7. New ABC4 update July 6,2009 at 10:00 P.M. MST.
I know that my blog has been quite neglected for the past couple of months, due in part to the intense research work I have been doing. I guess an absence could be construed as a good thing in this case. About a month ago, we went to Salt Lake and met with an LDS Church history rep, as well as having our image micro-scanned by Borg Anderson Photography. The micro-scan was incredible! Many details hidden in a small photo and not apparent to the human eye come to life in an enlarged image. Borg’s printed us a 12” x 48” center slice of the image to carry around, as well as full 8” x 10” prints. Working with this highly detailed image has brought some definitive conclusions which support our effort to authenticate this particular photo of Joseph.
After the brief visit with the LDS Church last month, we were invited back for a meeting sometime after their new building opened on June 22,2009. This new meeting occurred last Wednesday, and we (my husband and I) felt it went very well. We gave them an update on what we had learned and listened to what their feelings and intentions were as far as this effort. I feel it is their desire to be supportive in my research efforts but are cautious to attach the LDS name and image to the project just yet. I understand that they have been burned on more than one occasion and are guarded because of this. I also understand that in order for them to be comfortable with this image, they must somehow attach a paper trail and create provenance.
While I hope to find this information and have a couple of possible directions to head in, I hope that they don’t get stuck exclusively on this concept. Not everything is documented via the written word, somethings are documented via a visual material such as a photo. Don’t get me wrong, I did not feel in the least bit discouraged about what they told us; more or less, we were told what role the LDS Church would like to play in this research work. Overall, I felt they were in agreement that my theories were quite plausible, but making a statement of certainty is too premature for them at this time. So we wait… with much more research to come. If anything, I felt excited at the level of honesty we shared.
My feelings have always been “it is what it is”. It’s either a true photograph of Joseph Smith Jr., or it isn’t; personally, the physical evidence of this image makes me believe it is. The more I research it, the more I am convinced. How it all came about is a great mystery, and who doesn’t love a great mystery.
I will blog later about the evidence that proves once and for all that my image and the Library of Congress image DO NOT come from the RLDS painting. Call it the case of the missing button.
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