Spalding–Rigdon theory of Book of Mormon authorship
Encyclopedia
The Spalding–Rigdon theory of Book of Mormon authorship is the theory that the Book of Mormon
was plagiarized
in part from an unpublished manuscript written by Solomon Spalding
. This theory first appeared in print in the book Mormonism Unvailed
, published in 1834 by E.D. Howe
. The theory claimed that the Spalding manuscript was at some point acquired by Sidney Rigdon
, who used it in collusion
with Joseph Smith, Jr. to produce the Book of Mormon. Although publicly stated that it was through reading the Book of Mormon that Rigdon joined the Latter Day Saint movement
, the Spalding–Rigdon theory argues that the story was a later invention to cover the book's allegedly true origins. Contemporary Mormon Apologetics
state that the theory has been disproved and is discredited; but others still argue for it.
, Ohio
, in the early nineteenth century, Solomon Spalding
(1761–1816) began writing a work of fiction
about the lost civilization of the mound builders of North America
. Spalding shared his story, entitled Manuscript Found with members of his family and some of his associates in Conneaut, as well as his friends in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
and Amity, Washington County, Pennsylvania
, where he lived prior to his death. However, Manuscript Found was never published.
In 1832, Latter Day Saint missionaries
Samuel H. Smith and Orson Hyde
visited Conneaut, Ohio, and preached from the Book of Mormon
. Nehemiah King, a resident of Conneaut who knew Spalding when he lived there, felt that the Mormon
text resembled the story written by Spalding years before. In 1833, at the urging of Doctor Philastus Hurlbut
, King, Spalding's widow, his brother John, and a number of other residents of Conneaut signed affidavit
s stating that Spalding had written a manuscript, portions of which were identical to the Book of Mormon
.
One of the more confusing details to the story is that Spalding actually had written several manuscripts. One of them was called Manuscript Story which talks about Romans traveling to America and bears little if any resemblance to the Book of Mormon
. This was apparently just a rough draft to what would later be completely rewritten and retitled Manuscript Found, and is the manuscript that witnesses attest to being near identical to the Book of Mormon
. Manuscript Story has been located and published, and erroneously used as evidence that the Spalding/Rigdon theory is false. Manuscrupt Found has never been found, only sworn to exist by many friends and family of Spalding.
was the true author of the Book of Mormon
first appeared in print in an 1831 article by James Gordon Bennett
, who had visited Palmyra
/Manchester
area and interviewed several residents. The full theory involving the Spalding manuscript first appeared in Eber D. Howe
's 1834 book Mormonism Unvailed
. Howe printed the collection of affidavits collected by Hurlbut. Hurlbut had heard of an unpublished romance novel by Solomon Spalding as he was touring Pennsylvania giving lectures against the Latter Day Saint church. Hurlbut concluded that the description of the story in the manuscript bore some resemblance to that of the Book of Mormon. A contemporary of Hurlbut's, Benjamin Winchester
, states that Hurlbut "had learned that one Mr. Spaulding had written a romance, and the probability was, that it had, by some means, fallen into the hands of Sidney Rigdon, and that he had converted it into the Book of Mormon." Upon learning this, Hurlbut determined to obtain the manuscript. Hurlbut learned that Sidney Rigdon
had once resided in Pittsburgh and that the manuscript had once been there, and subsequently "endeavoured to make the finding of the manuscript take place at Pittsburgh, and then infer, that S.R. [Sidney Rigdon] had copied it there."
Author Dan Vogel suggests that Hurlbut was not the originator of the Spalding-Rigdon theory, noting that Hurlbut pursued this in response to what he had heard about the manuscript and suggests that had Hurlbut been the inventor of the theory "he would not have made strenuous efforts to recover Spalding's manuscript."
An example is the statement of Solomon Spalding's brother John, which declared that Spalding's manuscript "gave a detailed account of their journey from Jerusalem, by land and sea, till they arrived in America, under the command of NEPHI and LEHI. They afterwards had quarrels and contentions, and separated into two distinct nations, one of which he denominated Nephites and the other Lamanites." Spalding's widow told a similar story, and stated that "the names of Nephi and Lehi are yet fresh in my memory, as being the principal heroes of his tale."
Author Fawn Brodie expressed suspicion regarding these statements, claiming that the style of the statements was too similar and displayed too much uniformity. Brodie suggests that Hurlbut did a "little judicious prompting."
