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{{Short description|Egyptian papyri owned by Joseph Smith, Jr.}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
[[Image:JSP Papyri Fragment I.jpg|thumb|upright 1.3|A portion of the Joseph Smith Papyri]]▼
{{Use American English|date=March 2024}}
{{Pearl of Great Price}}
The '''Joseph Smith Papyri''' ('''JSP''') are [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] funerary [[papyrus]] fragments from ancient [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]] dated between 300 and 100 BC which, along with four mummies, were once owned by [[Joseph Smith]], the founder of the [[Latter Day Saint movement]]. Smith purchased the mummies and papyrus documents from a traveling exhibitor in [[Kirtland, Ohio]] in 1835.<ref name="ritner1">{{Harvnb|Ritner|2013|p=1}}.</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Gee|2000|p=3}}.</ref> Smith said that the papyrus contained the records of the ancient patriarchs [[Abraham]] and [[Joseph (Genesis)|Joseph]].
In 1842, Smith published the first part of the [[Book of Abraham]], which he said was an inspired translation from the papyri.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/eng/scriptures/pgp/introduction|title=Introduction|website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org}}</ref><ref>For the distribution of the manuscript fragments, see John Gee, "Eyewitness, Hearsay, and Physical Evidence of the Joseph Smith Papyri," in The Disciple as Witness: Essays on Latter-day Saint History and Doctrine in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson, ed. Stephen D. Ricks et al. (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2000), 188—91; and John Gee, A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2000), 10—13.</ref> The consensus among both Mormon and non-Mormon scholars is that the characters on the surviving papyrus fragments do not match Smith's translation. A translation of the [[Book of Joseph (Latter Day Saints)|Book of Joseph]] was never published by Smith, but the scroll purported to be the untranslated Book of Joseph has been found to be a copy of the Egyptian [[Book of the Dead]], a common funerary document, which contains no references to the biblical patriarch Joseph.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jmormhist.42.2.0095|first=Barney|last=Quinten|title=The Joseph Smith Papyri and the Writings of Joseph of Egypt|journal=Journal of Mormon History|volume=42|issue=2|pages=95–109|date=April 2016|doi=10.5406/jmormhist.42.2.0095|jstor=10.5406/jmormhist.42.2.0095}}</ref><ref name="auto4">{{cite web|url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V03N02_69.pdf|title=Wilson, John A. The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri, Translations and Interpretations; Dialogue Journal 1968.}}</ref>
After [[Death of Joseph Smith|Smith's death]], the papyri passed through several hands; they were presumed to have reached a museum in Chicago and subsequently destroyed in the [[Great Chicago Fire]]. Not all of the fragments were burned, however, and some were eventually acquired by the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in 1947.<ref>"Review of the Year 1947," Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 7/1 (1948): 17.</ref> The museum knew the importance of the papyri to [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church) and, in 1966, reached out to church leaders to notify them of their collection. The LDS Church acquired the fragments in 1967.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=I Have a Question |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1988/07/i-have-a-question?lang=eng |magazine=[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]] |date=July 1988 |access-date=July 9, 2014 }}</ref>
==Contents==
There were four mummies, two rolls, and various other fragments of papyri purchased by Joseph Smith and his associates. [[Eyewitness accounts associated with the Joseph Smith Papyri|Eyewitness accounts]] conflict on the gender of the mummies, indicating it was difficult to tell. [[Oliver Cowdery]] wrote:
According to Cowdery, these two scrolls contained "the writings of Abraham and Joseph."<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite web|url=http://thebookofabraham.blogspot.com/2011/01/messenger-and-advocate-december-1835.html|title=The Book of Abraham: Messenger and Advocate - December 1835|date=January 5, 2011}}</ref>
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[[W. W. Phelps (Mormon)|W. W. Phelps]], Joseph Smith's scribe in 1835, wrote in a letter to his wife:
Because the collection was later sold and divided and parts of it were lost in the Great Chicago Fire, its exact contents are unknown. However, based on what is still in existence, it can be concluded that there were at least 5 separate funerary documents as shown in the following table:<ref>Jensen, Robin Scott, and Brian M. Hauglid, eds. Revelations and Translations, Volume 4: Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts. Facsimile edition. Vol. 4 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Ronald K. Esplin, Matthew J. Grow, Matthew C. Godfrey, and R. Eric Smith. Salt Lake City: Church Historian's Press, 2018</ref><ref>[[H. Michael Marquardt]], Joseph Smith's Egyptian Papers: A History.
