[Draft]

One of the arguments that seems consistently repeated (e.g., Hales and Callister) is the idea that Joseph could not have been consulting other documents (e.g., the Bible). [cite specific examples]

The section that contains, by far, the largest block quoting of the Bible was produced during a time when observation by others would have been much more difficult. This leaves open the possibility that their statements reflected their observations consistent with parts of the translation process, but Joseph may have consulted the Bible explicitly during the translation later on (e.g., resulting in the “Isaiah chapters”).

Whitmer’s statement is more explicit with “or other means of knowledge”, but Emma’s could be read as referring to other material besides a Bible? In both instances, it seems that they may have been referring only to the Harmony era—translation at the Whitmer home would have afforded JS and OC more privacy.

David Whitmer

“Mr. Whitmer emphatically asserts as did Harris and Cowdery, that while Smith was dictating the translation he had no manuscript notes or other means of knowledge save the seer stone and the characters as shown on the plates, he being present and cognizant how it was done.” David Whitmer as interviewed by the Chicago Times (1881)

It seems less likely that Whitmer was observing Smith in an upstairs room and more likely that this recollection comes from an observation in Harmony (i.e., where the process was more visible). Welch’s chapter The Miraculous Translation of the Book of Mormon records a trip that Whitmer made to Harmony specifically to “satisfy himself of the divine inspiration of the Smiths.”:

May 15–May 31, 1829. During this time, Joseph and Oliver may have gone to Colesville again.77 This may have been the time when the Melchizedek Priesthood was restored as Joseph and Oliver were returning from Colesville, but the dating of that event is uncertain.78 It would take about a day to travel from Harmony to Colesville. At this time Oliver wrote a third letter to David Whitmer telling him “to come down into Pennsylvania and bring him and Joseph to my father’s house, giving as a reason therefor that they had received a commandment from God to that effect” (document 84) through the Urim and Thummim. David came, met Joseph Smith for the first time (documents 86 and 106), and remained in Harmony “long enough to satisfy himself of the divine inspiration of Smith” (document 97).

Emma Smith

Emma’s discussion also seems to clearly position her framing of events as those occuring during their time in Harmony, Pennsylvania:

  • “Q. Had he not a book or manuscript from which he read, or dictated to you? A. He had neither manuscript nor book to read from. Q. Could he not have had, and you not know it? A. If he had had anything of the kind he could not have concealed it from me.
  • “Q. Where did father and Oliver Cowdery write? A. Oliver Cowdery and your father wrote in the room where I was at work.”