However, an article published in the Hudson Ohio "Observer", (Masthead of Vlll:15 - June 12, 1834), tells a different story. In the article, the editor interviewed some of the Conneaut witnesses, who then told the editor the same thing that they told to Hurlbut, even though they had every opportunity to say anything they wished. The significance of the article is that it appeared shortly after Hurlbut's trial in April 1834 and around six months before Howe's book, "Mormonism Unvailed", was published, thus refuting the claims that the witnesses had been coached by Hurlbut or that he had inaccurately reported their testimony.
, in December 1833. Hurlbut then became embroiled in a legal dispute with Joseph Smith. Subsequently, Hurlbut delivered the documents he had collected to Howe. Howe was unable to find the alleged similarities with the Book of Mormon that were described in the statements and instead argued in Mormonism Unveiled (1834) that there must exist a second Spalding manuscript which was now lost. Howe concluded that Joseph Smith and Sidney Ridgon used the Spalding manuscript to produce the Book of Mormon for the purpose of making money.
, a Mormon defender who had been "deputed ... to hunt up the Hurlbut case," published a book rejecting the Spalding theory as "a sheer fabrication." Winchester attributed the creation of the entire story to Hurlbut.
Regarding Sidney Rigdon's alleged involvement, Rigdon's son John recounted an interview with his father in 1865:
In 1884, a Spalding manuscript known as Manuscript Story was discovered and published, and the manuscript now resides at Oberlin College
in Ohio. This manuscript appears to bear little resemblance to the Book of Mormon
story, but some critics claim it contains parallels in theme and narrative. The second "lost" manuscript purported to exist by Howe has never been discovered.
The Stanford group (Jocker et al., 2008) found a strong Spalding signal in Mosiah, Alma, the first part of Helaman, and Ether. The Spalding signal was weak in those parts of the Book of Mormon likely produced after the lost pages incident (1 Nephi, 2 Nephi, some of the middle part of 3 Nephi, Moroni). They found the Rigdon signal distributed throughout the Book of Mormon (except for the known Isaiah chapters), and a weak Pratt signal in 1 Nephi. They also found a strong Cowdery signal in mid-Alma and weaker Cowdery signals in locations that contain content similar to Ethan Smith's "View of the Hebrews".
Previous wordprint or computer studies have come to different conclusions (for a history of such studies from the perspective of a LDS group, see http://en.fairmormon.org/Book_of_Mormon/Wordprint_studies). A 1980 study done by John Hilton with non-LDS colleagues at Berkeley concluded that the probability of Spalding having been the (sole) author of book of Nephi was less than 7.29 x 10−28 and less than 3 x 10−11 for Alma.
In the Stanford group (Jocker et al., 2008) peer-reviewed publication in the "Journal of Literary and Linguistic Computing", they reviewed the (non-peer reviewed) Hilton study and pointed out numerous flaws in it.
They (Jocker et al., 2008) found that the Book of Alma is a mixture of Rigdon, Cowdery, and Spalding. The Hilton study does not indicate what text they used for Alma. If one lumps all the signals for Rigdon, Cowdery, and Spalding together, one is left with a corrupt signal that does not match Spalding. Another study was recently published in the same journal that critiqued the methodology used in the Jockers et al. 2008 study and, using Joseph Smith
's personal writings written in his own handwriting, concluded that stylometric evidence supports neither Joseph Smith
nor Spalding-Rigdon authorship.
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
was plagiarized
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
in part from an unpublished manuscript written by Solomon Spalding
Solomon Spalding
Solomon Spalding was the author of the Manuscript Story, a work of fiction about the lost civilization of the mound builders of North America...
. This theory first appeared in print in the book Mormonism Unvailed
Mormonism Unvailed
Mormonism Unvailed is an anti-Mormon book published in 1834 by Eber D. Howe. The title page proclaims the book to be a contemporary exposé of Mormonism, and makes the claim that the historical portion of the Book of Mormon text was based upon a manuscript written by Solomon Spalding.The...
, published in 1834 by E.D. Howe
Eber Dudley Howe
Eber Dudley Howe was the founder and editor of the Painesville Telegraph, a newspaper that published in Painesville, Ohio from 1822 to 1835. Howe was the author of one of the first books that was critical of the spiritual claims of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement...
. The theory claimed that the Spalding manuscript was at some point acquired by Sidney Rigdon
Sidney Rigdon
Sidney Rigdon was a leader during the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Baptist background:...