[[File:Joseph Smith Papyri Reconstructed.jpg|upright 1.3|thumb|Reconstructed papyri from existing and known fragments]]
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[[Antonio Lebolo]], from the [[Piedmont]] region of modern Italy, had been a loyal follower of [[Napoleon]], serving in his military and law enforcement. In the years following Napoleon's fall from power in 1815, Lebolo left his family and went to Egypt in order to escape the problems of Europe. He had a prominent friend, [[Bernardino Drovetti]], who was also in Egypt for the same reason that gave him a job as his agent in Thebes. Lebolo stayed in Egypt from 1817–1822. Part of Lebolo's employment responsibilities were to undertake excavations of Egyptian antiquities to later sell. He led teams of sometimes hundreds of locals, digging throughout the Theban Necropolis, in the valley of the Kings, Queens and Nobles.<ref>Peterson, H. Donl. The Story of the Book of Abraham: Mummies, Manuscripts, and Mormonism. CFI, 2008. pg 39-45</ref> Items that he excavated found their way into many modern collections, including major contributions to the [[Museo Egizio|Turin Museum]] and the [[Louvre]].<ref>Kerry Muhlestein, Assessing the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Introduction to the Historiography of their Acquisitions, Translations, and Interpretations. Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 22 (2016): 17-49</ref>
Sometime while he was there he excavated 11 mummies and accompanying papyri, from which came the Joseph Smith Papyri collection. It appears that Drovetti allowed Lebolo to personally excavate in the Valley of the Nobles, as this collection was personally maintained by Lebolo and not passed on to Drovetti.<ref>Peterson, H. Donl. The Story of the Book of Abraham: Mummies, Manuscripts, and Mormonism. CFI, 2008. pg 51</ref> It is not known exactly which tomb they came from, however Theban tombs [[TT32|32]], [[TT33 (tomb)|33]], and [[TT157|157]] have been named as possible candidates.<ref name="scholarsarchive.byu.edu"/> Theban tomb 33 is frequently visited by LDS tour groups, and often given as the place where they were excavated based on a description by [[Oliver Cowdery]].<ref>History of the Church 2:348-49 has Oliver Cowdery relaying the following story that Michael Chandler told him that is riddled with errors:
{{quote|"The records were obtained from one of the catacombs in Egypt, near a place where once stood the renowned city of Thebes, by the celebrated French traveler, Antonio Lebolo, in the year 1831. He procured license from Mehemet Ali, then viceroy of Egypt, under the protection of Chevalier Drovetti, the French Consul, in the year 1828, and employed four hundred and thirty-three men, four months and two days (if I understand correctly) - Egyptian or Turkish soldiers, at from four to six cents per diem, each man. He entered the catacomb June 7, 1831, and obtained eleven mummies. There were several hundred mummies in the same catacomb; about one hundred embalmed after the first order, and placed in niches, and two or three hundred after the second and third orders, and laid upon the floor or bottom of the grand cavity. The two last orders of embalmed were so decayed, that they could not be removed, and only eleven of the first, found in the niches." Lebolo was dead by 1831, and had left Egypt in 1822, so could not have done any of these things mentioned in the quote at those times.</ref> However, this connection is highly speculative and disputed.<ref name="Peterson, H. Donl 2008. pg 54">Peterson, H. Donl. The Story of the Book of Abraham: Mummies, Manuscripts, and Mormonism. CFI, 2008. pg 54</ref> Theban Tomb 32 is presented as a possibility based on Lebolo actually carving his name in the tunnel-passage, and the existence of other finds of his that probably came from this tomb.<ref>Peterson, H. Donl. The Story of the Book of Abraham: Mummies, Manuscripts, and Mormonism. CFI, 2008. pg 58</ref>
Before his death on the night of February 18–19, 1830, Lebolo sent the 11 mummies and papyri to Albano Oblasser of [[Trieste]] to sell them.<ref>Peterson, H. Donl. The Story of the Book of Abraham: Mummies, Manuscripts, and Mormonism. CFI, 2008. pg 74</ref> The mummies were shipped to New York sometime between 1830 and 1833, where they ended up in the hands of Michael Chandler no later than March 1833.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rhodes|2002|pp=1–2}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Smith|1902|p=236}}</ref> Chandler claimed multiple times to be the nephew of Lebolo; however, this is almost certainly untrue.<ref>Chandler was born in Ireland in 1797, and genealogists have been unable to find any connection to the Italian born Lebolo. Peterson, H. Donl. The Story of the Book of Abraham: Mummies, Manuscripts, and Mormonism. CFI, 2008. pg 161</ref> All evidence suggests that Chandler was acting as an agent for an investment group in [[Philadelphia]] that had purchased the mummies.<ref>[https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-from-joseph-coe-1-january-1844/1 Joseph Coe, one of the purchasers of the mummies wrote, "Chandler was only an agent acting under some men in Philadeplphia ... they him and was allowed the sum which he sold them to me for viz. $2400. It also appeared on the trial that the out goes while Chandler was exhibiting them exceeded the income $1550." "Letter from Joseph Coe, 1 January 1844," p.
