[3] The "roots" of the project began in the late 1960s when Truman G. Madsen invited Dean C. Jessee, then an employee of the Church Historian's Office, to contribute documents relating to Joseph Smith and early Mormonism to issues of BYU Studies.

In 1972, Leonard J. Arrington was appointed the Church Historian and he directed Jessee to continue to "locate, collect, and transcribe Smith's writings.

[5] In 2001, Jessee's project became a joint venture between Brigham Young University's (BYU) Joseph Fielding Smith Institute and the LDS Church Archives.

The project was renamed The Joseph Smith Papers and expanded with added funding from Larry H. and Gail Miller.

[9] The project was moved to Salt Lake City in 2005, when BYU's Joseph Fielding Smith Institute dissolved.

[10] Marlin K. Jensen, Church Historian and Recorder at the time of the press' establishment, said the papers project would include "journals, diaries, correspondence, articles and notices.

Many Christmas purchasers bought gift certificates for the coming printing and some extant copies were resold for over twice the retail price.

[19] Contains correspondence, sermons and other addresses, official declarations and pronouncements, editorials and articles from periodicals, early versions of revelations, and "selected minutes and proceedings.

[57] Although not an official part of the project, a documentary TV series also called The Joseph Smith Papers was aired in the late 2000s.