Was the Book of Mormon dictated from behind a curtain? | Ep. 213

Some critics claim that Joseph Smith only dictated the Book of Mormon from behind a curtain, blanket, or sheet. In other words, nobody actually saw Joseph while he “translated,” which leaves room for the claim that he could have used a manuscript or other reference materials. But was there really a curtain? Let's see what the historic evidence tells us.

Video transcript: https://saintsunscripted.com/faith-an...

— “From Darkness Unto Light: Joseph Smith’s Translation and Publication of the Book of Mormon,” by Gerrit Dirkmaat and Michael MacKay (available digitally on Archive.org): https://tinyurl.com/mr2mb4t6
— “What Do We Know About the ‘Anthon Transcript’?” via Book of Mormon Central: https://tinyurl.com/2s4fbtwm
— “Timing the Translation of the Book of Mormon,” by John Welch (BYU Studies): https://tinyurl.com/2pu544zd
— “A Multiplicity of Witnesses: Women and the Translation Process,” by Amy Easton-Flake and Rachel Cope (BYU RSC): https://tinyurl.com/29d2fzev
— If anyone is interested in seeing my chart of all of the different accounts I was able to find, please contact me on social media and I’d be happy to share that with you.

Notes:

— In preparation for this episode, I charted as many pro & con-curtain accounts I could find (from the 1800s). I found about 23 pro-curtain accounts (though I’m sure there are more). I was able to confidently trace 12 of them back to Martin Harris. 8 others did not reference an original source. See note below for info on the last 3 accounts (Sally McCune/Nathan Tanner).

— It’s worth noting that Martin Harris also seemed fully aware of how Joseph translated the Book of Mormon. He told the story of how he swapped Joseph’s seer stone for a similar looking stone, and how Joseph was unable to translate with it.

— David Whitmer, as interviewed by the Chicago Times (1881): “Mr. Whitmer emphatically asserts as did Harris and Cowdery, that while Smith was dictating the translation he had no manuscript notes or other means of knowledge save the seer stone and the characters as shown on the plates, he being present and cognizant how it was done.” Source: See “Opening the Heavens,” John Welch, pg. 150 (#86).

— Dan Vogel (well-known author and critic of our faith), seems to believe that some of the translation occurred from behind a curtain, but notes that “the method was quickly abandoned: “Initially a blanket concealed [Joseph] from his scribe, but this method was quickly abandoned. Thereafter he translated in full view, placing the seer stone in a hat and dictating without use of the plates.” Source: "Early Mormon Documents," Dan Vogel, 5:154.

— There are a couple of non-Martin-Harris pro-curtain accounts worth mentioning here:

Source: Nathan A. Tanner Jr. to Nathan A. Tanner, February 17, 1909, photocopy of typescript, 5, Church Archives. The interview occurred in May 1886. (“Opening the Heavens,” Welch, #98). In this account, Tanner remembers David Whitmer saying that a blanket was used. However, Whitmer himself later refutes this claim. Tanner was likely misremembering where he heard this detail from.
Frederick G. Mather, "The Early Mormons. Joe Smith Operates at Susquehanna," Binghamton Republican, 29 July 1880. (See EMD 4:355, 358). Sally McCune [McKune] was Joseph and Emma’s neighbor in Harmony, and later bought their home. She remembers nails in the walls that were used to hang a blanket, which she claimed separated Joseph from his scribe and everyone else. It’s unclear if Sally is claiming to have actually seen this first-hand. She may have witnessed Joseph copying down the characters that Martin would take to Charles Anthon. In any case, her husband (Joseph Fowler McCune left his own account of the translation which reveals details that he shouldn’t have been aware of, if Joseph had been hidden behind a blanket the whole time: “. . . Joseph Fowler McCune . . . boarded in this neighborhood . . . while Smith was engaged in translating the Bible, and was quite often in Smith’s house. Mr. McCune states that Reuben Hale acted as scribe a part of the time. He says Smith’s hat was a very large one, and what is commonly called a ‘stove-pipe.’ The hat was on the table by the window and the stone in the bottom or rather in the top of the hat. Smith would bend over the hat with his face buried in it so that no light could enter it, and thus dictate to the scribe what he should write.” Source: Rhamanthus M. Stocker, Centennial History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: R. T. Peck, 1887), 555–56. See “Opening the Heavens,” Welch, pg. 196 (#196).


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