In 2025, Latter-day Saints are studying Church history in Come Follow Me curriculum.
Here are some suggestions for improvement in the Joseph Smith Papers for the Glossary entry on the Urim and Thummim and Seer Stones. Original in blue, my comments in red.
1. Urim and Thummim entry. The entry contains some useful information but also some misdirection. It could be improved by providing more useful footnotes and context, and by deleting the misinformation.
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/topic/urim-and-thummim
Urim and Thummim
Summary
A device used to translate and receive revelation.1 In the Old Testament, the high priest of Israel used a device by this name to discern God’s will for Israel.2 The Book of Mormon gives an account of an ancient prophet, Mosiah, who translated records into his own language using “interpreters,” or “two stones” attached to “the two rims of a bow.”3 JS later recounted that he found such a device deposited with the gold plates, which he described as “spectacles,” or “two stones in silver bows,” and which he used to translate the plates.4
Note 4 cites Jonathan Hadley's article: "“Golden Bible,” Palmyra (NY) Freeman, 11 Aug. 1829, 2."
However, Hadley never said he met Joseph Smith. He interacted with Martin Harris only and he said he "feel it my duty, as the conductor of a faithful public journal, to expose him and the whole Mormon gang. Thus it's inaccurate to attribute this statement directly to JS. For more analysis, see
JS and other church members began referring to the instrument as the Urim and Thummim by 1832.5
Note 5 is useful, but with no link to the Boston paper, the note should include the entire quotation from the newspaper so readers are fully informed. Orson Hyde and Samuel Smith explained the U&T clearly.
The term was also applied to seer stones JS said he used to translate and to receive some of his early revelations.6
Note 6 is highly misleading because it uses a passive voice to imply that JS himself applied the term U&T to seer stones, which he did not, regardless of what others said. JS made it perfectly clear that the U&T he used came with the plates and was distinct from any seer stones.
The Woodruff Journal is often cited to support the stone-in-the-hat (SITH) narrative. It's great that JSP gives a link to the journal, but the link goes the main page for the journal, not to the specific page cited. That deters people from reading what the actual journal says.
Here's the link they should provide:
And here is the actual journal entry:
That brief, ambiguous statement hardly justifies repudiating what Joseph and Oliver repeatedly taught. Furthermore, Brigham Young was also at that meeting and reported the events in more detail, showing that Joseph Smith clearly and unambiguously differentiated the Urim and Thummim he used to translate the Book of Mormon from the seer stone he showed the Apostles that day.
In his journal for that day, Brigham records that Joseph
“History of Brigham Young,” LDS Millennial Star, 20 Feb. 1864, 26:118–119
Besides, this personal seer stone would not have been the stone Joseph had at the time of the translation of the Book of Mormon as that stone was given to Oliver Cowdery who was no longer in the Church in 1841.
Note 5 should be edited to be historically accurate and, if the Woodruff quotation is retained, the Young quotation should be added for context and comparison.
In April 1843, JS taught that the earth in its perfected state would become a Urim and Thummim where all things “will be manifest to those who dwell on it” and that those prepared for the celestial kingdom would receive their own Urim and Thummim.7 See also “.”
Footnotes:
1. Woodruff, Journal, 27 Dec. 1841; Blessing for Newel K. Whitney, 7 Oct. 1835; JS History, vol. A-1, 9; Clayton, Journal, 15 June 1844; Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 172–173 [Mosiah 8:13].
2. Seer Stone entry.
Seer stone
Summary
A special stone used for seeing visions and aiding translation. According to a European tradition of folk belief reaching back at least into the middle ages, quartz crystals or other stones could be used to find missing objects or to see other things not visible to the natural eye. This practice accompanied European immigrants to North America and was part of JS’s cultural environment in western New York in the 1820s, though by then the practice was waning.
In his youth, JS occasionally used seer stones to help neighbors find missing objects or search for buried treasure. 4
Note 4 is misleading because it states as a fact a claim that a handful of critics made. At most, it should read "There are historical reports that JS used seer stones to help neighbors find missing objects or search for buried treasure. Of these accounts, JS answered the question "Was not Jo Smith a money digger?" by writing "Answer. Yes, but it was never a very profitable job to him, as he only got fourteen dollars a month for it."
By 1826, JS had at least two seer stones, and according to Brigham Young he eventually had five seer stones. 5
Again, hearsay written as fact. Revise to: "By 1826, one account claimed JS had at least two seer stones, and according to Brigham Young he eventually had five seer stones."
According to JS, in 1823 an angelic messenger revealed to him the location of gold plates and an instrument with which to translate them. 6
Note 6 should include references from Cowdery's 1835 Letter IV, where Cowdery cites Joseph's
"own words and provides more detail.
This instrument consisted of “two stones in silver bows” that had been used by “seers in ancient times.” 7
The Book of Mormon itself referred to “interpreters” that were to be kept with the plates. 8
Note 8 should not refer to Alma 37, which originally referred to "directors" and not "interpreters."
That change to the text was not made until 1920.
JS explained that he used the pair of stones found with the plates in his translation of the Book of Mormon. 9
Note 9 is misleading because Joseph never said he used a "pair of stones." The citation to
his history and the Wentworth letter both use "Urim and Thummim." The Elders' Journal Q&A
should also be cited.
Eyewitnesses reported that he also translated using a dark brown seer stone placed in a hat to exclude exterior light and that he used a seer stone for many of his early revelations. 10
This sentence is misleading because it implies the statements were contemporaneous.
It should be revised to say "Decades later, after the death of JS and Cowdery, people who
claimed to be eyewitnesses reported that he also translated..."
JS referred to the pair of stones found with the plates as “spectacles,” and he later referred to these stones and his other seer stones with the term “Urim and Thummim,” the name of the instrument used by the high priest of Israel in the Bible. 11
Note 11 doesn't support the claim that Joseph referred to his seer stones as "Urim and Thummim." It cites only Wilford Woodruff's ambiguous statement from 1841, which is irrelevant to how JS used the term in the D&C and Elders' Journal, and how Cowdery used the term in Letters 1 (1835) and IV (1836). At least the note includes the reference to BY's more detailed explanation of the meeting that Woodruff summarized.
In 1830, JS apparently began dictating most of his revelations without the aid of a seer stone. 12
See also “.”
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