On June, 27, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published its last volume of the Joseph Smith Papers. The Church worked on the series for over 21 years.
According to The Church Historian Press, the last volume in the 27-part series covers “the events of the final six weeks of Joseph Smith’s life, including his murder.”
The Church of Jesus Christ has invested a lot for the series to be compiled. The whole series contains journal entries and Church documents that were found during Smith’s time as the Prophet.
“This scholarly project includes, as we noted, 27 volumes, 1,306 journal entries, 643 letters, 155 revelations, 18,822 pages, 7,452,072 words and 49,687 footnotes — and even meticulous footnotes on footnotes,” said Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in a press release.
The Church wants to be open about its history. The Joseph Smith Papers provide copies of every available Church document from its early history.
In the press release, Elder Kyle S. McKay, a general authority seventy who also serves as a Church historian and recorder, mentioned that the volumes are not a storytelling type of book. It is more of back-to-back documents which can be connected to the Church’s storyline of events.
The series is divided into five sections:
— Documents: 15 books
— Histories: 2 books
— Journals: 3 books
— Revelations and translations: 7 books
— Administrative Records: 1 book
For those interested in reading, check out Deseret Books to order the latest volume.