===On tour in the North Eastern States===
[[File:Only Known Depiction From Michael Chandler Mummy Collection By Samuel Morton Crania Aegyptica.jpg|thumb|upright 1.2|Only known depiction of any of the eleven mummies in the Michael Chandler collection. From the book ''Crania Aegyptica'' by [[Samuel George Morton|Dr. Samuel Morton]] published in 1844.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/b2170434x|title=Crania Aegyptiaca, or, Observations on Egyptian ethnography derived from anatomy, history and the monuments/ by Samuel George Morton|date=December 6, 1844|publisher=London : J. Penington|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>Wolfe, S. J., and Robert Singerman. Mummies in Nineteenth Century America: Ancient Egyptians as Artifacts. McFarland & Co, 2009. pg. 106</ref> The skull currently resides in the [[University of Pennsylvania]] cranial collection.<ref name="penn.museum">{{cite web|url=https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-samuel-george-morton-cranial-collection/|title=Expedition Magazine - Penn Museum|website=www.penn.museum}}</ref><ref name="Peterson, H. Donl 2008. pg. 93">Peterson, H. Donl. The Story of the Book of Abraham: Mummies, Manuscripts, and Mormonism. CFI, 2008. pg. 93</ref>]]
Between April 1833 and June 1835, Michael Chandler toured the eastern United States, displaying and selling seven of the mummies as he went along. In April 1833, he displayed them first at the masonic hall<!-- should it be called a lodge? --> and then the arcade in Philadelphia. His display attracted large crowds wherever he went. The [[Ether Dome#Mummy (the hospital's oldest patient)|first complete mummy ever displayed to the public in the United States]] arrived just ten years earlier in 1823, and had set off a [[Egyptomania in the United States|mania]] in the United States for mummies and Egypt.<ref>Wolfe, S. J., and Robert Singerman. Mummies in Nineteenth Century America: Ancient Egyptians as Artifacts. McFarland & Co, 2009. pgs 7, 35</ref> Chandler's exhibit of eleven mummies was the largest ever up to that point in the United States.<ref name="Peterson, H. Donl 2008. pg 54"/> While Chandler was in Philadelphia, a doctor named W. E. Horner gathered six other doctors and gave Chandler an unsolicited endorsement of his collection:
Chandler had this "Certificate of the Learned" made into a placard that was circulated wherever he went, including two years later when he arrived in [[Kirtland, Ohio]].<ref>Peterson, H. Donl. The Story of the Book of Abraham: Mummies, Manuscripts, and Mormonism. CFI, 2008. pg. 88</ref> After Philadelphia, the unsold six mummies along with the papyri moved on to Baltimore during July and August 1833. They stayed at the Baltimore Museum, and proved to be very popular. Chandler expanded his stay there from a planned two weeks to five weeks. The following advertisement appeared in several newspapers, placed by the manager of the museum:
The next documented location of the exhibit was [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania]] in late August and then [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania]] in September 1833.<ref>Wolfe, S. J., and Robert Singerman. Mummies in Nineteenth Century America: Ancient Egyptians as Artifacts. McFarland & Co, 2009. pg. 105</ref> They were in [[Pittsburgh]] for four weeks during October and November 1833, and at the Western Museum in [[Cincinnati]] in December. In January 1834, they stayed in [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]] for a few days. In April and early May, they were shown at the corner of Chartres and St. Louis Streets in [[New Orleans]]. From May 1834 until February 1835, there is no known record of their whereabouts.<ref name="ReferenceA">Wolfe, ''Mummies in Nineteenth Century America'', 70, 98-107</ref> In February 1835, Chandler displayed the mummies in [[Hudson, Ohio]], just 30 miles south of Kirtland, Ohio, and the next month they were displayed in Cleveland.<ref>Jensen, Robin Scott, and Brian M. Hauglid, eds. Revelations and Translations, Volume 4: Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts. Facsimile edition. Vol. 4 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Ronald K. Esplin, Matthew J. Grow, Matthew C. Godfrey, and R. Eric Smith. Salt Lake City: Church Historian's Press, 2018. pg xix</ref>
While in Cleveland, a reporter from the ''Cleveland Whig'' published in March 1835 a description of the collection:
A letter to the editor of the ''Painesville Telegraph'' for 27 March 1835 described the collection in depth:
No. 2-Height 5 ft 1 1-2 inch; female, suppose age 40. found with roll as no. 1, filled with hieroglyphics, rudely executed.<br />
No. 3-Heighth{{Sic|}} 4 ft 4 1-2-male, very old, say 80; ... had a roll of writing as no. 1 & 2; superior head, it will compare in the regions of the sentiments with any in our land; passions mild.<br />
No. 4-Height 4 ft 9, female. I am inclined to put her age at about 20 or 25; others call her an old woman.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/OH/paintel4.htm|title=Old Mormon Articles: Painesville Telegraph 1834-35|website=www.sidneyrigdon.com}}</ref>
