MormonPolygamyDocuments.org

The documents uploaded here are those used to write Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: History and Theology (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2013).

The documents found here are of three types. A substantial amount of overlap can be found between the first two sets of documents.  These redundancies can be readily identified in the Master Index.

(1) The first set of uploads are called JSP Document Books or Bound Documents. There are 94 in all and each contains 50–150 pages of various documents that were bound together as they were acquired. The articles, documents, and manuscripts within each book have no relationship to each other, except their acquisition date. Each has an index number. The first number is the document book, and the decimal number is the page number within that document book where the specific document is located. You will need to download the entire book to see the pages within. The size of each book varies from 5 MB to over 100 MB.

(2) There are 1752 Unbound Documents available. Click on the blue index number and the download will begin automatically. (I do not anticipate additional uploads, but who knows?) Many of these documents are redundant with the Bound Documents, but hundreds of distinct documents are also in this collection.

(3) Mormon Fundamentalism Documents will also be uploaded. Click on the blue index number and the download will begin automatically.

History of These Documents

Back in 2007 Don Bradley and Brian Hales teamed up to try to find every known historical document dealing with Joseph Smith and plural marriage. For the space of two years, Don sought any source, whether apologetic, antagonistic, believer, or anti-Mormon.

During the week he would make copies or transcribe the documents he would find, and we would meet on Thursday nights or Sunday mornings to discuss them. Hales would bind the documents as they arrived into document books, compiling 94 in all with more than 8000 pages.

With these document books and a lot of time, a more complete history of Joseph Smith and plural marriage evolved over the next six years.

Thanks to Don Bradley’s incredible sleuthing and researching and this website, MormonPolygamyDocuments.org, anyone can access documents and transcripts that otherwise would be more difficult to obtain.

THANKS, DON!