy. He might believe that murder was commendable. He might believe that the propriety as a rule of life of all the Ten Commandments-- he might deny the propriety as a rule of life of the Ten Commandments. He might believe in the sacrifice of human life. He might believe in no God, or in 1,000 gods. He might be Jew, or Gentile, Mohammedan, or Buddhist, atheist, or pantheist. He might believe that the world began last year and would end next year." But, according to Taylor, to believe in revelation from God was extremely arrogant. And a masquerade Church leaders might use to exert undue control over its members. And would disqualify any believer from being a part of the US Senate. And so, many people believe that in the Reed Smoot hearings, the major issues were plural marriage and the oath of vengeance. But here, the chief counsel is saying, no, it's the revelations of Joseph Smith and the continued revelations to the leaders of the Church today. One revelation of great interest to historians is number Doctrine and Covenants section 76, the one referred to earlier by editor Robin Jensen. Here, shown with the original transcript, written in 1832. Says, "Great shall be their reward, and eternal shall be their glory." The revelation, described as a vision by Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, challenged the mainstream Christian doctrine of one heaven and one hell, where residents would burn forever in a lake of fire. I'd like to read to you Brigham Young's reaction to that revelation. "After all, my traditions were such that when the vision first came to me, it was so directly contrary and opposed to my former education, I said, 'wait a little.' I did not reject it, but I could not understand it." The idea of one heaven and one hell was so deeply ingrained in the Christian theology that Brigham Young had to read it several times before he could accept it. Section 76 was recorded as a remarkable vision, describing various degrees of eternal reward, and the glorious completion of Christ's work. So imagine being in a room where vision after vision occurred, a whole series of visions. And one person who was present, Philo Dibble, said that, "others were here." And it looked as though Joseph and Sidney Rigdon were looking out the window. And then, they said, "what do I see?" And then, they described what they saw. And then, "I see the same." "What do I see?" And they just kept talking about, "what do I see?" And they kept describing what they saw. And others in the room saw the same. Section 76 is an example of what some call the more spectacular revelations, where Joseph, and sometimes others, saw visions of God, angels, ancient apostles and prophets, or heard voices. But what we will show and demonstrate is that the vast majority of these revelations came to Joseph Smith by inspiration to his mind. In other words, Joseph Smith received most of his revelations just the way as people receive their personal revelation, by inspiration through the Holy Ghost. And therefore, when he would receive some sacred information from the Lord, he had to put that in terms that was available within his own vocabulary. I don't, as some people do, think of the revelations as flawless, or grammatically perfect, or literarily somehow without any kind of incongruity. I think that's a standard some people create for the revelations, which they never presume to create for themselves. Joseph never claimed to be producing literary perfection. He claimed to be speaking as a mediator between a perfected Christ and a fallen people. And in my opinion, in that, was the greatest success we've ever seen as a revelator. The revelations are masterpieces.

We declare without equivocation that God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, appeared in person to the boy Joseph Smith. When I was interviewed by Mike Wallace on the 60 Minutes program, he asked me if I actually believe that. I replied, "yes sir, that's the miracle of it." This is the way I feel about it. Our whole strength rests on the validity of that vision. It either occurred, or it did not occur. If it did not, then this work is a fraud. If it did, then it is the most important and wonderful work under the heavens.

