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To commemorate the upcoming completion of the Revelations and Translations series, which includes the breadth of Joseph Smith’s revelation and translation projects, the Joseph Smith Papers Project will host the fifth annual Joseph Smith Papers Conference on September 10, 2021. The conference will be broadcast digitally to allow for both local and global participation from presenters and audience members. (This was also the format of the 2020 conference.) The theme for this year’s conference is “Joseph Smith and Sacred Text in Nineteenth-Century America.”

Over the course of his life, Joseph Smith engaged in several translation projects, including the Book of Mormon, the Book of Abraham, and the Bible revision, and he dictated numerous revelations that were published in church newspapers and print volumes. Scribes, clerks, and editors worked with Smith in these projects. Through these endeavors, he introduced his followers to new sacred texts, sought to restore and clarify doctrine, modified biblical scripture, and voiced authoritative direction from God, shaping the Latter-day Saints’ understanding of their past, present, and future. To the Saints, Joseph Smith’s translations and revelations testified of his unique prophetic role.

We invite scholars of various academic disciplines, career stages, and backgrounds to apply. Proposals based in any methodology or academic discipline are welcome, including (but not limited to) history, media studies, sociology, gender studies, ethnic studies, religious studies, anthropology, theology, philosophy, linguistics, political science, communal studies, economics, or legal history. Because the main purpose of this conference is to demonstrate how scholars can use the Joseph Smith Papers, authors of accepted proposals will be expected to orient their papers primarily from the project’s documents, which can be accessed online at josephsmithpapers.org. Scholars do not have to focus expressly on Joseph Smith and the mediums and processes that enabled him to articulate his prophetic voice in their presentations; they may also explore other themes found in the Revelations and Translations series, such as how these texts were read and received by any number of contemporary audiences.

Paper proposals should consist of a brief abstract (no more than 500 words) and a current CV. Both materials should be sent to Jessica M. Nelson (jessicam.nelson@churchofjesuschrist.org) by February 26, 2021. Successful abstracts will include 1) an explanation of the proposed project, 2) a clear thesis statement, and 3) an explanation of how the author intends to use the Joseph Smith Papers in their presentation, including the specific texts or documents that will be featured in the paper. Acceptance notices will be emailed to authors by March 19, 2021. Authors will receive an electronic copy of volume 5 of the Revelations and Translations series, which presents the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon.

The Joseph Smith Papers Project is an effort to gather together all extant Joseph Smith documents and to publish complete and accurate transcripts of those documents online and in print, with both textual and contextual annotation. All such documents will be published electronically at josephsmithpapers.org, and a large number of the documents are in process of being published in twenty-seven print volumes. The print and electronic publications constitute an essential resource for scholars and students of the life and work of Joseph Smith, early Latter-day Saint history, and nineteenth-century American religion.