Article In Slt On Hofmann 30 Years Later

[Tacenda]

It has been many years since I studied this topic. Hoffman did some terrible things in order to gain both fame and fortune. The problem was that several of his documents were viewed as damaging to early leaders of the Restoration. Though they were fakes, leaders of the Church conspired through third parties to acquire these documents in order to keep them from public view. The intent was to protect the Church. My issue was that because they wanted to keep these documents private they operated in fear and did things there was no need to do.

Some of the leaders did not look good by their own actions. I wish they would have had more faith in the membership and in the truthfulness of the Restoration. They were more focused on optics, public perceptions than truth. They lived and they learned by the experience.

It does make one wonder what they were so worried about...and they expect people like me to just believe...where was their confidence?

[Bobbieaware]

It does make one wonder what they were so worried about...and they expect people like me to just believe...where was their confidence?

Read my post just before yours.

[Tacenda]

http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/03/the-salamander-letter-in-a-nutshell/

And...

http://mormonexpositor.com/33-who-is-mark-hoffman-the-truth-behind-the-salamander-letter-bombings-part-1/

This is an excellent telling of the behind the scenes by some that lived through it.

Edited October 15, 2015 by Tacenda

[Robert F. Smith]

Based on interviews I have had with directors and personnel in the Church History Department. I would say no.

 

In doing stories on the Joseph Smith Papers, I asked a question along that line. I was told there are controls in place today that would preclude the shenanigans that Hofmann engaged in.

I would like to believe that crucial lessons have been learned, and that outside document analysts would always be called upon to evaluate such items as Hofmann fobbed off on us.  However, experience teaches us that the forgers only become more sophisticated and canny through time.  There is much money to be made with phony memorabilia, along with a lot of ignorant collectors.

 

It isn't only the Mormon market which is beset with such schemes, but the American historical market in general, and the market in biblical and ancient Near Eastern antiquities faces the same basic problem:  Gullibility of some rich folk, and of some museum personnel is a big problem.

[Bobbieaware]

http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/03/the-salamander-letter-in-a-nutshell/

And...http://mormonexpositor.com/33-who-is-mark-hoffman-the-truth-behind-the-salamander-letter-bombings-part-1/

This is an excellent telling of the behind the scenes by some that lived through it.

I'm not going to waste time on an anti-Mormon website. In either of these two podcasts, did anyone make the point that buy buying hofmann's documents the leaders of the Church were able to hold for safekeeping and preserve documents that would turn out to be important evidence in a murder trial?

[Robert F. Smith]

It does make one wonder what they were so worried about...and they expect people like me to just believe...where was their confidence?

That assumes that Storm Rider's account of events is accurate, which it is not.

[Tacenda]

That assumes that Storm Rider's account of events is accurate, which it is not.

Did you read the book he mentioned and the documents mentioned? I've read the book, though it's been awhile.

[omni]

I'm not going to waste time on an anti-Mormon website. In either of these two podcasts, did anyone make the point that buy buying hofmann's documents the leaders of the Church were able to hold for safekeeping and preserve documents that would turn out to be important evidence in a murder trial?

Are you insinuating that church leaders were inspired to purchase the documents for safekeeping of evidence in a murder trial? Why the need? There was more than enough evidence to convict him, in fact investigators found in his basement the engraving plant used in making the plate for "Oath of a Freeman" forgery. Had other buyers acquired the documents, would there be any reason to believe they wouldn't have been preserved?

[sunstoned]

It has been many years since I studied this topic.  Hoffman did some terrible things in order to gain both fame and fortune.  The problem was that several of his documents were viewed as damaging to early leaders of the Restoration.  Though they were fakes, leaders of the Church conspired through third parties to acquire these documents in order to keep them from public view.  The intent was to protect the Church.  My issue was that because they wanted to keep these documents private they operated in fear and did things there was no need to do.  

 

Some of the leaders did not look good by their own actions.  I wish they would have had more faith in the membership and in the truthfulness of the Restoration.  They were more focused on optics, public perceptions than truth.  They lived and they learned by the experience. 

With ETB incapacitated, Hinkley was effectively in charge back then even though this was a guarded secret not public knowledge.  It seems Hinkley's main motivation was a positive public relations for the church as evidenced by the effort to squirrel way documents that were perceived as less than faith promoting.  By doing so, the church played into Hoffman's hands. The Salamander letter is a prime example.  This forgery was snatched up using tithing money and rushed into the first presidency's vault and would have stayed there unknown by the membership if Hoffman hadn't of leaked it to the press.  

