Church Historian Adam Petty will give a lecture about the final two volumes of the Joseph Smith Papers Project at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 7. The event, to take place at the Assembly Hall on Temple Square, is open to the public free of charge.
In his lecture, titled “A Life Lived in Crescendo: Joseph Smith’s Life and Teachings in 1844,” Petty will showcase “Documents, Vol. 14” and “Documents, Vol. 15” — volumes of the Joseph Smith Papers Project that detail the last six months of the Prophet’s life before his martyrdom in Carthage Jail.
The theme “A Life Lived in Crescendo” comes from B. H. Roberts, a historian and Seventy born in 1888, who wrote that Joseph Smith “lived his life ... in crescendo, it grew in intensity and volume as he approached its close.” Attendees will learn more about the truth of this statement and how the Prophet taught powerful sermons, ran for president and confronted mob violence in 1844.
Petty, the presenter for Friday’s event, is a historian and documentary editor with the Joseph Smith Papers project. Petty specializes in 19th-century American history, and he holds both a doctorate and a master’s degree in history from the University of Alabama. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Brigham Young University.
The first volume of the Joseph Smith Papers was published in 2008. The first Joseph Smith Papers Conference was held in 2017, with the most recent being in September 2022. The last volume of this project will be released June 27, 2023, the 179th anniversary of the Prophet’s martyrdom.