, who used it in collusion
Collusion
Collusion is an agreement between two or more persons, sometimes illegal and therefore secretive, to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading, or defrauding others of their legal rights, or to obtain an objective forbidden by law typically by defrauding or gaining an unfair advantage...
with Joseph Smith, Jr. to produce the Book of Mormon. Although publicly stated that it was through reading the Book of Mormon that Rigdon joined the Latter Day Saint movement
Latter Day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...
, the Spalding–Rigdon theory argues that the story was a later invention to cover the book's allegedly true origins. Contemporary Mormon Apologetics
Mormon apologetics
Mormon apologetics is the systematic defense of Mormonism against its critics. Notable Latter-day Saint apologists include early church leaders such as John Taylor, B. H. Roberts, James E. Talmage and modern scholars such as Hugh Nibley, Orson Scott Card, and Jeff Lindsay...
state that the theory has been disproved and is discredited; but others still argue for it.
Spalding manuscript and the Book of Mormon
While living in ConneautConneaut, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 12,485 people, 5,038 households, and 3,410 families residing in the city. The population density was 473.4 people per square mile . There were 5,710 housing units at an average density of 216.5 per square mile...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, in the early nineteenth century, Solomon Spalding
Solomon Spalding
Solomon Spalding was the author of the Manuscript Story, a work of fiction about the lost civilization of the mound builders of North America...
(1761–1816) began writing a work of fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
about the lost civilization of the mound builders of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. Spalding shared his story, entitled Manuscript Found with members of his family and some of his associates in Conneaut, as well as his friends in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
and Amity, Washington County, Pennsylvania
Washington County, Pennsylvania
-Government and politics:As of November 2008, there are 152,534 registered voters in Washington County .* Democratic: 89,027 * Republican: 49,025 * Other Parties: 14,482...
, where he lived prior to his death. However, Manuscript Found was never published.
In 1832, Latter Day Saint missionaries
Mormon missionary
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
Samuel H. Smith and Orson Hyde
Orson Hyde
Orson Hyde was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles...
visited Conneaut, Ohio, and preached from the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
. Nehemiah King, a resident of Conneaut who knew Spalding when he lived there, felt that the Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
text resembled the story written by Spalding years before. In 1833, at the urging of Doctor Philastus Hurlbut
Doctor Philastus Hurlbut
Doctor Philastus Hurlbut was a 19th-century Latter Day Saint dissenter. Hurlbut is best known for his collection of affidavits which in 1834 were published in Eber D. Howe’s anti-Mormon book Mormonism Unvailed...
, King, Spalding's widow, his brother John, and a number of other residents of Conneaut signed affidavit
Affidavit
An affidavit is a written sworn statement of fact voluntarily made by an affiant or deponent under an oath or affirmation administered by a person authorized to do so by law. Such statement is witnessed as to the authenticity of the affiant's signature by a taker of oaths, such as a notary public...
s stating that Spalding had written a manuscript, portions of which were identical to the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
.
One of the more confusing details to the story is that Spalding actually had written several manuscripts. One of them was called Manuscript Story which talks about Romans traveling to America and bears little if any resemblance to the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
. This was apparently just a rough draft to what would later be completely rewritten and retitled Manuscript Found, and is the manuscript that witnesses attest to being near identical to the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
. Manuscript Story has been located and published, and erroneously used as evidence that the Spalding/Rigdon theory is false. Manuscrupt Found has never been found, only sworn to exist by many friends and family of Spalding.
Origins of the theory
The theory that Sidney RigdonSidney Rigdon
Sidney Rigdon was a leader during the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Baptist background:...
was the true author of the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
first appeared in print in an 1831 article by James Gordon Bennett
James Gordon Bennett, Sr.
James Gordon Bennett, Sr. was the founder, editor and publisher of the New York Herald and a major figure in the history of American newspapers.-Biography:...
, who had visited Palmyra
Palmyra (town), New York
Palmyra is a town in Wayne County, New York, USA. The population was 7,672 at the 2000 census. The town is named after the ancient city Palmyra in Syria....
/Manchester
Manchester (town), New York
Manchester is a town in Ontario County, New York, USA. The population was 9,258 at the 2000 census. The town was named after one of its villages, which in turn was named after the original Manchester in Greater Manchester, England....
area and interviewed several residents. The full theory involving the Spalding manuscript first appeared in Eber D. Howe
Eber Dudley Howe
Eber Dudley Howe was the founder and editor of the Painesville Telegraph, a newspaper that published in Painesville, Ohio from 1822 to 1835. Howe was the author of one of the first books that was critical of the spiritual claims of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement...
