While much has been written about Mormonism’s founding prophet, there has never been a complete catalog or edition of the first-hand documents Joseph Smith Jr. (1805–1844) and his scribes produced during his lifetime. With this in mind, the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History at Brigham Young University, in cooperation with the Church Archives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has enlisted a team of scholars to locate, annotate and publish a comprehensive edition of The Joseph Smith Papers.

Prominent LDS historian, Dean C. Jessee, has devoted his career to the study of Joseph Smith. His remarkable scholarship has produced The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith and two volumes of The Papers of Joseph Smith. Volume one (1989) consists of the autobiographical and historical writings of Joseph Smith. Volume two covering Joseph’s diaries from 1832-1842, was published in 1992, with the intent to publish a third volume of the 1842-1844 diaries kept by his official scribes. The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith (1984 and 2002) includes all known extant documents in the hand of Joseph Smith.

The Joseph Smith Papers, a revision and continuation of Jessee’s The Papers of Joseph Smith, will build upon the foundation he established in his earlier work. It will include documents created by or sent to Joseph Smith, such as diary entries, outgoing and incoming correspondence, office papers, revelations, reports of discourses and instructions, deeds, certificates, business accounts and receipts, and legal papers. Dean Jessee, general editor of The Joseph Smith Papers, says the series will “add a significant dimension to the Joseph Smith papers covering the entire range of his activity. This work will be an imposing presence on the shelf of any library and will provide the visibility Joseph Smith increasingly deserves”.