 

It is clear that Hoffman wanted to damage the church, but Hinkley didn't help matters at all by being secretive and less than forthright.  From the leaks, it became clear that the church wanted to buy up and bury these less than faith promoting documents, but once leaked to the public, the church had to respond.  That response was an Ensign article by DHO.  This article pushed the boundaries of credibility into the ridiculous. It was an embarrassment.  

[Robert F. Smith]

Since we are reminiscing about Hofmann, here are some excerpts from a chapter of a book I wrote at that time, with names of some still-living Hofmann associates carefully removed.  I have also removed all documentation of the footnotes.

 

THE FORGER AND HIS FRIENDS

 

". . . the documents I created could have been a part of Mormon history. . . . the questions I asked myself in deciding on a forgery, one of the questions was, what could have been?  I had a concept of Church history and I followed that concept." Mark W. Hofmann

 

Apparently, since Mark William Hofmann (like Lee Harvey Oswald) is believed to have done it alone, the various and sundry document-dealing "experts" who enabled Hofmann have gone back to business as usual.  Several Hofmann associates are, however, of special interest here: Lyn Richard Jacobs,.............................................................., and Harry Frederick Campbell.

 

After the Hofmann murders, Jacobs and a close associate operated together for many years variously out of Bloomington, Indiana, and Syracuse and then Ithaca, New York,  and made the rounds and mended fences with legitimate archives, archivists, and antique dealers – when they were not marketing the “true” seer stone of Joseph Smith, Junior, and other exotic items.  One recalls the public misstatements of fact from Jacobs (such as his deliberately false claim that he found the "Salamander Letter"), his clever replacement of the last page of an Emma Smith Hymnal by Xerography and tipping (which he taught to Hofmann, and which he and Hofmann insisted is not akin to “forgery” nor intended to defraud), while his hysterical and obscene interview with Scott Dunn for Sunstone had to be toned down considerably by Dunn for publication.  

 

Jacobs had passed forged notes for Hofmann, though Hofmann does not say that Jacobs knew them to be forgeries.  In other words, Jacobs appears to have been fronting for and laundering forgeries for Hofmann.  Not a few people have wondered whether Jacobs, as master calligrapher and gay Renaissance man, had not been the mastermind behind the Hofmann forgeries.  For his part, Hofmann considered Jacobs to be boastful and to have a persona not conducive to passing himself off as a good member of the LDS Church.  Given what we now know about the salamander motif and the "French connection" – especially the Renaissance aspects – Jacobs ought to be considered a possible source for the concepts behind both the vertical Anthon Transcript and the Salamander Letter forgeries, even if Hofmann did the quick execution of the final product.

 

It isn't only that Jacobs had an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School and a sound knowledge of the requisite languages and history, but that he had an underlying reason (like Hofmann) for denying the authenticity of the LDS Church.  If Jacobs is un-connected with the forgeries, however, we might have to consider another document dealer as an even liklier source of some of the forgeries, namely the late David C. Martin, whom Jacobs certainly knew.  For his part, Hofmann stated that he had seen and passed along the work of other forgers, but that he had known none personally.  Should we trust anything that Hofmann might say that cannot be independently verified?

 

* * * * * * 

As for “colorful” Hofmann associate Harry Frederick Campbell, he was arrested in late 1992 by the FBI on charges of kidnaping (to finance a drug deal), after someone tipped them off.  He was an historian, numismatist, and author of books on Utah trade tokens (including a table prepared by Mark Hofmann), and on Hofmann’s currency forgeries.  Campbell died January 18, 2004.

 

So much for a sampling of Hofmann's "friends," all of whom he seems to have used as rumor-mongers and perhaps worse.  As Linda Sillitoe has observed, Mark Hofmann was “an equal opportunity rip-off artist.”

 

The Word

One of the most important insights into the psyche of Mark Hofmann is evidenced by his reaction to a book he read by the late pop-novelist Irving Mar Wallace (Wallechinsky).  Wallace, who had an obvious knack for combining sex and sleaze in order to sell lots of formulaic novels, had in his time shown his questionable understanding of Christianity in its mainstream as well as Mormon forms, possibly due to his own Jewish background and to a generally arrogant cynicism.  Wallace's 1972 novel, The Word, about christian skulduggery, sex, forgery, blackmail, duplicity, pseudonyms, desperation for money, and murder was avidly read by Hofmann, and subsequently discussed by him with A. J. Simmonds, the late USU Archivist.  This was apparently in 1978, since the novel was broadcast as a four-part CBS-TV miniseries in November of that year, and since the miniseries figured in his conversation with Simmonds. 

