The Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History

The Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History was an academic research organization at Brigham Young University from 1980 to 2005. Originally named The Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History, it was renamed in 1999. It was named after Joseph Fielding Smith, who served in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Church Historian, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and President of the Church.

The primary responsibility of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History was to research, write, and publish Latter-day Saint history from the perspective of faith and according to the highest scholarly standards. The Institute faculty also taught courses in history, Church history, and other disciplines related to their fields of expertise and advised students whose major papers, theses, and dissertations address Latter-day Saint history topics.

In 1982, the History Division of the Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was dissolved and its staff transferred to BYU to become part of the Smith Institute. The Institute was part of the College of Family, Home and Social Sciences.

Leonard J. Arrington, who headed the History Division of the Historical Department from 1972 to 1982, also led the Smith Institute from 1980 to 1986. Subsequent Institute directors included Ronald K. Esplin and Jill Mulvay Derr.

In 2005 most of the scholars employed by the Institute were transferred to the Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City to continue work on The Joseph Smith Papers Project. With their departure, the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History was abolished. Some of the former faculty members of the institute were transferred to BYU's history department.