====The seven mummies not sold to Joseph Smith====
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[[File:Timeline of Ownership of Joseph Smith Papyri.JPG|240px|thumb|Timeline of the ownership of the Joseph Smith Papyri, as well as the mummies]]
Looking to make a sale, Chandler brought four mummies, two scrolls, and additional papyrus fragments<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/intro/introduction-to-revelations-and-translations-volume-4 |title=Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts |publisher=Josephsmithpapers.org |date= |accessdate=2022-09-10}}</ref> to Kirtland, Ohio (then headquarters of the LDS Church) in late June or early July 1835.<ref>William W. Phelps, Kirtland, OH, to Sally Waterman Phelps, Liberty, MO, 19 and 20 July 1835, in Phelps,
Given the state of [[Egyptology|Egyptian scholarship]] at that time ([[Jean-François Champollion|Champollion]]'s breakthrough [[Grammaire égyptienne|''Egyptian Grammar'']] would not be published in Europe until 1836, and dictionary until 1841), it is unlikely that Chandler could so authoritatively make such a claim.<ref>Jensen, Robin Scott, and Brian M. Hauglid, eds. Revelations and Translations, Volume 4: Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts. Facsimile edition. Vol. 4 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Ronald K. Esplin, Matthew J. Grow, Matthew C. Godfrey, and R. Eric Smith. Salt Lake City: Church Historian's Press, 2018 pg. xx</ref> According to [[Brigham Young University]] professor H. Donl Peterson, "At best, [American academicians] could only speculate on the meaning of some of the symbols when they could reach consensus on them."<ref>Peterson, H. Donl. The Story of the Book of Abraham: Mummies, Manuscripts, and Mormonism. CFI, 2008. page 1</ref>
Shortly after receiving this certification, Joseph Smith, [[Joseph Coe]], and Simeon Andrews purchased the four mummies and at least five papyrus documents for $2,400,<ref>{{Harvnb|Gee|2000|p=3}}</ref> which is about $70,000 in 2019 US dollars.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1835?amount=2400|title=$2,400 in 1835 → 2020
{{quote|The Prophet Joseph having learned the value of the ancient writings was very anxious to obtain them, and expressed himself willing to purchase them. But Chandler told him he would not sell the writings unless he could sell the mummies, for it would detract from the curiosity of his exhibition. ===The Collection in Kirtland===
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Sometime before spring of 1838 (probably late 1837), at least some of the papyri were cut up, pasted onto paper, and some mounted under glass in frames. Presumably this was to preserve the papyri, as continuous unrolling and handling of ancient scrolls would take a toll.<ref>Jensen, Robin Scott, and Brian M. Hauglid, eds. Revelations and Translations, Volume 4: Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts. Facsimile edition. Vol. 4 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Ronald K. Esplin, Matthew J. Grow, Matthew C. Godfrey, and R. Eric Smith. Salt Lake City: Church Historian's Press, 2018 page 3</ref> Papyrus fragments I and II suffered damage, and patches had begun to fall off. At least forty-seven of these patches were pasted onto completely separate and unrelated areas on papyrus fragments IV, V, X, VIII, and IX.<ref>Ritner, Robert Kriech. The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri: a Complete Edition ; P. JS 1-4 and the Hypocephalus of Sheshonq. The Smith Pettit Foundation, 2013. page 329</ref>
Some of the paper the papyri were mounted on contained plans for the Kirtland Temple and maps of northern Ohio.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://publications.mi.byu.edu/publications/jbms/22/2/6MuhlesteinBaugh_Preserving%20JS%20Papyri.pdf |title=Kerry M. Muhlestein and Alexander L. Baugh, Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture 22/2 (2013): 66–83 |access-date=2019-05-26 |archive-date=2016-09-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160909193018/http://publications.mi.byu.edu/publications/jbms/22/2/6MuhlesteinBaugh_Preserving%20JS%20Papyri.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Even though the papyri would be better preserved if the paper backing were removed, doing so would destroy important historical documents. Church Historian Robin Jensen commented on the dilemma:
====Kirtland turmoil====
The year 1837 was a chaotic time in Kirtland with an estimated 10–15% of the church withdrawing membership.<ref>Milton V. Backman, ''The Heavens Resound'' (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983), 310-11</ref> The [[Kirtland Safety Society]] had failed, and many who had lost significant sums of money channeled their anger at Joseph Smith. This culminated with Smith fleeing in the middle of the night on January 12, 1838, leaving the mummies and papyri behind.<ref>Peterson, H. D. (2008). The story of the book of Abraham: Mummies, manuscripts, and Mormonism. Springville, UT: CFI. pg 129</ref> [[Lucy Mack Smith]] recalled the troubling time later in life:
Where the mummies and papyri were and when is murky during the next few months and years. It appears that the mummies and papyri were at one point in possession of the now dissident Warren Parrish, and possibly Joseph Coe.<ref>Wolfe, S. J., & Singerman, R. (2009). Mummies in nineteenth century America: Ancient Egyptians as artifacts. Jefferson, NC: McFarland &. page 115</ref> A perplexing legal document signed by Joseph Smith Jr. on January 4, 1838 titled, "Article of Agreement Between Joseph Smith Jun. and Joseph Smith Sr." reads, "I convey the two undivided thirds of records of and box Exclusive of the mummies. ... I do hereby relinquish on the box and records which James Markell has Levied in my favor as the property of J. Smith Jr. and my claim on the same."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/sagaofbookofabra00|title=SAGA OF THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM|date=1969 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> A Markell family story related in the 1960s to LDS Church historians states, "Some one, if I remember correctly, related to Joseph Coe got the Records (Papyrus) and these Markells of mine were foxey enough to conn this fellow out of them. It seems he owed Judge Markell some money and Uncle James was deputized to help retrieve the records. It was quite a joke in the family."<ref name="Peterson, H. D. 2008 pg 131">Peterson, H. D. (2008). The story of the book of Abraham: Mummies, manuscripts, and Mormonism. Springville, UT: CFI. pg 131</ref>
The mummies and papyri were hid with the [[William Huntington (Mormon)|William Huntington]] family for a time, even hidden under teenage [[Zina D. H. Young|Zina Huntington's]] bed.<ref>''A History of William Huntington Written by Himself''-January 1855, BYU Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library. His journal entry reads,
{{quote|"The four sarcophagi had been placed in the Huntington home for safekeeping. Apostates and other enemies of the Church in Kirtland, Ohio were attempting to attach all Church property. To protect the mummies from seizure, they were removed from the temple and stored under Zina's bed. These were the mummies purchased by the Church along with the hieroglyphic manuscript of the book of Abraham."
===The collection in Missouri===
{{See also | 1838 Mormon War}}
The LDS Church faced difficult times in 1838 and 1839, including expulsion from Missouri, Joseph Smith being jailed, and relocating its headquarters to [[Nauvoo, Illinois]]. As such, information about the location of the mummies and papyri over the next two years is scant.<ref>H. Donl Peterson wrote, "Whether all four mummies and the entire papyrus collection were in Missouri or not is difficult to determine, since very few records exist that mention them at all." Peterson, H. D. (2008). The story of the book of Abraham: Mummies, manuscripts, and Mormonism. Springville, UT: CFI. pg. 135</ref><ref>William Appleby wrote in his journal that the mummies and papyri went straight from Kirtland to Nauvoo. William I. Appleby journal in Backman and Perkins, ''Writings of Early Latter-day Saints.''</ref> William Swartzell described seeing the mummies in his journal, which he later published as an anti-Mormon pamphlet. The May 24, 1838 entry states that he saw "Joseph Smith's box of mummies" in [[Richmond, Missouri|Richmond Landing]]. In his July 26, 1838 entry he writes that he saw men gathering logs for Joseph Smith's house, "in which he intends translating the heiroglyphics{{Sic|}} of the Egyptian Mummies."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DVFQAQAAMAAJ|title=Mormonism Exposed: Being a Journal of a Residence in Missouri from the 28th of May to the 20th of August, 1838|first=William|last=Swartzell|date=December 6, 1840|publisher=Modern Microfilm Company|via=Google Books}}</ref> [[Anson Call]] recalled decades later that Oliver Cowdery read the Book of Abraham for several hours while at [[John Corrill]]'s store in Far West (Cowdery was not a member in good standing, and it is doubtful he was part of this group).<ref name="Peterson, H. D. 2008 pg 131"/>
On October 27, 1838, after the Governor of Missouri issued the [[Missouri Executive Order 44|Extermination Order]] to expel the state of "Mormons", Joseph Smith moved his parents to [[Quincy, Illinois]], who took the mummies and papyri with them.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-2-no-1-2001/kirtland-ohio-far-west-missouri-following-trail-mormon-mummies|title=From Kirtland, Ohio, to Far West, Missouri: Following the Trail of the Mormon Mummies
===The collection in Nauvoo===
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By 1840, the mummies and papyri had arrived in Nauvoo, Illinois. On June 20, 1840, Joseph Smith asked to be relieved of temporal duties to "engage more particularly in the spiritual welfare of the saints and also, to the translation of the Egyptian Records."<ref>Nauvoo High Council Minute Book, 60-62, Archives Division, Church Historical Department.</ref> Between March and May 1842, Smith published his translation of the Book of Abraham in the ''Times and Seasons'', promising that more would be released.
