“The Story Behind the Revelations: Using the Joseph Smith Papers to Better Understand the Doctrine and Covenants”

At the August 2014 FairMormon conference, historians Matthew C. Godfrey and Matthew J. Grow (both of whom work for the Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; see their biographies here) illustrated ways in which the ongoing Joseph Smith Papers project sheds light on the setting, origin, text, and interpretation of the revelations given to the Church in the early nineteenth century:

http://www.fairmormon.org/perspectives/fair-conferences/2014-fairmormon-conference/story-behind-revelations