Dean C. Jessee
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Dean Cornell Jessee (born 1929) is a historian of the early Latter Day Saint movement and leading expert on the writings of
Joseph Smith Jr. Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, he ...


Biography

Jessee was one of the sons of Phillip Cornell Jessee and Minerva Boss. He was raised in
Springville, Utah Springville is a city in Utah County, Utah, Utah County, Utah that is part of the Provo–Orem metropolitan area. The population was 35,268 in 2020, according to the United States Census. Springville is a bedroom community for commuters who work ...
as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He served an
LDS mission A mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is a geographical administrative area to which church missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of an LDS Church mission, whether ...
to Germany. In 1959, Jessee received his Master of Arts in LDS church history from the College of Religion at Brigham Young University (BYU), writing his thesis on the controversial topic of Mormon fundamentalism (
D. Michael Quinn Dennis Michael Quinn (March 26, 1944 – April 21, 2021) was an American historian who focused on the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He was a professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) from 1976 until ...
claims BYU restricted access to this paper for several years). He then taught
LDS Seminary The Church Educational System (CES) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) consists of several institutions that provide religious and secular education for both Latter-day Saint and non–Latter-day Saint elementary, sec ...
for four years at West High School in Salt Lake City. In his career, Jesse was a respected archivist, editor and historian, as well as an authority on early Mormon handwriting. Davis Bitton called him one of the " ormonhistorians who are deeply familiar with the sources on Mormon origins etstill find it possible to remain in the fold." In addition to his mission, Jessee has served in his local Salt Lake City
congregation A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: *Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administra ...
as a
home teacher Ministering is the term for Christian service given to fellow congregants, known as "ward members," within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Prior to April 1, 2018, a somewhat similar program within the church was term ...
and counselor of the
high priest The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious caste. Ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many gods rever ...
group, as well as a
stake Stake may refer to: Entertainment * '' Stake: Fortune Fighters'', a 2003 video game * ''The Stake'', a 1915 silent short film * "The Stake", a 1977 song by The Steve Miller Band from '' Book of Dreams'' * ''Stakes'' (miniseries), a Cartoon Netw ...
family history coordinator. Jessee married Margaret June Wood and they had eight children and reside in Salt Lake City. Jessee's younger brother Donald served in the LDS Church as president of the Oregon
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
Mission and as a Regional Representative.


Church Historian's Office

In 1964, Jessee was hired by the Church Historian's Office under Joseph Fielding Smith as an archivist in the church historical archives. While
Leonard J. Arrington Leonard James Arrington (July 2, 1917 – February 11, 1999) was an American author, academic and the founder of the Mormon History Association. He is known as the "Dean of Mormon History" and "the Father of Mormon History" because of his man ...
was researching a book on the Mormon development of western America, he met Jessee in the church archives during 1967. As a cataloguer of manuscripts, Jessee informed Arrington of many useful documents in the archive that historians had not yet studied. Arrington later recalled that at the time Jessee was "Intelligent, well-informed, hardworking, and modest," and that "he knew more about the documents of LDS history than any other person." In the late 1960s, Jessee was invited by
Truman G. Madsen Truman Grant Madsen (13 December 1926 – 28 May 2009) was a professor of religion and philosophy at Brigham Young University (BYU) and director of the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. He was a prolific author ...
, at BYU's Institute of Mormon Studies, to publish articles on Joseph Smith and early Mormon history in '' BYU Studies''. This began Jessee's research and publication in early Mormon manuscripts and historical documents. In 1972, Leonard J. Arrington became the official Church Historian. He requested the transfer of Jessee from the archives to the new History Division, a newly created, impressive team of historians for researching and writing of new Mormon histories. One such work, Jessee's 1974 ''Letters of Brigham Young to his Sons'', caused Apostle
Boyd K. Packer Boyd Kenneth Packer (September 10, 1924 – July 3, 2015) was an American religious leader and educator who served as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church), president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jes ...
to bring concerns to the First Presidency about the Historical Department's "orientation toward scholarly work," an early sign of the tension that would eventually lead to the History Division's disbandment. Jessee was also assigned by Arrington to locate, collect and transcribe all of
Joseph Smith Jr. Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, he ...
's writings, a work inspired by the ''Thomas Jefferson Papers'' of the 1950s and those of other
Founding Fathers The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...
. In the 1980s, Jessee was a major player in the Historical Department's examinations of important historical documents produced by
Mark Hofmann Mark William Hofmann (born December 7, 1954) is an American counterfeiter, forger, and convicted murderer. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished forgers in history, Hofmann is especially noted for his creation of documents related to ...
, which were later found to be forgeries. Jessee was considered the preeminent expert on early Mormon handwriting, especially Joseph Smith's, and he authenticated and defended a number of Hofmann's forgeries, including the famous " Salamander Letter". Hofmann's extensive deception of document and forgery experts led him to be called "unquestionably the most skilled forger this country has ever seen". Jessee served as a research historian in the church's Historical Department until 1981, when he was transferred to the
Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History The Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History (later renamed to Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History) was an academic research organization at Brigham Young University (BYU) from 1980 to 2005 that sought to promo ...
at Brigham Young University (BYU). At BYU, he was also an associate professor of history and LDS Church history.