The collection was first located on the second floor of Joseph Smith's log cabin. Elizabeth Clements Kimball, a young girl living in Nauvoo, described seeing them: "The mummies were kept in the attic where they wouldn't be destroyed and in those days there weren't any stairways in the houses such as we have now, and in order to get to the attic one had to climb a ladder which was straight up along the wall."<ref>Peterson, H. D. (2008). The story of the book of Abraham: Mummies, manuscripts, and Mormonism. Springville, UT: CFI. pg 183-184. From an account written by her daughter. The full account states:
By February 19, 1843, they had moved to the cabin of Lucy Mack Smith, the mother of Joseph Smith.<ref>Wolfe, S. J., & Singerman, R. (2009). Mummies in nineteenth century America: Ancient Egyptians as artifacts. Jefferson, NC: McFarland &. page 117. "On 19 February 1843, a girl by the name of Charlotte Haven visited the Smiths, and left this account of another visit to the mummies, who were at that time residing in their second Nauvoo home, the cabin of Lucy Mack Smith, the Prophet's mother."</ref> Lucy began to take the lead on displaying the mummies, a way to support her in her old age, charging 25 cents for admission.<ref>Josiah Quincy, ''Figures of the Past from the Leaves of Old Journals'', 386-387.</ref> It appears that the body of at least one of the mummies had begun to deteriorate. Charlotte Haven, a young girl who visited Nauvoo, wrote to her mother, "[Madame Smith] took up what seemed to be a club wrapped in a dark cloth, and said "This is the leg of pharaoh's daughter, the one who saved Moses."<ref>Charlotte Haven, "A Girl's Letters from Nauvoo," ''Overland Monthly'' (December 1890:623-624</ref> The ''St. Louis Evening Gazette'' reported, "In addition to the mummies that were intact, there were some fragments of others, including a limb of that Pharaoh's daughter who rescued Moses when he had been exposed to the crocodiles in the bulrushes of the Nile. The mummies themselves, we were told with the same assurance, were great monarchs, pharaohs, kings, and queens of Egypt! Two were in perfect condition, but the other two were badly mutilated. The skull of one was fractured and a piece of the chest had been torn from the other."<ref>16 May 1844 St. Louis ''Evening Gazette'', as published in Wolfe, S. J., & Singerman, R. (2009). Mummies in nineteenth century America: Ancient Egyptians as artifacts. Jefferson, NC: McFarland &. page 118</ref>
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After the fire, it was believed that all the papyri sources for the book had been lost.<ref name=encyclopedia>{{Harvp|Reeve|Parshall|2010|p=269}}.</ref> Unbeknownst to most, Abel Combs still owned several papyri fragments and two mummies (the latter have disappeared). The papyri were given to Combs' nurse Charlotte Benecke Weaver upon his death on July 5, 1892, who in turn gave them to her daughter, Alice Combs Weaver Heusser.
A 1918 memorandum from the [[New York Metropolitan Museum of Art]] records that Heusser brought "eight or ten fragments of papyri" for inspection "in connection with the effort made by Bishop Spaulding of Utah about 1912 to obtain confirmation ... that Joseph Smith's supposed translations of sacred Egyptian texts on which he founded his 'Pearl of Great Price' were a fraud."<ref>Peterson, H. Donl. The Story of the Book of Abraham: Mummies, Manuscripts, and Mormonism. CFI, 2008. pg 231</ref> Then, in late 1945, a curator at the
<gallery mode="packed" heights="300">
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The role played by Atiya in the discovery has been disputed. He characterized himself as the principal discoverer of the papyrus, relating the story in the ''Improvement Era'' as follows:
<blockquote>While I was in one of the dim rooms where everything was brought to me, something caught my eye, and I asked one of my assistants to take me behind the bars into the storehouse of documents so that I could look some more. While there I found a file with these documents. I at once recognized the picture part of it. When I saw this picture, I knew that it had appeared in the Pearl of Great Price. ... I consider it a great honor to have been able to make this discovery. Great discoveries are always accidental, and this one was as accidental as any discovery I have made—and probably more exciting than all of them. It was an honor to have been able to persuade such an august body as the Metropolitan Museum to present it to another body as august as the Mormon Church. I feel flattered to have been able to do what I did.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pool.fairmormon.org/images/4/47/IE_Jan1968_article.pdf|title=Todd, Jay M. ''Egyptian Papyri Rediscovered'' Improvement Era. pg.
The Metropolitan Museum knew what the papyri were before Aziz Atiya visited.<ref>Egyptologist Klaus Baer stated: "The Metropolitan Museum was fully aware of what the papyri were when they first saw them in 1918, and they knew what they were doing when they acquired them. I saw photographs of them for the first time in 1963, I believe, and was asked at the time, on my honor not to tell anyone where they were and to keep the whole thing confidential." Klaus Baer, letter to Jerald Tanner, 13 August 1968, quoted in Boyd Jay Petersen, Hugh Nibley: A Consecrated Life (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2002), 316.</ref> The museum acquisition list for 1947 states "papyrus fragments of hieratic Books of the Dead, once the property of the Mormon leader Joseph Smith."<ref>Review of the Year 1947,
<blockquote>Although I was already aware that your version of the discovery of these documents had caused considerable confusion, it was startling to read that you had informed me of their existence. While I have taken pains to avoid any outright contradictions of what you said, I do not see why either I or the other members of my department—past and present—should be put in the position of being ignorant about facts we could not fail to have known.<ref>Henry G. Fischer to Aziz S. Atiya, 2 January 1968, Aziz Atiya Collection, Accn 480, Bx 40, fd 1, Manuscripts Division, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City. As quoted in Gee, John ''New Light on the Joseph Smith Papyri'' FARMS Review 19/2 (2007): 245–59.</ref></blockquote>
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===Discovery of the Church Historian's fragment===
In addition to the ten fragments that were discovered at the Metropolitan Museum, another fragment was located. In the same article in the February 1968 issue of the ''Improvement Era'' that contained the near full size sepia color reproductions of the papyri, Jay M. Todd, editorial associate for the magazine, discussed the discovery of a fragment which had been stored with the manuscript of the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar and had been in the Church Historian's archives since at least 1908. Todd referenced an entry in the Church Historian's Office files dated Wednesday, October 17, 1855, describing several items which were being transferred to the newly constructed Historian's Office, including "three plates of the Book of Abraham" and a "red box with papers, blanks, journal, stereotype and plates
Todd went on to discuss an entry from a personal journal dated Saturday, July 11, 1846, describing a meeting between "[[Brigham Young]] and the Brethren" and "Chief Banquejappa of the Pottawatomie [sic] tribe" during which the Chief gave Brigham Young "two sheets of hieroglyphics from the Book of Abraham" and a letter dated 1843 that had been given to them by Joseph Smith. Todd referred to the background of the Historian's fragment as "most puzzling", and stated that William Lund and Earl Olsen, assistant Church Historians, did not recall any information about the fragment except that it had been there with the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar throughout their service, which dated to 1911.
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! Description !! Dimensions<ref>Jensen, Robin Scott, and Brian M. Hauglid, eds. Revelations and Translations, Volume 4: Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts. Facsimile edition. Vol. 4 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Ronald K. Esplin, Matthew J. Grow, Matthew C. Godfrey, and R. Eric Smith. Salt Lake City: Church Historian's Press, 2018.</ref><br />(at their largest) !! JSP #!! Met # !! Wilson-Jeppson #s !! Photograph
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| First Section of [[Breathing Permit of Hor]] || {{frac|7
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| Sixth Section of Book of the Dead for TaSheritMin ||
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| Right side of vignette from Book of the Dead for Nefer-ir-nebu ||
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| Left side of vignette from Book of the Dead for Nefer-ir-nebu ||
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| Fifth Section of Book of the Dead for TaSheritMin || {{frac|11
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| On the right hand side, the Third Section of Book of the Dead for TaSheritMin || {{frac|11
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| On the left hand side, the Fourth Section of the Book of the Dead for TaSheritMin || {{frac|11
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| First Section of the Book of the Dead for TaSheritMin || Right Side:<br /> 5 x
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| Second Section of the Book of the Dead for TaSheritMin || {{frac|5
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| Miscellaneous Scraps of the Book of the Dead for TaSheritMin ||
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| Third Section of [[Breathing Permit of Hor]] ||{{frac|11
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| Second Section of [[Breathing Permit of Hor]] || {{frac|6
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| Random Fragments || || || || || [[File:JSP Papyri Fragment Random.jpg|100px]]
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Papyri II, V–IX, and most of IV as "The ''[[Book of the Dead]]'' belong to the lady Ta-sherit-Min" (also Tshemmin, Semminis).<ref name=Baer-1968-111/> Books of the Dead were used from around 1550 BCE to around 50 BCE.<ref>Taylor, John H. (Editor), ''Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead: Journey through the afterlife''. British Museum Press, London, 2010 {{ISBN|978-0-7141-1993-9}}</ref> Like the ''Breathing Permit'', the ''Book of the Dead'' assisted the deceased in navigating the afterlife. Unlike the ''Breathing Permit'', the ''Book of the Dead'' was less standardized. Prospective deceased would pick and choose which spells (sometimes referred to as chapters) they wanted in their book to assist them, as such, there is a wide variance between different versions across its long history of use. While modern scholars have [[List of Book of the Dead spells|cataloged the spells]], and given them numbers, these numbers are artificial and would have no meaning to ancient Egyptians.
