Handling, Turning the Pages and Reading an "Original" Copy of The Book of Mormon

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE, 6065 Webster Hall, Hanover, NH

Rauner Special Collections Library

About 3 weeks ago, when Barb and I were asked to participate in an activity and service project at the Joseph Smith Memorial site (South Royalton, VT), we took the time on our way there to stop by the Rauner Special Collections Library, on the Dartmouth College campus. We specifically went there to see and handle an original copy of the Book of Mormon that is kept there.

There is a very interesting story about this treasure, and the relationship of the founder of Dartmouth Medical School and Joseph Smith, as found on a Rauner Special Collections Library Blog, as follow:

Most Popular Item

People always ask us what is the most requested item in our collections. When we answer, they are almost always surprised. That is because the most requested item in our collections is something that is hardly ever requested by Dartmouth students, faculty, or staff--90% of its use is from visitors. What is it? The first edition of Joseph Smith's The Book of Mormon; An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi (Palmyra, NY: Printed by E.B. Grandin for the author, 1830).

The book gets so much use that our Preservation team, Deborah Howe and Stephanie Wolff, constructed a special box for it. With the pull of two simple cords, the box transforms into a secure custom-fit cradle to facilitate use of the book. 

Joseph Smith was born in nearby South Royalton, Vermont. Thousands of people visit his birthplace each year from all over the world. Many then pay a visit to Rauner Library to view the Book of Mormon. Smith has an important tie to Dartmouth: Nathan Smith, founder of the Darmouth Medical school (and no relation to Joseph), treated his leg when he was a child and, so the story goes, saved his leg from amputation.

Access to Rauner Special Collections Library Documents

Home to Dartmouth’s rare books collection, manuscripts, and archives, the library is a treasure trove of historical gems.

Rauner gives unparalleled access to its collections, and is considered one of the most open and inviting special collections in the country. Students and visitors work directly with the collections for research and just to satisfy their curiosity. The library allows you to touch, flip through, and feel—yes, feel—items in its collection. You won’t be given any white gloves to wear when handling the artifacts, either. Why not? Gloves tend to tune down the dexterity of your hands and increase your chances of ripping the pages. Without the actual feel of the paper beneath your fingers, you’re less aware of the tension you’re putting on them.

Barb and I were thrilled to, just for the asking, have them bring you out this specially boxed “original” copy of the Book of Mormon, and then sit there at a table, for as long as we wanted and thumb through and read it.

It was a very moving experience to read the testimonies of the Three Witness and then the Eight Witness of the Book of Mormon. We just had to turn to Moroni 10 and read the promise associated with reading this holy writ. Always before, when we have seen “original” copies of the Book of Mormon, they were under one inch thick plates of glass … where they could not be touched. Here were so grateful to actually handle the book, turn the pages, and lay our finger on the words as we read them. Though we know it is not the document, no matter how rare it may be, that conveys the true value of the Book of Mormon … holding it, turning it pages one by one and reading its sacred content did in some way more firmly lace into my heart an even deeper conviction that this book is truly from God. And, due to its antiquity, only one step away from the original manuscript, written by the scribes, as was dictated by the Prophet Joseph Smith, through the power of God. I am so grateful for these spiritual treasures. It is our greatest desire that we, our family and our loved-ones, will allow and facilitate what is in this divine book's pages to change who we are and what we are, to truer disciples of Jesus Christ.

Below are posted some pictures of this rare experience that we will always cherish: