Portrait of Aziz S. Atiya

Their part in each topic

The Book of Abraham and the Joseph Smith Papyri

Coptic historian, University of Utah

Atiya, not a Latter-day Saint, was searching Coptic files at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1966 when he recognized a damaged vignette as the original of Facsimile 1, glued to a backing sheet with the missing figures drawn in. Ten other fragments and an 1856 bill of sale signed by Emma Bidamon, Lewis Bidamon and Joseph Smith III were with it. He arranged the contact that led to the Museum's 1967 transfer of the fragments to the Church.

Timeline · Key players · Key sources · Why it matters

In the timeline

2 events across 1 topics, chronological. Only events this person was actually part of — present at, responsible for, or the subject of — not every event where the name comes up.

spring 1966

Atiya recognizes Facsimile 1 at the Metropolitan

Aziz S. Atiya, searching for Coptic material at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, opened a file containing eleven papyrus fragments. One was the original of Facsimile 1, glued to a backing sheet on which the missing arms, torso and head had been drawn in. An 1856 certificate of ownership was with them.

People: Aziz S. Atiya
27 November 1967

The Metropolitan transfers eleven fragments to the Churchhinge

In a ceremony in the museum's Egyptian section, director Thomas P. F. Hoving presented the eleven pieces and the Bidamon letter to N. Eldon Tanner of the First Presidency. The collection was sent to Brigham Young University for study, and photographs were published in the Improvement Era in January and February 1968.

Why this is a hingeThe recovery put the source documents in the hands of people who could read them, ending seventy years in which the argument had run on the facsimiles alone.
People: Aziz S. Atiya

This page is generated from the same topic records as the rest of the database, so a correction made once shows up here too. All key players · How this is built