The spell arrangement and textual variants are very similar to that of other early Ptolemaic era papyri, including the Ryerson Papyrus.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/papyrus-ryerson-inscribed-with-book-of-the-dead-spells-unknown/tAFdgarO6B6iag|title=Papyrus Ryerson Inscribed with Book of the Dead Spells - Unknown|website=Google Arts & Culture}}</ref><ref
===Description by Oliver Cowdery===
Oliver Cowdery spoke of this papyrus scroll as "Joseph's record". In an 1835 letter he described various vignettes as follows:
<gallery class="center" widths="180px" heights="120px" caption="Vignettes from TaSheritMin scroll matching Oliver Cowdery's description">
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In an 1835 letter Oliver Cowdery appeared to reference this scene while describing the scroll of Joseph:
As this papyrus fragment came from a different scroll than that associated with the Book of Joseph (''Book of the Dead'' for Ta-Sherit-Min), and the judgement scene is very common,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt/literature/religious/bd125a.html|title=Book of the Dead|website=www.ucl.ac.uk}}</ref> it is possible that he was describing a similar, no longer existing version of the same scene from the Ta-Sherit-Min scroll. It is also possible that Cowdery conflated the two in his mind, thinking that the Nefer-ir-nebu vignette actually came from the Ta-Sherit-Min scroll.<ref name="Ritner, R. K. 2013"/>
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This papyrus is no longer extant. We only know of the existence because characters were copied into [[Kirtland Egyptian papers#Notebooks of Copied Egyptian Characters|two notebooks]] known as the "Valuable Discovery Notebook" and the "Notebook of Copied Characters." Parts were translated by [[Joseph Smith|Smith]] as a short history of a Princess Katumin, daughter of Pharaoh Onitas. Several Egyptian characters from this section were written down inverted for an unknown reason, and appear as a mirror image.
Modern Egyptologists recognize it as a portion of the Book of the Dead for a man called Amenhotep. Unlike many other Egyptian funerary texts, there is no consistent or standard Book of the Dead, and Egyptians would pick and choose which spells (or chapters) they wanted in their scroll to assist them in the afterlife. As such it is impossible to know how large this Book of the Dead was.<ref>Faulkner, Raymond O., and Ogden Goelet. The Egyptian Book of the Dead: the Book of Going Forth by Day. Chronicle Books, 2015.
It has been suggested that Amenhotep is a female mummy located at the [[Niagara Falls Museum]]. However, this is unlikely as the gender of Amenhotep in the Joseph Smith Papyri is male.<ref>Ritner, R. K. (2013). The Joseph Smith Egyptian papyri: A complete edition ; P. JS 1-4 and the hypocephalus of Sheshonq. Salt Lake City: The Smith Pettit Foundation. Page 257</ref>
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The scenes portrayed on them relate to Egyptian ideas of [[resurrection]] and [[afterlife|life after death]], connecting them with the [[Osiris|Osirian]] myth.<ref>Alfred Wiedemann, ''Religion of the Ancient Egyptians'', 2001, p.306</ref> To the [[ancient Egyptians]] the daily setting and rising of the sun was a symbol of death and rebirth. The hypocephalus represented all that the sun encircles: the world of the living, over which it passed during the day, was depicted in the upper half, and that of the dead, which it crossed during the night, in the lower portion, where the images are upside down.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}
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{{Portal|Latter Day Saint movement}}
* [[Archaeology and the Book of Mormon]]
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* [[Kolob]]
==
{{Reflist|2}}
==
* {{Citation
| last=Baer
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| number=4
| date=Winter 2000
| pages=97–119
| doi=10.2307/45226742
| jstor=45226742
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{{Authority control}}
{{Latter Day Saint movement}}
{{Latter-day Saints}}
[[Category:3rd-century BC manuscripts]]
[[Category:2nd-century BC manuscripts]]
[[Category:1810s archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:1820s archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:Pearl of Great Price (Mormonism)]]
[[Category:Works originally published in the Improvement Era]]
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