 

A number of that novel's parallels with the Hofmann affair were pointed out on air July 31, 1987, by KSL-TV reporters:  The forger had begun counterfeiting at a very young age, expert advice was used to plan the forgeries (Hofmann even mixing and aging his own ink with a recipe identical to that used by Wallace/ Laforgue), experts were used to discover the forgeries (Wallace used a stone box -- undoubtedly taken by him from the Joseph Smith story which he had researched years earlier in his work on Ann Eliza Webb Young), it was a vengeance-seeking effort to discredit standard religious views, fooling the best experts, and leading to murder.  Hofmann is astonishingly similar to the forger of Wallace's story, Robert Laforgue (aliases Robert Lebrun, Duca Minimo, and Enrico Toti), though sometimes in an inverse manner.  Hofmann must have felt a great affinity for Laforgue.  Perhaps life imitates art?!  Several excerpts from The Word will illustrate these and further aspects of comparison:

 

. . . he toyed with simple counterfeiting.  He found that he had a gift for such forgeries.  He started by forging passports, moved on to faking small-denomination currency, graduated to historical letters, rare manuscripts, . . .

 

It was against the priesthood, the clergy, all religion--because of the deception he had suffered at the hands of religion--that he vowed to have his revenge.  Thus, in his angry heart and head, he conceived his warped plan, one that would mock the Christ-believers and strike a fatal blow . . . .

 

I would have my revenge against all the deceit of religion--truly the enemy of life--the drug, the opium that oppresses--with its false prattlings about a kindly Saviour.

 

His real purpose remained to have the discovery accepted by the church, and then expose the hoax and enjoy his final vengeance.

* * * * * * 

Hofmann claimed, as one of his admitted rationalizations, that his forgeries did not cheat anybody since they would not be discovered anyhow.  Despite all his "explanations," it seems obvious that it was the immediate "deal" which turned Hofmann on.  He lived for the rush of completing another quick forgery and engaging in a fast deal.  Like a heroin addict till his next fix, an alcoholic till his next drink, like the gambler till his next role of the dice, like a rapist till his next humiliating sexual assault, Hofmann lived for his next sting.  Perhaps (as for Leopold & Loeb) it was the thrill and the powerful shot of adrenaline it gave him.  Whatever it was, the image of Hofmann and his buddy walking around Times Square with all that cash in their pockets -- just for the feel of it -- is the ultimate symbol of Hofmann the addict to a special, perverse lifestyle. 

 

Confidence men seem to exhibit that behavior particularly well, although Hofmann's need to vent his rage makes rape the best analogy of all.  The petulant child in him was brought out more than once during questioning by the Salt Lake County prosecutors, and his contempt for law enforcement has shown itself several times.  There is the self-destructive element in this as well:  Hofmann's instability makes him seem heedless of, or perhaps inviting and welcoming the risks he knew he was taking, as though he craved discovery and even wondered why it was so long in coming.  His final solace may simply be that he has effectively japed at the society of which he is so contemptuous and that the con is still on.  He is at least very popular with and well respected by his fellow prisoners at the Utah State Prison, both because of the enormity and brilliance of his crimes as well as because he made fools of the Mormons.

[Robert F. Smith]

Did you read the book he mentioned and the documents mentioned? I've read the book, though it's been awhile.

See my post #35.  I saw Hofmann up close and personal on several occasions back in the day, and read everything I could get my hands on by and about him.  In a book I wrote at the time (but never published), I wrote three chapters on the basic subject of forgery and the Hofmann Affair.

[Bobbieaware]

With ETB incapacitated, Hinkley was effectively in charge back then even though this was a guarded secret not public knowledge.  It seems Hinkley's main motivation was a positive public relations for the church as evidenced by the effort to squirrel way documents that were perceived as less than faith promoting.  By doing so, the church played into Hoffman's hands. The Salamander letter is a prime example.  This forgery was snatched up using tithing money and rushed into the first presidency's vault and would have stayed there unknown by the membership if Hoffman hadn't of leaked it to the press.  

 

It is clear that Hoffman wanted to damage the church, but Hinkley didn't help matters at all by being secretive and less than forthright.  From the leaks, it became clear that the church wanted to buy up and bury these less than faith promoting documents, but once leaked to the public, the church had to respond.  That response was an Ensign article by DHO.  This article pushed the boundaries of credibility into the ridiculous. It was an embarrassment.