Did he meet Abraham Lincoln? Sorting out fact and fiction about Joseph Smith has been an ongoing work. Bryon Andreasen of the Illinois State Historical Society, addresses a case in point, with a writing from the great novelist, Irving Stone. He gives the account of Mary Lincoln meeting Joseph Smith in the American house right over here. Let me share with you that. He places the Lincolns at the New Year's Eve party at the American House. Joseph Smith enters the room, creates an immediate sensation. Mary makes his way over to him and is introduced to him. Then-- now to pick up in the book-- "Mary found herself gazing into a pair of the most magnetic blue eyes she'd ever encountered. "May I bid you welcome to Springfield, Mr. Smith," she said. "Most of us feel you are being persecuted." "Thank you, Mrs. Lincoln," the Prophet replied, his voice a powerful throbbing organ. He flashed her a haunting smile. "Mrs. Lincoln, if you ever become disillusioned with your chosen church, come to Nauvoo, and let me reveal the true religion to you." "Thank you," Mary replied, with a full curtsy. "It's always gratifying to be wanted." History as it didn't happen, but-- Great story, but almost certainly not true. Though Andreasen says Mary Todd Lincoln may have witnessed one of Joseph Smith's trials in Springfield, Illinois. From the strenuous research and editing of the Joseph Smith papers, much will emerge about the character of the man. The account given by John Needham, an English immigrant who first heard the Prophet preach in Nauvoo, would be typical. "Joseph Smith is a great man," he said in a letter home. "A man of principle, a straightforward man. No saintish, long-faced fellow, but quite the reverse. Indeed, some stumble because he is a straightforward, plainspoken, cheerful man. But that makes me love him the more." You know, some people said, a prophet has to a long beard, and be solemn. You know, that's their image of the Old Testament prophet. Here's a young man who likes to have fun. He even likes to tell stories to make you laugh. Likes to play sports. He seemed to be too cheerful. And the Prophet recognized that in his own history-- you know, 'I'm of a cheerful disposition. Sometimes, it did get me into trouble.' Well, for John Needham, it made him love the more. Because the Prophet loved people, and they felt that love. And sometimes, they felt the imperfections of a man who described himself as a rough stone rolling. And that's what I like about Brigham Young's statement about Joseph. He said, "he was God's prophet, not mine. God's the one that called him." And Lorenzo Snow, when he was made President of Church, I think he said, "it was a great blessing to me to see some flaws in Joseph Smith, because then I knew the Lord could work through me as a President of the Church. Because I know I have flaws." He knew he wasn't perfect, either. And I think that's one thing remarkable about Mormonism, is the leaders don't have to be perfect. And the Church won't always have perfect decisions made by some of the Church leaders. It's not all revelation. The Lord lets them struggle a little bit on their own, and let them work it out. And see where that growth opportunity comes. For Joseph Smith, that growth opportunity was centered in the dark, dank desperation of Liberty Jail, where he and five others were confined like so much cattle for five months over the winter of 1839. I think that was a great learning experience for Joseph. They ought to call it a prison temple. I think BH Roberts penned it, or coined the phrase. But for Joseph, it was miserable. But he did get his bearings a little better. And I think he really began to realize things can happen that you don't anticipate. And yet, at the same time, he's not losing hope. But he's in a lot of despair. And the Lord led him really hold that one. I mean, the Lord really waited a while before he finally nurtured him enough to reassure him, that it's still going to work out, Joseph. What emerged toward the end of that dreadful stay was the eloquent and powerful prose dictated by Joseph to the haggard group of Saints now reconstituting on the banks of the Mississippi River in Southern Illinois. One thing that really deeply impresses me, we talk about the statement in section 121, associated with the rights of the priesthood and inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, the Lord might have been talking directly to Joseph Smith. Not just you and I, and some others, but I think he's maybe saying, "Joseph, you got the priesthood, and you're my servant. But you better use that correctly. And be very, very careful of your authority and how you use that authority in regards to the Church and your fellow man." This is a tragic part of our story. And while we are lucky to have some of those beautiful scriptures to buoy us up, we shouldn't forget that the price that was paid to get those scriptures, that they came at the darkest hours of our sweet prophet's life. And as someone reminded me yesterday, how did he do it? Well, because he was the Prophet. Why couldn't we do it? Because we're not. And the mantle he carried buoyed him up, made him stronger than us, greater than us. And so we follow him and his example. And we use those poignant lines to help us understand better that hope is never lost. That God's plans will never be frustrated. That our goal is to escape when we can, and endure when we must. Joseph learned a lot from