View source for Question: Why does ''History of the Church'' say that Joseph Smith said "I have translated a portion of them..."?

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==Question: Why does ''History of the Church'' say that Joseph Smith said "I have translated a portion of them..."?==
===''History of the Church'' was written by others in the "first person," as if Joseph wrote it himself===

The following is from Stanley B. Kimball, "Kinderhook Plates Brought to Joseph Smith Appear to Be a Nineteenth-Century Hoax," ''Ensign'', August 1981 {{link|url=http://www.lds.org/ensign/1981/08/kinderhook-plates-brought-to-joseph-smith-appear-to-be-a-nineteenth-century-hoax?lang=eng}}
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These two oblique references to a “translation” were followed thirteen years later by a more direct published statement that <span style="color:blue">until recently was wrongly thought to have been written by Joseph Smith himself.</span> On September 3 and 10, 1856, the following paragraphs appeared in the Deseret News as part of the serialized “History of Joseph Smith”:
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“[May 1, 1843:] I insert fac similes of the six brass plates found near Kinderhook, in Pike county, Illinois, on April 23, by Mr. R. Wiley and others, while excavating a large mound. They found a skeleton about six feet from the surface of the earth, which must have stood nine feet high. The plates were found on the breast of the skeleton, and were covered on both sides with ancient characters.
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<span style="color:blue">“I have translated a portion of them, and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the ruler of heaven and earth.”</span> (Then followed a reprint of material from the Times and Seasons article.)
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<span style="color:blue">Although this account appears to be the writing of Joseph Smith, it is actually an excerpt from a journal of William Clayton.</span> It has been well known that the serialized “History of Joseph Smith” consists largely of items from other persons’ personal journals and other sources, collected during Joseph Smith’s lifetime and continued after the Saints were in Utah, then edited and pieced together to form a history of the Prophet’s life “in his own words.” It was not uncommon in the nineteenth century for biographers to put the narrative in the first person when compiling a biographical work, even though the subject of the biography did not actually say or write all the words attributed to him; thus the narrative would represent a faithful report of what others felt would be helpful to print. The Clayton journal excerpt was one item used in this way. <span style="color:blue">For example, the words “I have translated a portion” originally read “President J. has translated a portion. …”</span>
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{{endnotes sources}}
[[Category:Letter to a CES Director]]
[[Category:MormonThink]]
[[Category:No Man Knows My History]]
[[Category:John Dehlin's "Questions and Answers"]]

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[[es:Pregunta: ¿Por qué ''Historia de la Iglesia'' dicen que José Smith dijo que "he traducido una parte de ellos ..."?]]
[[pt:Pergunta: Por que o History of the Church afirma ter Joseph Smith dito "eu traduzi uma parte delas..."]]
[[Category:Questions]]