Joseph Smith Papers

As a Senior Historical Associate then Senior Research Fellow, Jessee served for nineteen years in the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute. During this time he continued his earlier work to produce the papers of Joseph Smith. In 1984, he published most of Smith's own writings and many of his dictations in ''The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith''. This research continued to expand into two volumes of ''The Papers of Joseph Smith'', one in 1989 on Smith's autobiographical and historical writings, and the other in 1992 on Smith's journals. Jessee's efforts were eventually made an official joint effort of BYU and the LDS Church in 2001, called the
Joseph Smith Papers Project ''The Joseph Smith Papers'' (or Joseph Smith Papers Project) is a project researching, collecting, and publishing all manuscripts and documents created by, or under the direction of, Joseph Smith (1805-1844), the founder of the Latter Day Saint ...
. This is intended to be a large multi-volume series, including virtually everything written by Joseph Smith, by his office, or under his direction. That year,
Larry H. Miller Larry H. Miller (April 26, 1944 – February 20, 2009) was an American businessman. He owned the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Utah Jazz and the Salt Lake Bees, a minor league baseball team. Miller and his companies (LHM Group) also ow ...
, a Salt Lake City businessman and
philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
, began funding the venture. In 2005, Miller announced the goal of completing the project by 2015, "while Dean Jessee is still around", since Jessee was then in his 70s. Jessee is general manager of the project along with Richard Bushman and
Ron Esplin Ronald Kent Esplin (born 1944) is the managing editor of The Joseph Smith Papers project and the former director of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History at Brigham Young University (BYU). Biography Esplin was born in ...
.


Honors

* Best Article Award for "The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History" ( Mormon History Association: 1971) * Best Book Award for ''Letters of Brigham Young to his Sons'' ( Mormon History Association: 1975) * Vice-president of the Mormon History Association (1978–79) * President of the Mormon History Association (1980–81) * First winner of the Grace Arrington Award for Historical Excellence ( Mormon History Association: 1982) * The T. Edgar Lyon Award for Best Article for "Return to Carthage: Writing the History of Joseph Smith’s Martyrdom" ( Mormon History Association: 1983) * Best Book Award in documentary history for ''The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith'' ( Mormon History Association: 1984) * Steven F. Christensen Best Documentary Award for ''The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings'', vol. 1 ( Mormon History Association: 1989) * Steven F. Christensen Best Documentary Award for ''Steven F. Christensen Best Documentary Award'' ( Mormon History Association: 1992) * Steven F. Christensen Best Documentary Award for ''The Joseph Smith Papers: Journals, vol. 1, 1832-1839'' ( Mormon History Association: 2009) * Special Award in Textual Criticism and Bibliography for ''The Joseph Smith Papers: Journals, vol. 1, 1832-1839'' (
Association for Mormon Letters The Association for Mormon Letters (AML) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1976 to "foster scholarly and creative work in Mormon letters and to promote fellowship among scholars and writers of Mormon literature." Other stated purposes have inc ...
: 2009)


Writings

In the 1980s, Jessee worked on editing some of Wilford Woodruff's journals though he never published them.


Books

* * * * * * *


Academic journals

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Other articles

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Papers

* * * * *


Reviews

The following are published reviews of Jessee's writings: Letters of Brigham Young to His Sons * William Mulder (Winter 1974), '' Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought''
pp. 77–80
* S. George Ellsworth (Winter 1975), ''Utah Historical Quarterly'': pp
190–91
* Jan Shipps (March 1975), '' Journal of American History'': pp. 1007–08 * Stanford J. Layton (Spring 1975), '' BYU Studies''
pp.378–80
The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith *
Richard Lloyd Anderson Richard Lloyd Anderson (9 May 1926 – 12 August 2018) was an American lawyer and theologist of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who was a professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University (BYU). His book ''Inves ...
(1984), '' Journal of Mormon History''
pp.113–18
* Golden A. Buchmiller (September 2, 1984), '' Church News'': p. 14 * (Winter 1985), ''Utah Historical Quarterly'': p. 107–08 *
Marvin S. Hill Marvin Sidney Hill (1928–2016) was a professor of American history at Brigham Young University (BYU) and a historian of the Latter Day Saint movement. Biography Born on August 28, 1928, Hill completed his Master of Arts in history at BYU in 1 ...
(Summer 1985), '' BYU Studies''
pp. 117–25
*
Roger D. Launius Roger D. Launius (born May 15, 1954) is an American historian and author of Lithuanian descent, a former chief historian of NASA. He retired in 2016 as Associate Director for Collections and Curatorial Affairs for the Smithsonian National Air ...
(Summer 1989), '' Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought''
pp.142–43
* Ronald E. Romig (Spring 2004), '' Journal of Mormon History''
pp. 221–24
The Papers of Joseph Smith *
Roger D. Launius Roger D. Launius (born May 15, 1954) is an American historian and author of Lithuanian descent, a former chief historian of NASA. He retired in 2016 as Associate Director for Collections and Curatorial Affairs for the Smithsonian National Air ...
(Fall 1990), '' Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought''
pp. 203–04
*
Roger D. Launius Roger D. Launius (born May 15, 1954) is an American historian and author of Lithuanian descent, a former chief historian of NASA. He retired in 2016 as Associate Director for Collections and Curatorial Affairs for the Smithsonian National Air ...
(Winter 1990), ''Illinois Historical Journal'': p. 284 * James C. Bedford (Fall 1991), ''Journal of the Early Republic'': pp. 451–52 * Richard Dilworth Rust (1993), '' BYU Studies''
pp. 339–44
*
Richard L. Bushman Richard Lyman Bushman (June 20, 1931) is an American historian and Gouverneur Morris Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, having previously taught at Brigham Young University, Harvard University, Boston University, and the Univ ...
(Spring 1993), '' Journal of Mormon History''
pp.183–87
* David J. Whittaker (June 1993), '' Church History'': pp. 283–84


Notes


References

* .


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jessee, Dean C. 1929 births 20th-century Mormon missionaries American Latter Day Saint writers American Mormon missionaries in Germany Brigham Young University alumni Brigham Young University faculty Brigham Young University staff Church Educational System instructors Historians of the Latter Day Saint movement Latter Day Saints from Utah Living people People from Springville, Utah Writers from Salt Lake City