If Presient Benson was so "incapacitated" during this period of time, why was he still giving strong General Conference addresses in person three years later? Therefore, wouldn't it be more accurate to say President Benson was slowing down with signs of age rather than saying he was incapacitated? Watch President Benson's October 1988 General Conference address and ask yourself if it seems reasonable that three years earlier he wouldn't have been able to preside over the Church?

[Robert F. Smith]

With ETB incapacitated, Hinkley was effectively in charge back then even though this was a guarded secret not public knowledge.  It seems Hinkley's main motivation was a positive public relations for the church as evidenced by the effort to squirrel way documents that were perceived as less than faith promoting.  By doing so, the church played into Hoffman's hands. The Salamander letter is a prime example.  This forgery was snatched up using tithing money and rushed into the first presidency's vault and would have stayed there unknown by the membership if Hoffman hadn't of leaked it to the press.  

 

It is clear that Hoffman wanted to damage the church, but Hinkley didn't help matters at all by being secretive and less than forthright.  From the leaks, it became clear that the church wanted to buy up and bury these less than faith promoting documents, but once leaked to the public, the church had to respond.  That response was an Ensign article by DHO.  This article pushed the boundaries of credibility into the ridiculous. It was an embarrassment.  

Your account is about as accurate as your misspelling of Hinckley's name.

 

While the LDS Church has bought historical documents for its archives and museum, they did not purchase the so-called "Salamander Letter."  Instead, it was the late Steven F. Christensen who purchased it for $40,000 in January 1984 and donated it to the Church.  On March 2, 1981, the LDS Church did purchase the so-called "Joseph Smith III Blessing Document," but did not squirrel it away (the way you would cynically expect), but made a deal with the RLDS Church -- who had experts evaluate it, and conclude it to be authentic, until it was later shown to be a forgery.

 

While the "Salamander Letter" was considered authentic, a number of excellent publications (including comments by non-Mormon historian Jan Shipps) examined its contents, such that (contrary to your view) it had exactly the opposite effect than was intended by Hofmann.  Turned out that the salamander motif was very appropriate to the person of Angel Moroni.  It also turned out that those who hated the CJCLDS were the ones who were embarrassed -- when the mythic dimension in Mormonism turned out to be a very healthy aspect of the faith.

 

See Linda Sillitoe, “The Mormon Documents’ Day in Court,” Sunstone, 10/12 #56 (Nov 1986), 23-29; paper presented at the Aug 1986 Sunstone Symposium in Salt Lake City.

Edited October 15, 2015 by Robert F. Smith

[Bobbieaware]

Are you insinuating that church leaders were inspired to purchase the documents for safekeeping of evidence in a murder trial? Why the need? There was more than enough evidence to convict him, in fact investigators found in his basement the engraving plant used in making the plate for "Oath of a Freeman" forgery. Had other buyers acquired the documents, would there be any reason to believe they wouldn't have been preserved?

Because, as you as you will read in President Hinkley's 6/23/85 address below, he thought it was likely "something was rotten in Denmark." And since there was a very real suspicion some shenanigans were involved, it turned out keeping the "documents" for safekeeping turned out to be a very wise move. As the Book of Mormon teaches, sometimes the Lord inspires his servants to do things, the reasons for which do not become clear until sometime later. And remember, while it is true they kept the "documents" in a secure place, they did not hide the contents of the "documents." Here are President Hinckley's wise and inspired words concerning the matter:

"Gordon B. Hinckley:

As most of you know, recently there have been great stirrings over two old letters. One was purportedly written in 1825 by Joseph Smith to Josiah Stowell. If it is genuine, it is the oldest known product of Joseph Smith’s handwriting. It concerns the employment of Joseph by Mr. Stowell, who was engaged in a mining operation looking for old coins and precious metals. The other carries the date of October 23, 1830, and was purportedly written by Martin Harris to W. W. Phelps.

I acquired for the Church both of these letters, the first by purchase. The second was given to the Church by its generous owner. I am, of course, familiar with both letters, having held them in my hands and having read them in their original form. It was I, also, who made the decision to make them public. Copies were issued to the media, and both have received wide publicity.

I knew there would be a great fuss. Scholars have pored over them, discussed them, written about them, differed in their opinions, and even argued about them.

I am glad we have them. They are interesting documents of whose authenticity we are not certain and may never be. However, assuming that they are authentic, they are valuable writings of the period out of which they have come. But they have no real relevancy to the question of the authenticity of the Church or of the divine origin of the Book of Mormon.

