Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History
The Joseph Fielding Smith Institute For Church History was an academic research organization at Brigam Young Univeristy (BYU) from 1982-2005 which sought to study the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It was formed in 1982 when many of the employees of the Church History Division were transfered to BYU. It was initially led by [[Leonard J. Arrinton]. He was succeeded as head of the institute by Ron Esplin. He inturn was succeeded by Jill Mulvay Derr. In 2005 with the growth of the Joseph Smith Papers Project, and with its reloction to the Family and Church History Department in Salt Lake City, it was decided to dissolve the institute and have arious academic departments at BYU continue research in Church history topics.
Some of the former faculty members of the institute, such as Grant Underwood were transfered to BYU's history department.
The Smith institute operated as part of BYU's college of Home, Family and Social Sciences.[1]
Controversies
In 2003 in response to Grant Palmer's book in which he gave the inpression that at least some of the scholars at the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute supported his views on Church history, the Smith Institute issued a statements directly rejecting the views advanced by Palmer.[2]
Sources
- "Historians, Church" in Daniel H. Ludlow, ed., Encyclopedia of Mormonism, p. 591-592.