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
Cedar City, Utah
Cedar City is the largest city in Iron County, Utah, United States. It is located south of Salt Lake City, and north of Las Vegas on Interstate 15. It is the home of Southern Utah University, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Utah Summer Gam ...
and raised in Salt Lake City.
Esplin served as a missionary for
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Central American Mission, when that mission not only included all the countries from
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
to
Panama, but also had
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
within its borders.
Esplin holds degrees from Brigham Young University, the
University of Utah and the
University of Virginia.
In 1972 Esplin was planning to start a teaching career as an
Institute instructor. He was recruited to work for the summer under
Church Historian Leonard J. Arrington doing a search and study of
Brigham Young's papers in the church archive. He remained working in the Church History Archives until 1980 when
Church Commissioner of Education
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 ...
Jeffrey R. Holland announced that Esplin and his colleagues would come to Brigham Young University with Holland who was appointed university president. Esplin received a Ph.D. from BYU with his doctoral dissertation being entitled ''The Emergence of Brigham Young and The Twelve to Mormon Leadership, 1830-1841''.
By 1984 Esplin was director of the Smith Institute and he helped
Dean C. Jessee to get ''The Papers of Joseph Smith: Volume 1'' published in 1984. Esplin was also involved in the decision to entirely revamp the project. In 2001 he left BYU and took over as director of the papers project full-time. However, from 2001 to 2005 the project was operating at BYU. In 2005 it relocated to the Church Archives (part of the
Church History Department The Church History Department (CHD) manages the historical and publishing activities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). This includes the Church History Museum, Church Historian’s Press, and various research and colle ...
) in
Salt Lake City.
[http://deseretnews.com/cgi-bin/cqcgi_plus/@plus.env?CQ_SESSION_KEY=QNLCBEAZMEDF&CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=10&CQ_TEXT_MAIN=YES]
Esplin's research has focused on the early period of the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints particularly the role of
Brigham Young during the presidency of
Joseph Smith. Esplin was among the contributors to the ''Atlas of Mormonism'' and the ''
Encyclopedia of Mormonism''. Esplin was also one of fourteen editors working on the project under
Daniel H. Ludlow
Daniel Hansen Ludlow (March 17, 1924 – February 14, 2009) was a professor of religion at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. He was also the chief editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Mormonism'', published in 1992 by Macmillan.
Biogra ...
.
Besides directing the Smith Institute, Esplin also taught classes in Church History at BYU.
As managing editor of the Joseph Smith papers project Esplin has been working to make it so that once the papers come out they are available in many libraries around the world.
Esplin also served as the president of the
Mormon History Association from 2006 to 2007.
Esplin has seven children and has served in such positions as a counselor in a
bishopric.
[Ronald Esplin]
"Utah's First Thanksgiving"
'' Ensign'', October 1982, p. 51.
Published works
Articles
"A Place Prepared in the Rockies" ''
Ensign'', July 1988, p. 7
"Fire in His Bones" ''
Ensign'', March 1993, p. 44
"'God Will Protect Me until My Work Is Done'" ''
Ensign'', August 1989, p. 16
"Brigham Young in England" ''
Ensign'', June 1987
"Hyrum Smith: The Mildness of a Lamb, the Integrity of Job" ''
Ensign'', February 2000, p. 30
"Utah's First Thanksgiving" ''
Ensign'', October 1982, p. 49-51
Chapters
*"Joseph Smith and the Kirtland Crisis, 1837" in ''Joseph Smith: Prophet and Seer''
*"Modern Efforts to Preserve Church History" in ''Preserving the History of the Latter-day Saints''
*"A Place Prepared: Joseph, Brigham, and the Quest for a Promised Refuge in the West" in ''Window of Faith: Latter-day Saint Perspectives on World History''
Books
*With David J. Whittaker and
James B. Allen, ''Men with a Mission: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles, 1837-1841''
Notes
External links
Biographiesof Joseph Smith Papers Project staff, including Esplin
*
to the
PBS documentary ''
American Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Esplin, Ron
1944 births
20th-century Mormon missionaries
21st-century American historians
American Mormon missionaries
Mormon missionaries in Central America
American male non-fiction writers
Brigham Young University alumni
Brigham Young University faculty
Historians of the Latter Day Saint movement
Living people
Mormon studies scholars
University of Utah alumni
University of Virginia alumni