He dog-eared lots of things, dozens of pages
Questions!
Are there two Cumorahs?
Members of the church affirm the belief,
that the Book of Mormon is an inspired translation of an ancient record
that describes events that happened
somewhere on the ancient American continent.
However,
members of the church aren't really sure exactly where those events took place.
The Book of Mormon doesn't give us the latitude and longitude coordinates.
So it's up to readers to try to figure out for themselves
where in the real world the locations of the Book of Mormon may have been.
Throughout his life, Joseph Smith offered some comments on Book of Mormon geography
that show he was very interested
in trying to piece together where the ancient Nephites and Lamanites dwelt
For instance, in an 1834 letter to his wife Emma
Joseph wrote about
while he traveled with Zions camp along the banks of the Mississippi River in Illinois
some years later, while Joseph was serving this editor of the times and seasons in Nauvoo Illinois
a series of articles appeared in the newspaper
identifying Book of Mormon ruins in Central America.
At the same time a letter from Joseph to church member John M Berhisel
spoke glowingly of the recently published book
Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan by John Lloyd Stephens.
"I have read the volumes with the greatest interest in pleasure"
Joseph said in this letter,
"and must say that of all the histories that have been written pertaining to the antiquities of this country,
it is the most correct and luminous and comprehensive"
Joseph further said
that" the book develops many things that are of great importance to this generation
and corresponds with and supports the testimony of the Book of Mormon."
So Joseph Smith was all over the map both literally and figuratively
when it came to Book of Mormon geography.
It seems however that Joseph never made any prophetic or revelatory declarations
on where Book of Mormon events happened.
Like other readers of his day,
Joseph felt free to investigate potential new world evidence for book mormon geography.
But he never elevated his own views on the matter to the level of official church doctrine.
Subsequent leaders of the church have at times touched on the geography of the Book of Mormon
but almost invariably they have stressed the fact that the church has no revealed or official position on the matter.
Statements from George Q cannon in 1890,
Joseph F Smith in 1903,
Anthony W Ivins in 1929,
and most recently in 2019 with the church's gospel topics essay on Book of Mormon geography
all affirm the same basic point,
"although church members continue to discuss such theories today
the church takes no position on the geography of the Book of Mormon
except that the events it describes took place in the Americas."
This however has not stopped members and leaders from approaching the subject and offering various views
while no consensus has been reached on a single unified Book of Mormon geography theory
the fact remains that this subject continues to be of interest to many latter-day saints
and in fact as we're about to see
some modern leaders of the church have also approached this topic in their own personal study.
Hey there Reed.
Very nice to meet you thanks for letting us come and film here today
Looking forward to it.
Let's see what you have.
Well Reed so here we are, now we have just a little sample of your collection which is quite extensive,
but it's quite remarkable what you have presented here.
For example we have Wilfred Woodruff's personal copy of the first edition of The Book of Mormon.
We have Spencer W Kimball 's personal copy of the scriptures where he has extensively annotated them
but let's talk a little bit about some of what we have here and their significance.
Obviously books related to Book of Mormon geography but also some historical books as well
that are significant for Book of Mormon geography.
Yes these books have been printed over the past hundred and seventy years
and they include a variety of general authorities and prophets
including Spencer W Kimball, Howard W Hunter, Harold B Lee.
I think it's fascinating to look at their books and see what was on their mind
what got their attention especially when they make these notations in the margin
you know that that was something that in a given point in time they were quite interested in
Now one thing that the church's essay on Book of Mormon and geography mentioned
was the book, Incidence of Travel in Yucatan and Chiapas in Central America by John Lloyd Stephens.
So Joseph Smith received a copy of this from John M Berhisel and he had some interest in this.
Could you tell us more about this book and its significance for Latter-Day Saint history?
Yes this book
first was printed in 1841 in two volumes and really this for the first time
brought interest in these ancient civilizations to the American people
and it's just filled with over a hundred of these spectacular engravings by Catherwood.
Oh yeah these are phenomenal!
I can just imagine living in 19th century America and for the first time seeing these
marvelous ruins and just having your imagination
and your faith ignited by this if you're a Latter-Day Saint
who's reading about these ancient civilizations in the Book of Mormon. So
it's easy to see why Joseph Smith
himself would have had an interest in this and would have made some commentary on it.
Now he now he received a copy of this from John M Berhizell
and shortly after there were some publications in the church's newspaper the Times and Seasons.
Can you tell us more about what you have here and its significance?
Well this is one of the six volumes, it's volume three of Times and Seasons
and this, we go to September 15th 1842
on the very beginning of the page it says extract from Steven's incidents and travel in Central America
Wow there you have it!
So they were so excited about this
and they thought it was so significant that they
republished extracts of it in the church's magazine,
knowing that not everybody would have access to this book.
That makes sense
This is out of Spencer W Kimball 's library
Popol Vuh, the first edition,
and then when you open it
you go through you see his bold signature.
And he loved to use red, he highlighted in red just like in his scriptures.
And you can tell that he took his time going through this book
underlining passages that caught his attention.
Yeah that's fascinating,
and of course the Popol Vuh itself is a collection
of cultural narratives and mythology from the Kicha Maya.
A couple of years ago I acquired a large portion of Harold B Lee's library,
including his scriptures and this particular book,
The geography of the Book of Mormon.
It doesn't get much more plainer than that
Which was inscribed by well it was a dedication copy to Harold B Lee.
But he made extensive and annotations and folded over pages
quite a few notes.
He dog-eared lots of things.
Oh dozens of pages!
Questions!
Are there two Cumorahs?
Yeah right here, so there's a chapter on the Hill Cumorah in this book and
Harold B Lee has dog eared,
"Were there two Cumorah's, the one of the Book of Mormon history and the one from which the plates came?"
So this is a question that was on his mind.
Evidently on the minds of others at the time since it's discussed in this book.
And very obviously Harold B Lee
was a careful student of this and wanted to sort of get to the bottom of it
Absolutely.
Well this has been remarkable Reed.
We have some great stuff here!
I'm rather quite jealous of your collection here you have some phenomenal stuff!
Thank you so much for taking us through some of these pieces,
sort of explaining their significance.
Hopefully this will generate some interest in individual Latter-Day saints,
to study the Book of Mormon geography on their own,
to sort of explore these questions to see what they can come up with just like these past prophets have
I had fun come back any time.
So what can we learn from all of this?
Well I said before,
the church today continues to maintain that there is no revealed official geography for the Book of Mormon
as a recent statement from the church says
But this hasn't stopped and shouldn't stop members of the church
from exploring this fascinating subject on their own.
A close reading of the Book of Mormon texts
including a close reading of its geographical details,
is always a rewarding exercise!
The key here is simply not to let competing theories about Book of Mormon geography become a distraction.
As President Russell M Nelson taught,