Spaulding Manuscript Collection, 1811-12, 1885-86, 1927, 1977, 1985, n.d. | Oberlin College Archives

Origin of the Spaulding Manuscript

In 1885, while visiting in Hawaii, Oberlin College President James H. Fairchild met with L.L. Rice, an old friend and an anti-slavery advocate. While reviewing his materials for some anti-slavery materials to donate to Oberlin College, Rice discovered a manuscript written by Solomon Spaulding. The Spaulding Manuscript, also referred to as the “Manuscript Story” or “Manuscript Found,” was given to Fairchild and placed in the Oberlin College Library. It remained in the Library until it was transferred to the Oberlin College Archives in 1977.

Solomon Spaulding (1761-1816) wrote the “Manuscript Story” or Manuscript Found” in 1812 while living in New Salem (now Conneaut), Ohio. Spaulding wrote a fictional account of a group of Romans (A.D. 306-337) whose ship was blown off course and landed in what is now the northeastern United States. The story contains accounts of the natives that the Romans encountered. The manuscript was never published.

After Spaulding’s death in Amity, Pennsylvania, in 1816, the manuscript was placed in a family trunk that was stored at the home of Jerome Clark in Hatwick, New York. Philastus Hurlbut, an elder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who had fallen out of favor with the Church, acquired the manuscript in attempt to discredit the Mormon faith. Although Hulburt discovered that the manuscript did not contain passages relating to the Book of Mormon, he continued to work on his book entitled Mormonism Unvailed until his friends persuaded him that he could not publish the book. Hulburt agreed to sell the manuscript of the book Mormonism Unvailed to Mr. E.D. Howe of Painesville, Ohio. Howe was not impressed with “Manuscript Found,” but he did publish Mormonism Unvailed, in which he made the case that the Spaulding Manuscript was used by Sidney Rigdon to influence Joseph Smith, the author of the Book of Mormon. In 1839, Howe sold his newspaper The Painseville Telegraph to L.L. Rice, the owner and editor of several anti-slavery newspapers in Northern Ohio. The manuscript was included with this transfer of files. Eventually, Rice moved to Honolulu, Hawaii.

The Spaulding Manuscript and the Book of Mormon

The origin of the Book of Mormon has divided critics into two camps. One group believes that Joseph Smith wrote the book without divine assistance. Smith’s detractors claim that he had help or that he copied passages from other documents or manuscripts.

Although Philastus Hurlbut did not discover a link between the Spaulding Manuscript and the Book of Mormon, his attempt to undermine Joseph Smith and the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints set in motion the ongoing argument about the origins of the Mormon faith. The book Mormonism Unvailed, begun by Hurlbut and published by E.B. Howe, supported the theory that Sidney Rigdon, a former preacher, used the Spaulding Manuscript to influence the work of Joseph Smith.

Another theory states that the Joseph Smith, Sr. family had ties to Solomon Spaulding because the Smith family and Ruben Spaulding, an uncle of Spaulding, lived in the same town of Sharon, Vermont. Other critics argue that the there are similarities in the story line, writing style, and word combination in Book of Mormon and the Spaulding Manuscript.

The questions relating to the origin of the Book of Mormon and its relationship to the Spaulding Manuscript has attracted many visitors to the Oberlin College Archives to view the work of Solomon Spaulding.