[MUSIC PLAYING] The Church History Library in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, is a state-of-the-art facility specifically designed to preserve and store artifacts of the Church. Among these are papyrus fragments originally discovered in Egypt in the early part of the 19th century.

The papyrus was part of a larger discovery that included many mummies as well. After these items were discovered, they were eventually exhibited around the United States. One of the many cities where these artifacts were displayed was Kirtland, Ohio. It was there that the Prophet Joseph Smith learned of their existence. Some early Church members arranged for the purchase of four mummies and all of the papyrus records. Over the next several years, Joseph Smith worked to translate these records.

They were then published in Nauvoo in the Church's newspaper, the Times and Seasons. After the death of the Prophet, the mummies and records were again sold, with many of them being destroyed in a fire in Chicago. However, 10 fragments made it safely to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, where in 1966, an Egyptian scholar from the University of Utah named Aziz Atiya found the fragments and arranged for them to be returned to the Church. These papyrus fragments are now preserved in the state-of-the-art Church History Library. Everything which is donated to the Church is preserved and treated with meticulous care. [MUSIC PLAYING]