[MUSIC PLAYING] The Church History Library in
downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, is a state-of-the-art
facility specifically designed to preserve and store
artifacts of the Church. Among these are papyrus
fragments originally discovered in Egypt in the
early part of the 19th century.
The papyrus was part of
a larger discovery that included many mummies as well. After these items
were discovered, they were eventually exhibited
around the United States. One of the many cities where
these artifacts were displayed was Kirtland, Ohio. It was there that the
Prophet Joseph Smith learned of their existence. Some early Church
members arranged for the purchase of four mummies
and all of the papyrus records. Over the next several
years, Joseph Smith worked to translate
these records.
They were then
published in Nauvoo in the Church's newspaper,
the Times and Seasons. After the death of the Prophet,
the mummies and records were again sold, with
many of them being destroyed in a fire in Chicago. However, 10 fragments
made it safely to the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York City, where in
1966, an Egyptian scholar from the University
of Utah named Aziz Atiya found the
fragments and arranged for them to be
returned to the Church. These papyrus fragments
are now preserved in the state-of-the-art
Church History Library. Everything which is
donated to the Church is preserved and treated
with meticulous care. [MUSIC PLAYING]