Liberty jail, there's no question. It was a time of great learning for him. And he had a lot of time to think about how things went wrong in Missouri. New insights into the troubles in Missouri are just some of what is featured in early volumes of the Joseph Smith Papers. They, for example, will include compelling work on how Church organization unfolded, and a look at the Kirtland Hebrew school, where Joseph Smith studied Hebrew. The formation of the Relief Society challenged cultural norms of the day. I think one of the great things that he tells the sisters, is that the Society is not only to help the poor, but it is to save souls. And his starting place is certainly their own souls. He tells them that, as they receive his instruction, they will be responsible for their own salvation. Now, that that may seem not so important to us, but I think this is a statement that, for its time, was of great significance to the sisters. Eliza R. Snow packed up those minutes, brought them from Nauvoo to Salt Lake. And when the Relief Society was reorganized, revitalized in 1868, she carried them from ward to ward, and read to the women, 20 years after the fact, what Joseph had said to that first group of women in Nauvoo. Is it enough for a lay member to know, have a testimony of Joseph Smith, and then leave that alone? Or is it helpful for everyone to understand more about the specifics of his life? I think in today's world, every Latter-day Saint will encounter things about Joseph Smith they didn't know before. We have an informational overload, informational access that has never been available before. And to the degree that Latter-day Saints are left only with what they learn at Pioneer Day, they are going to be vulnerable, because there is so much more to learn. And I think it's very important that we come to a true understanding of our history and of our people, that involves dealing with all the issues, and dealing with all the personalities. And doing it broadly so that we understand our own heritage. And then, we will not be overturned by some new little fact that we didn't have room for in our scheme, because we've prepared ourselves to look at the whole picture. Nothing, I believe, in anything that the historians and scholars have written so far on LDS history can compare to the magnitude of the Joseph Smith Papers Project. There is great power in hearing from Joseph himself, explain himself. If there's one thing that I've seen in the Joseph Smith Papers Project, is that Joseph comes out very well.

I think he is one of the greatest prophets of all time. He has to be. I'm not saying this very good, but I do have to say, in examining the record, the historical record-- just the chunk I'm involved in. I mean, I haven't read 1/10th of what I need to read in terms of documents, but the chunk of documents and papers that I've been able to examine, and pore over, and try to contemplate, and analyze, and interpret, and understand, Joseph is remarkable-- remarkable. "I also do not find it possible to doubt that Joseph Smith was an authentic prophet. Where in all of American history can we find his match? The Prophet Joseph has proved again that economic and social forces do not determine human destiny. Religious history, like literary or any cultural history, is made by genius, by the mystery of rare human personalities. I am not persuaded by sociological and anthropological studies of Mormon history. Mormon history is Joseph Smith, and his continued effect upon his Saints. In proportion to his importance and his complexity, he remains the least studied personage of an undiminished vitality in our entire national saga." Harold Bloom, Yale University.

So that's the first volume. And this is the second volume. And that will be the third, and that's the fourth. And with some luck, we'll get three of the four out next year. An exhaustive work of transcribing, editing, and presenting The Joseph Smith Papers will continue for years. Called the movement, Joseism, which is an appropriate term for that time period-- you often named a movement after its founder. Joseph in Kirtland is not only going to have what I think is some of his happiest years of his life, but he is also going to experience the full brunt force of the law and the court system. The only silver or gold that came out of them thar hills was Emma. One of the best accounts in the Haun's Mill Massacre was David Lewis's account, whose brother was killed there, and whose other brother was wounded there. That's why the imprisonment, to hold them as hostages-- after the Saints had left the state, they permit the prisoner to escape. In the coming months, KJZZ Television will feature weekly programs drawing on the remarkable interviews and lectures of these noted scholars. We will follow along as they tour significant Church History sites, sharing their passion, expertise, and conviction that Joseph Smith Jr. is capable of living up to the prediction by one of the prominent politicians of his day. "It is by no means improbable that some future textbook for the use of generations yet unborn will contain a question something like this-- "what historical American of the 19th century has exerted the most powerful influence upon the destinies of his countrymen?" And it is by no means impossible that the answer to that interrogatory maybe thus written-- Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet." Josiah Quincy, Mayor of Boston, 1842.