Solomon Spalding
(b.1761 -- d.1816)
The Spalding Studies Site
Dedicated to Exploring the Solomon Spalding Authorship Claims for
The Book of Mormon --- and Uncovering Latter Day Saint Origins
All the old Spalding Studies resources have been distributed
throughout this site. The "old" gateway page is preserved here
Mr. Solomon Spalding (1761-1816) was a lapsed Calvinist evangelist, a failed businessman, and the would-be author of a pre-historic American epic story explaining the lost civilization of the "Mound Builders." Since 1833 he has been credited by some scholars and writers as being the original author of a portion of The Book of Mormon.
In the one surviving manuscript from Solomon Spalding's reported voluminous set of fictional writings, the author demonstrates an unusual interest in fabricating ancient scriptures and improvising religious tenets for the management of a nation's citizens. In his private life he seems to have become a deist or perhaps even an atheist. He enjoyed criticizing and satirizing the religious practices and beliefs of his own day, but as a social humorist he was never very successful.
last updated:
Jan., 2011
In the last few years a multitude of Spalding Studies internet resouces have become available for both casual readers and dedicated investigators of history and religion. Today there are several web-sites featuring Spalding information, old texts, overviews of the authorship claims for The Book of Mormon, etc. As time permits, the "Spalding Links" section (see button on side panel) of this site will be be updated to provide a useful listing of on-line Spalding Studies resources. For example, for an overview of the Spalding-Rigdon authorship hypothesis, see Criddle and Broadhurst's Modern Spalding-Rigdon Theory
Selections from the old Book of Mormon Studies Homepage provide unique information and intriguing possibilities; among which is the seminal article by Craig Criddle: "Sidney Rigdon: Creating the Book of Mormon." Dr. Criddle's investigations contributed to a 2008 word-print study of the Spalding-Rigdon claims -- the results of which were reviewed in his 2009 lecture, his most recent presentation is available at PreMormon.com.
The California-based "Spalding Research Associates" published a 2005 book entitled, Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon: The Spalding Enigma. For more on these researchers' work, visit the Mormon Studies Homepage.
A recent study of shared language in Spalding's manuscript pages and the Book of Mormon confirms Dr. Criddle's assertion, that certain sections of the Book of Mormon read much like the preserved writings of Solomon Spalding. It may be possible for literary analysts to re-create portions of the "Nephite Record" attributable to Spalding's pen. A CD-ROM book on this topic is forthcoming from Ron Dawbarn and Margie Miller in 2011: an "Ether" excerpt is available at PreMormon.com.
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