Joseph Smith Papyri - Origin

Origin

The papyrus fragments are parts of some papyri and eleven mummies which were discovered in Thebes by Antonio Lebolo between 1818 and 1822. At that time Lebolo was working as superintendent of archaeological digs for Bernardino Drovetti. Sometime between 1822 and his death on February 19, 1830, Lebolo arranged to have them sold. The mummies were shipped to New York, where they were purchased by Michael Chandler in 1833. Over the next two years Chandler toured the eastern United States, displaying and selling some of the mummies.

In July 1835, Chandler brought four mummies and associated papyri to Kirtland, Ohio, then headquarters of the LDS Church. Although the Rosetta Stone had been discovered in 1799, the ability to read Egyptian wasn't well developed until the 1850s. Chandler asked Joseph Smith to look at the scrolls and give some insight into what was written on them, due to Smith's notoriety and claim to have translated the Book of Mormon from golden plates.

Shortly after examining the scrolls Joseph Smith, Joseph Coe and Simeon Andrews purchased the four mummies and at least five papyrus documents for $2400

After Joseph Smith's death, the mummies and papyri were in the possession of Smith's mother, Lucy Mack Smith and after her death on May 14, 1856, Smith's widow, Emma Hale Smith. On May 25, 1856, Emma sold "four Egyptian mummies with the records with them" to Mr. Abel Combs. In 1947 the Met acquired them from Alice's widower. Aziz S. Atiya of the University of Utah found ten fragments of the remaining papyri in May 1966, after he recognized the vignette was similar to Facsmile 1 in the Pearl of Great Price. Henry G. Fischer, curator of the Egyptian Collection at the Met, stated that an anonymous donation to the Met made it possible for the LDS Church to acquire the papyri. The LDS Church published sepia tone photographs of the papyri in the February 1968 issue of the Improvement Era.

Egyptologist John A. Wilson stated that the recovered fragments indicate the existence of at least six to eight separate documents. Another scholar estimated that the fragments constitute roughly one-third of Joseph Smith's original collection of papyri. Scholars conclude that the recovered papyri are portions of the originals partly based on the fact that the fragments were pasted onto paper which had "drawings of a temple and maps of the Kirtland, Ohio area" on the back and were accompanied by an affidavit by Emma Smith stating that they had been in the possession of Joseph Smith.