Historical Accounts

The historical accounts describe two alternative scenarios. Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Lucy Mack Smith and others, including the revelations published in the Doctrine and Covenants, always said Joseph translated the engravings on the plates by means of the Urim and Thummim, a process that required him to "study it out in his mind" as well. (D&C 9:8)

Others said Joseph dictated words that appeared on a stone in the hat (SITH).

The apparently discrepancy is easily resolved by recognizing that Joseph Smith had been forbidden from showing the plates or the Urim and Thummim to anyone until after the translation was complete.

Again, he told me, that when I got those plates of which he had spoken—for the time that they should be obtained was not yet fulfilled—I should not show them to any person; neither the breastplate with the Urim and Thummim; only to those to whom I should be commanded to show them; if I did I should be destroyed. (Joseph Smith—History 1:42)

Consequently, Joseph had to translate from behind a curtain or screen. People who claimed they observed the translation process could have observed only a demonstration, not the actual translation. Detailed analysis of the accounts and documentary evidence shows how and why this occurred. In later years, these witnesses described SITH to counter the Solomon Spalding theory, the claim that Joseph was reading a manuscript written by Spalding.

For more information, see the book A Man that Can Translate.