Much has been said about the Martin Harris/W. W. Phelps letter. I ask: Shall two men, their character, their faith, their lives, the testimonies to which they gave voice to the end of their days, be judged by a few words on a sheet of paper that may or may not have been written by the one and received by the other?

If you have been troubled in any way by press reports concerning this letter, I ask only that you look closer at the man who presumably wrote it and at the man who presumably received it Martin Harris and W. W. Phelps.

The letter is dated subsequent to the declaration of the Testimony of the Three Witnesses, one of whom was Martin Harris. In language unequivocal and certain he and his associates had declared to the world: "Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom this work shall come: That we, through the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record,...And we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us; wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true.... And we declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon."

Would Martin Harris have mortgaged his farm, eventually losing it, to pay for the printing of the Book of Mormon if he had thought of that book as a fraud? He endured ridicule, persecution, and poverty. He lived to the age of ninety-two and died in full faith, voicing his testimony of the truth of the Book of Mormon to the end of his life.

What about W. W. Phelps? Five years subsequent to the date of the letter, he wrote: "Now, notwithstanding my body was not baptized into this Church till Thursday, the 10th of June 1831, yet my heart was there from the time I became acquainted with the Book of Mormon; and my hope, steadfast like an anchor, and my faith increased like the grass after a refreshing shower, when I for the first time, held a conversation with our beloved Brother Joseph whom I was willing to acknowledge as the prophet of the Lord, and to whom, and to whose godly account of himself and the work he was engaged in, I owe my first determination to quit the folly of my way, and the fancy and fame of this world, and seek the Lord and His righteousness."

This is the same man who wrote that majestic and marvelous hymn of tribute to the Prophet Joseph — "Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah! Jesus anointed that Prophet and Seer. Blessed to open the last dispensation, Kings shall extol him, and nations revere."

He had no doubt concerning the divine origin of the Book of Mormon or the divine calling of him who was the instrument in the hands of the Almighty in bringing it forth. William W. Phelps died as a high priest in Salt Lake City in full faith.

Marvelous and enduring love and loyalty of the kind shown by these two men do not come from an experience with a "salamander" as we generally interpret that word.

Would these two men have so endured, so declared their testimonies, and so lived out their lives in faith had there been any doubt about the way in which the Book of Mormon plates were received from the hands of Moroni and translated by the gift and power of God? (Gordon B. Hinckley)

Edited October 15, 2015 by Bobbieaware

[Calm]

Though they were fakes, leaders of the Church conspired through third parties to acquire these documents in order to keep them from public view. The intent was to protect the Church. My issue was that because they wanted to keep these documents private they operated in fear and did things there was no need to do....

You might be interested in this presentation, transcription is awkward at times but well worth reading:

http://www.fairmormon.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/2006-Steve-Mayfield-and-George-Throckmorton.pdf

"We have this idea that the church was buying these documents to hide them and yet a book here by Dean Jessie The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith published in 1984, has six of those documents listed in here. But the majority of those documents that Mark forged were not controversial, were not testimony shaking they were simple little things. There was no reason to hide them, no reason to have pressed them. Yet today, you can read on some web pages, of those who have these great theories of the church was buying these things to hide them, spending millions of dollars so that none of them would ever see light of day.

Now, I am thinking okay. All these other document being bought by the church and other collectors, very publicized in a lot of cases, we don't have two that could be questioned as having been hidden. One being the Josiah Stowell letter and the other one was the letter from Bullock to Brigham Young in reference to the Joseph Smith blessing. You explanations on why these things were not immediately released. But now we have people talking about the church hiding these things and I am saying well if the church is as evil and as satanic as you make it, why would the church buy documents at high prices just to hide them? That's why man invented matches and paper shredders, yet they are kept. Why is that?

I mean, give them credit. If we are going to be sinister, let’s go all the way. But we still have them. In fact, Sandra had a symposium in 2002 on it and they had found another document in our church archives and realized it come from Hoffman. These things are still out there. So it's again a myth that has just taken a life of itself. Let me give you some pointers what to do when you hear various claims."

(Be sure amd read all comments in context, I was there for the presentation and my memory was that he made some somewht snide comments. If you were not aware of his tone and just read stuff without looking at what else he is saying, you may misunderstand some of his comments as approving when they are not or the reverse....videos are available for the presentation on youtube, search "salamander letters, 2006 FAIR Conference address", trying to find the end that is not on the pdf.)