's 1834 book Mormonism Unvailed
Mormonism Unvailed
Mormonism Unvailed is an anti-Mormon book published in 1834 by Eber D. Howe. The title page proclaims the book to be a contemporary exposé of Mormonism, and makes the claim that the historical portion of the Book of Mormon text was based upon a manuscript written by Solomon Spalding.The...
. Howe printed the collection of affidavits collected by Hurlbut. Hurlbut had heard of an unpublished romance novel by Solomon Spalding as he was touring Pennsylvania giving lectures against the Latter Day Saint church. Hurlbut concluded that the description of the story in the manuscript bore some resemblance to that of the Book of Mormon. A contemporary of Hurlbut's, Benjamin Winchester
Benjamin Winchester
Benjamin Winchester was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. Winchester was the youngest adult member of Zion's Camp, an original member of the first Quorum of the Seventy, editor of the first independent Mormon periodical, the Gospel Reflector, president of a large branch of the...
, states that Hurlbut "had learned that one Mr. Spaulding had written a romance, and the probability was, that it had, by some means, fallen into the hands of Sidney Rigdon, and that he had converted it into the Book of Mormon." Upon learning this, Hurlbut determined to obtain the manuscript. Hurlbut learned that Sidney Rigdon
Sidney Rigdon
Sidney Rigdon was a leader during the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Baptist background:...
had once resided in Pittsburgh and that the manuscript had once been there, and subsequently "endeavoured to make the finding of the manuscript take place at Pittsburgh, and then infer, that S.R. [Sidney Rigdon] had copied it there."
Author Dan Vogel suggests that Hurlbut was not the originator of the Spalding-Rigdon theory, noting that Hurlbut pursued this in response to what he had heard about the manuscript and suggests that had Hurlbut been the inventor of the theory "he would not have made strenuous efforts to recover Spalding's manuscript."
Statements from Spalding's neighbors and relatives
Eight of the affidavits acquired by Hurlbut from Solomon Spalding's family and associates stated that there were similarities between the story and the Book of Mormon.An example is the statement of Solomon Spalding's brother John, which declared that Spalding's manuscript "gave a detailed account of their journey from Jerusalem, by land and sea, till they arrived in America, under the command of NEPHI and LEHI. They afterwards had quarrels and contentions, and separated into two distinct nations, one of which he denominated Nephites and the other Lamanites." Spalding's widow told a similar story, and stated that "the names of Nephi and Lehi are yet fresh in my memory, as being the principal heroes of his tale."
Author Fawn Brodie expressed suspicion regarding these statements, claiming that the style of the statements was too similar and displayed too much uniformity. Brodie suggests that Hurlbut did a "little judicious prompting."
However, an article published in the Hudson Ohio "Observer", (Masthead of Vlll:15 - June 12, 1834), tells a different story. In the article, the editor interviewed some of the Conneaut witnesses, who then told the editor the same thing that they told to Hurlbut, even though they had every opportunity to say anything they wished. The significance of the article is that it appeared shortly after Hurlbut's trial in April 1834 and around six months before Howe's book, "Mormonism Unvailed", was published, thus refuting the claims that the witnesses had been coached by Hurlbut or that he had inaccurately reported their testimony.
Howe's response to the Spalding manuscript
Hurlbut obtained a manuscript through Spalding's widow, and showed it in public presentations in Kirtland, OhioKirtland, Ohio
Kirtland is a city in Lake County, Ohio, USA. The population was 6,670 at the 2000 census. Kirtland is famous for being the early headquarters of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Origins of Kirtland:...
, in December 1833. Hurlbut then became embroiled in a legal dispute with Joseph Smith. Subsequently, Hurlbut delivered the documents he had collected to Howe. Howe was unable to find the alleged similarities with the Book of Mormon that were described in the statements and instead argued in Mormonism Unveiled (1834) that there must exist a second Spalding manuscript which was now lost. Howe concluded that Joseph Smith and Sidney Ridgon used the Spalding manuscript to produce the Book of Mormon for the purpose of making money.
Nineteenth Century Responses to the theory
In 1840, Benjamin WinchesterBenjamin Winchester
Benjamin Winchester was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. Winchester was the youngest adult member of Zion's Camp, an original member of the first Quorum of the Seventy, editor of the first independent Mormon periodical, the Gospel Reflector, president of a large branch of the...
