In this post we'll discuss another account of the two sets of plates that I didn't include in my books on the topic. (Whatever Happened to the Golden Plates? and The Rational Restoration).
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By now, readers here know there is an apparent conflict in the accounts of what Joseph did with the plates when he had finished translating.
The best-known is from Joseph Smith-History 1:60, and it pertains to the abridged plates Joseph obtained from Moroni's stone box.
... the messenger had said that when I had done what was required at my hand, he would call for them. ... they remained safe in my hands, until I had accomplished by them what was required at my hand. When, according to arrangements, the messenger called for them, I delivered them up to him; and he has them in his charge until this day, being the second day of May, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
A key phrase here is “according to arrangements.” Joseph gave the abridged plates to the heavenly messenger before he left Harmony. (When he, Oliver and David met the messenger on the road to Fayette, Joseph identified the messenger as one of the Three Nephites. See https://www.mobom.org/trip-to-fayette-references)
Joseph and Oliver had translated all of those abridged plates (except the sealed portion) through the "last leaf" of the plates, which was the Title Page. In this sense, Joseph fulfilled his obligation for the original set of plates in May 1829, before leaving Harmony.
Of course, he had yet to "translate the engravings which are on the plates of Nephi," (Doctrine and Covenants 10:41) which he would do in Fayette, NY, once the messenger brought those plates to him from Cumorah.
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Brigham Young had a much different explanation of the disposition of the plates. He was apparently referring to the plates of Nephi, not the abridged plates from Moroni's stone box.
Brigham explained that "When Joseph got the plates, the angel instructed him to carry them back to the hill Cumorah, which he did. Oliver says that when Joseph and Oliver went there, the hill opened, and they walked into a cave, in which there was a large and spacious room." See Brigham Young, "Trying to be Saints," June 17, 1877, ¶7, JD 19:38)
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See the original reference here:
https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/da52f4ff-c3b3-4909-a3ed-cfa42b78562b/0/3?lang=eng
Brigham's short comment tells us at least two significant things.
First, to say Joseph "put the U&T back with the plates" is different from saying Joseph gave the U&T and the plates to the messenger, or to an angel. Instead, it corroborates what Oliver said about he and Joseph visiting the repository of records in the Hill Cumorah.
It would not have made sense for Joseph to put the U&T and plates back in the stone box. He had already removed the moss and grass and uncovered the box in 1823, and presumably at least once a year for the next three years. That didn't matter much when no one knew about it, but once people heard that Joseph had golden plates, treasure hunters searched the hill. Putting the plates back in the stone box would have been inviting thieves to take them.
The repository, by contrast, was comparatively well hidden. While it seems likely that Joseph and Oliver later moved the plates (which is why Brigham said there were wagon loads of plates), Joseph put the U&T and plates back after he translated them, months before the Book of Mormon was published.
Second, Brigham's statement demonstrates that Joseph used the U&T to translate the plates. Joseph kept the U&T until he was "done translating." That obviously contradicts David Whitmer's claim that Joseph didn't get the U&T back after he lost the 116 pages.
Then, when he was "done translating," Joseph put the U&T back with the plates; i.e., he took them back to the repository in the Hill Cumorah. He didn't put a seer stone back with the plates.
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For an illustration of the two sets of plates, see
https://www.lettervii.com/p/the-two-sets-of-plates-schematic.html
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As these minutes indicate, Brigham went on to discuss the seer stones separately, distinguishing them from the Urim and Thummim.
The notes seem to say
“I have Joseph[’]s 1st Seer Stone which I [h]ad from O[liver] C[owdery] the one found in the well by which he got the plates of the B of Mormon.”
“Joseph [h]ad 3 which Emma has 2 small ones and 1 large one.”
Whether or not the seer stone depicted in the Church History Museum is the actual one Joseph gave to Oliver, there are accounts that Joseph gave a stone to Oliver. This means Oliver had it in his possession when he rejoined the Church and reaffirmed his testimony that
“I wrote with my own pen the entire Book of Mormon (save a few pages) as it fell from the lips of the prophet, as he translated it by the gift and power of God, by means of the Urim and Thummim, or, as it is called by the book, holy interpreters. I beheld with my eyes, and handled with my hands, the gold plates from which it was translated. I also beheld the interpreters.”
[See Reuben Miller journal, Oct. 21, 1848, Church History Library, Salt Lake City; spelling, punctuation, and capitalization standardized.]
On this occasion, Oliver could easily have held up the seer stone and explained that this was the instrument Joseph used to produce the Book of Mormon. But he knew better.
Instead, Oliver reiterated the consistent testimony that Joseph translated "by means of the Urim and Thummim," and that he, Oliver, beheld the interpreters.