 

George T's question and answer session can be seen here:

 

Edited October 15, 2015 by Calm

[Scott Lloyd]

I wish Peggy, in summarizing the things Richard Turley did after being hired as managing director of the Church History Department, would have mentioned that soon after his hiring, he wrote his own account of the Hofmann episode, giving the perspective of Church leaders involved. This book, Victims, already mentioned above, sets the record straight regarding the involvement of the Church leaders, their intent, etc. Unfortunately, the book appeared after public interest in the affair had already faded to a great degree, and it was not as well read as it should have been. Thus, as indicated on this very thread, some still harbor misconceptions concerning the role the Church leaders played.

[Stargazer]

See my post #35.  I saw Hofmann up close and personal on several occasions back in the day, and read everything I could get my hands on by and about him.  In a book I wrote at the time (but never published), I wrote three chapters on the basic subject of forgery and the Hofmann Affair.

 

I've been somewhat interested in him, and have wondered if, after all this time, that he might have become ashamed of himself and perhaps repentant?  Or has he become ever more hardened?

[hagoth7]

I wish Peggy, in summarizing the things Richard Turley did after being hired as managing director of the Church History Department, would have mentioned that soon after his hiring, he wrote his own account of the Hofmann episode, giving the perspective of Church leaders involved. This book, Victims, already mentioned above, sets the record straight regarding the involvement of the Church leaders, their intent, etc. Unfortunately, the book appeared after public interest in the affair had already faded to a great degree, and it was not as well read as it should have been. Thus, as indicated on this very thread, some still harbor misconceptions concerning the role the Church leaders played.

 

Turley's book is the only one that I've read that covers the events in question. It sufficiently put the issue to rest for me.

[Avatar4321]

Based on interviews I have had with directors and personnel in the Church History Department. I would say no.

 

In doing stories on the Joseph Smith Papers, I asked a question along that line. I was told there are controls in place today that would preclude the shenanigans that Hofmann engaged in.

What type of controls?

[Avatar4321]

How can anyone claim the church bought the documents to hide them because our leaders were scared when we have numerous sources where the church is publicizing what's in the documents? This argument makes no sense

[Scott Lloyd]

I've been somewhat interested in him, and have wondered if, after all this time, that he might have become ashamed of himself and perhaps repentant?  Or has he become ever more hardened?

A speaker at a FairMormon conference a few years ago showed recent photos of him taken in prison. He looks terrible. Scarcely recognizable.

[Scott Lloyd]

What type of controls?

As I recall, determining the provenance of a document has a lot to do with it. I don't think there was enough attention given to that in the old days.

 

There are probably other things too, but I don't recall them in detail.

[Storm Rider]

I don't think Hoffman was primarily interested in harming the Church.  As I recall from the two books I mentioned, Hoffman was more interested in money and being the wonder boy that could find so many important/valuable documents.  He was willing to harm the Church if it meant he would get paid.

 

Several people have talked about the Church buying all the documents.  As I recall, the Church may have purchased some documents directly, but in other cases they cooperated with third party buyers - thus the individuals who were bombed. 

 

I have never been concerned about Church history, but I have always been concerned about how history has been spun.  There is no long-term benefit to focusing on faith promoting stories and excluding those facts viewed as uncomfortable.  On the other side, there is no value focusing solely on the challenging facts while excluding all the facts that are faith promoting.  What I find most often today is that critics exclude almost entirely the facts that lead to stronger faith in God and his prophets. 

[ALarson]

How can anyone claim the church bought the documents to hide them because our leaders were scared when we have numerous sources where the church is publicizing what's in the documents? This argument makes no sense

From what I remember, at least some of the letters or documents were leaked to the press which forced the church to reveal that they had them (or that they existed).  But it's been years since I read about this, so others can correct me or clarify if this wasn't the case.

Edited October 15, 2015 by ALarson

[ALarson]

Here's this about at least one item being leaked:

In 1983, Hofmann bypassed the LDS Church's historical department and sold to Gordon B. Hinckley, a member of the First Presidency of the church, an 1825 Joseph Smith holograph purporting to confirm that Smith had been treasure hunting and practicing black magic five years after his First Vision. Hofmann had the signature authenticated by Charles Hamilton, the contemporary "dean of American autograph dealers," sold the letter to the church for $15,000, and gave his word that no one else had a copy. Then Hofmann leaked its existence to the press, after which the church was virtually forced to release the letter to scholars for study, despite previously denying it had it in its possession.