SALT LAKE CITY—The Church Historian's Press announced today that the 2020 Joseph Smith Papers Conference has moved to an online-only format to ensure the health and safety of all participants. The fourth annual conference will be held on Friday, September 18, 2020.

The conference theme is “Joseph Smith’s Connections and Networks.” Presentations will explore aspects of Joseph Smith’s interrelated world views, including race, politics, finance, and theology. Papers will engage with themes found in volumes 10 and 11 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers.

This event is free to attend, but space is limited. Registration and additional conference details are available at JosephSmithPapers.org.

Islands in the Mississippi River. Circa 1848. Documents 10 and Documents, Volume 11 cover May 1842–February 1843. On 11 August 1842, while Joseph Smith was in hiding to avoid being extradited to Missouri, he met with Emma Smith, Hyrum Smith, and others on one of these islands in the Mississippi River located between Nauvoo, Illinois, and Montrose, Iowa Territory. (Courtesy Church History Museum, Salt Lake City.)

About the Joseph Smith Papers Project

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 with both textual and contextual annotation. All such documents will be published electronically on the project website, and a large number of the documents will also be published in print. 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. For the first time, all of Joseph Smith’s known surviving papers, which include many of the foundational documents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will be easily accessible in one place.

About the Church Historian’s Press

The Church Historian’s Press is an imprint of the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was announced in 2008. The aim of the Church Historian’s Press is to increase access to materials related to the history of the church. Previous publications include the Joseph Smith Papers, documents chronicling the early history of the Relief Society, discourses by Latter-day Saint women, the Journal of George Q. Cannon, the Journal of George F. Richards, the Diaries of Emmeline B. Wells, and the Discourses of Eliza R. Snow. For more information, visit the Church Historian’s Press website.