New Paper in the JWHA Journal

In the latest issue of the John Whitmer Historical Association Journal, you'll find an article by me titled "'That Which Is Lost': Assessing the State of Preservation of the Joseph Smith Papyri." I thought I'd summarize my conclusions here for those who don't want to wade through all the analysis. So, here goes.

Contemporary accounts of Joseph Smith's papyrus collection reveal that it consisted of the following:

Two papyrus scrolls:

• “the teachings of Father Abraham”—The scroll of Hor
• “a sacred record kept by Joseph in Pharoah’s court in Egypt” —The scroll of Tshemmin and a fragment from a scroll of Neferirnub

Two or three other small pieces of papyrus:

• “astronomical calculations”—The hypocephalus of Sheshonk
• “epitaphs” —One or two fragments from a scroll of Amenhotep

After Smith's death, half of the collection ended up in a Chicago museum, which was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The other half ended up in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, from which it was later purchased by the LDS Church.

The papyri destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire:

• The interior portion of the scroll of Hor, containing two columns of hieratic text from the Document of Breathing Made by Isis, followed by the Facsimile 3 vignette—a total of about 60 cm (~2 feet) of papyrus
• One or two fragments of a Book of the Dead made for Amenhotep
• The hypocephalus of Sheshonk from which Facsimile 2 was copied
• Possibly a small quantity of papyrus from the Tshemmin scroll

The papyri purchased by the LDS Church:

• Several fragments from the outer portion of the scroll of Hor, including the introductory vignette known as Facsimile 1 and the hieroglyphic characters that appear in the margins of the Kirtland Book of Abraham manuscripts
• Several fragments of the scroll of Tshemmin, including basically all the vignettes described by Oliver Cowdery and other eyewitnesses in connection with the Book of Joseph
• The fragment from the scroll of Neferirnub

The paper thus draws two important conclusions. First, every indication is that the materials currently owned by the Church were among those identified and translated by Joseph Smith as records of Abraham and Joseph. And second, no more than about half the papyrus is missing, and we have a pretty good idea what was contained in the missing portions.