Comments on: First Impressions of the Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations Volume

By: Juvenile Instructor » 2009 in Retrospect: A Glance at Important Books and Articles from the Last 12 Months

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:43:26 +0000

[...] which will perhaps be eventually seen as the jewel of the whole project, has received plenty of praise from the bloggernacle, and even from the wider blogger world. The volumes on Eliza Snow and the [...]

By: FAIR Blog » Blog Archive » “In their weakness, after the manner of their language”

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:36:42 +0000

[...] review of the latest volume of the Joseph Smith Papers Project see Ardis E. Parshall, “First Impressions of the Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations Volume,” keepapitchinin.org, 23 September 2009. The photo is by Jason Olson, “Original Book of [...]

By: Reflections on the Joseph Smith Papers : Mormon Metaphysics

Reflections on the Joseph Smith Papers : Mormon Metaphysics — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:40:58 +0000

[...] Lots of commentary to the new JS Papers. I’ll not link to them all except to Ardis’ nice discussion. [...]

By: BHodges

BHodges — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:05:31 +0000

I once tried to make the point (unsatisfactorily, judging by comments) that just because you had connected a lot of dots to make an historical conclusion with lots of supporting citations didn’t mean at all that the picture you had drawn was anything like what had actually happened in the past.

I’ve been reading up on this issue a lot over the past year and it has been remarkably fun.

By: BHodges

BHodges — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:58:07 +0000

And of course you’ve struck on something I really care about: that is, helping latter-day saints better understand the nature of historical inquiry in general.

By: BHodges

BHodges — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:55:20 +0000

Why can’t all those authors just look up what happened and write it down? Why doesn’t everybody just tell the truth?

Excellent, and you implicitly answer the question in your overall review, which is written from a specific perspective with specific considerations in mind that someone else might entirely overlook. History keeps being written because it is written from different perspectives. Robin Jensen, for instance would be interested in the implications of the documents themselves being written the way they were, what that meant about the people involved, and so forth. Ardis has focused here briefly on the work involved in the transcribing. An economic historian might consider the revelations for entirely different questions. Why can’t they just tell the truth? Because the truth is such a mobile little being.

By: JonW

JonW — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:11:01 +0000

both of which are 100 buckish and I think my wife would not be impressed if I spent 200+ bucks in one month on books.

By: JonW

JonW — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:10:01 +0000

mmm I love the smell of new books…

Actually I have been trying to decide whether I should buy this or the New Mormon Studies CD-ROM (2009 Edition) which Signature is supposed to be releasing next month.

I am desperate for both… although I think the CD will help me more with my research.

Hi,

My name is Jonathan Williams and I am a book addict…

By: Tracy M

Tracy M — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:35:33 +0000

I got a call yesterday that the copy I pre-ordered at the local bookstore is in… I can’t wait until I can pick it up! Thanks for your review Ardis.

By: KLC

KLC — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:27:12 +0000

Ardis,

Your review taught me about the information that a manuscript contains beyond the script and how a scholar can wring meaning out of every mark, tiny smear, erasure and rewriting.

I wonder about the historians of the future reading electronic prime sources of today. Will the absence of process in digital documents make their lives easier yet poorer?