, a Mormon defender who had been "deputed ... to hunt up the Hurlbut case," published a book rejecting the Spalding theory as "a sheer fabrication." Winchester attributed the creation of the entire story to Hurlbut.
Regarding Sidney Rigdon's alleged involvement, Rigdon's son John recounted an interview with his father in 1865:
My father, after I had finished saying what I have repeated above, looked at me a moment, raised his hand above his head and slowly said, with tears glistening in his eyes: "My son, I can swear before high heaven that what I have told you about the origin of [the Book of Mormon] is true. Your mother and sister, Mrs. Athalia Robinson, were present when that book was handed to me in Mentor, Ohio, and all I ever knew about the origin of [the Book of Mormon] was what Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith and the witnesses who claimed they saw the plates have told me, and in all of my intimacy with Joseph Smith he never told me but one story."
In 1884, a Spalding manuscript known as Manuscript Story was discovered and published, and the manuscript now resides at Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
in Ohio. This manuscript appears to bear little resemblance to the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
story, but some critics claim it contains parallels in theme and narrative. The second "lost" manuscript purported to exist by Howe has never been discovered.
Computer Analysis
A 2008 computer analysis of the text of the Book of Mormon compared to writings of possible authors of the text shows a high probability that the authors of the book were Spalding, Rigdon, and Oliver Cowdery; concluding that "our analysis supports the theory that the Book of Mormon was written by multiple, nineteenth-century authors, and more specifically, we find strong support for the Spalding-Rigdon theory of authorship. In all the data, we find Rigdon as a unifying force. His signal dominates the book, and where other candidates are more probable, Rigdon is often hiding in the shadows". This study did not include Joseph Smith as one of the possible authors, arguing that because of Smith's use of scribes and co-authors, no texts can be presently identified with a surety as having been written by Smith.The Stanford group (Jocker et al., 2008) found a strong Spalding signal in Mosiah, Alma, the first part of Helaman, and Ether. The Spalding signal was weak in those parts of the Book of Mormon likely produced after the lost pages incident (1 Nephi, 2 Nephi, some of the middle part of 3 Nephi, Moroni). They found the Rigdon signal distributed throughout the Book of Mormon (except for the known Isaiah chapters), and a weak Pratt signal in 1 Nephi. They also found a strong Cowdery signal in mid-Alma and weaker Cowdery signals in locations that contain content similar to Ethan Smith's "View of the Hebrews".
Previous wordprint or computer studies have come to different conclusions (for a history of such studies from the perspective of a LDS group, see http://en.fairmormon.org/Book_of_Mormon/Wordprint_studies). A 1980 study done by John Hilton with non-LDS colleagues at Berkeley concluded that the probability of Spalding having been the (sole) author of book of Nephi was less than 7.29 x 10−28 and less than 3 x 10−11 for Alma.
In the Stanford group (Jocker et al., 2008) peer-reviewed publication in the "Journal of Literary and Linguistic Computing", they reviewed the (non-peer reviewed) Hilton study and pointed out numerous flaws in it.
They (Jocker et al., 2008) found that the Book of Alma is a mixture of Rigdon, Cowdery, and Spalding. The Hilton study does not indicate what text they used for Alma. If one lumps all the signals for Rigdon, Cowdery, and Spalding together, one is left with a corrupt signal that does not match Spalding. Another study was recently published in the same journal that critiqued the methodology used in the Jockers et al. 2008 study and, using Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith was founder of what later became known as the Latter Day Saint movement or Mormons.Joseph Smith may also refer to:-Latter Day Saints:* Joseph Smith, Sr. , father of Joseph Smith...
's personal writings written in his own handwriting, concluded that stylometric evidence supports neither Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith was founder of what later became known as the Latter Day Saint movement or Mormons.Joseph Smith may also refer to:-Latter Day Saints:* Joseph Smith, Sr. , father of Joseph Smith...
nor Spalding-Rigdon authorship.
External links
- - Cowdrey, Davis, Vanick research on Spalding-Rigdon theory
- Spalding Studies
- Craig Criddle's analysis of Spalding-Rigdon connections
- Spalding's "Manuscript Story" and parallels
- A fragment comparing Sidney Rigdon's biography with a known passage from Solomon Spalding
- An article criticizing the Spalding-Rigdon theory
- LDS Church historian Bruce D. Blumell response to Spalding-Rigdon theory
- Book of Mormon Authorship: A Closer Look