The Spalding–Rigdon theory of Book of Mormon authorship is the theory that the Book of Mormon was plagiarized in part from an unpublished manuscript written by Solomon Spalding. The theory first appeared in print in the book Mormonism Unvailed , published in 1834 by E. D. Howe. The theory is that a Spalding manuscript was stolen by Sidney Rigdon, who used it in collusion with Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to produce the Book of Mormon. Although Rigdon claimed that he was converted to the Latter Day Saint movement through reading the Book of Mormon, Howe argued that this story was a later invention to cover the book's true origins.
While this theory was once extremely popular among critics of the Book of Mormon, most contemporary historians state that the theory has been disproved and is discredited. As such, this theory sees little popularity today among naturalistic explanations for the Book of Mormon's origins.
Spalding's works
Around 1812, Spalding completed a historical romance entitled Manuscript, Found which "purported to have been a record found buried in the earth". Spalding moved to Pittsburgh and reportedly took Manuscript, Found to the publisher Patterson & Lambdin. Spalding died in 1816, without Manuscript, Found being published.
Oberlin Manuscript
An unfinished manuscript copy of a historical fiction by Spalding, written from 1809 to 1812, about a Roman discovery of the Americas exists, called the Oberlin Manuscript or Honolulu Manuscript. It is a historical romance "purporting to have been translated from the Latin, found on 24 rolls of parchment in a cave, on the banks of the Conneaut Creek". It tells of a Roman ship which discovers America.
In 1884, this manuscript, known as Manuscript Story – Conneaut Creek, was discovered and published, and the manuscript now resides at Oberlin College in Ohio. Some authors claim it contains parallels in theme and narrative.
Plot
Manuscript Story – Conneaut Creek is a fictional story about a group of Romans who, while sailing to England early in the fourth century AD, were blown off course and landed in eastern North America. One of them kept a record of their experiences among eastern and midwestern American Indian tribes."
Full Manuscript
An 1885 book printed by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now The Community of Christ) said it contained the wording of the original, previously unpublished work, and was a "verbatim copy of the original now in the Library of Oberlin College. Ohio; including correspondence touching the Manuscript, its preservation and transmission until it came into the hands of the publishers."
Hypothetical lost manuscript
Though the Oberlin manuscript, Manuscript Story – Conneaut Creek, is not the same story as Manuscript Found, Vernon Holley allegedly thought he found many similarities between the earlier manuscript and the Book of Mormon. In 1977, nationally known graphology experts Henry Silver, William Kaye, and Howard Doulder announced via the Los Angeles Times that they noticed potential similarities between Spaulding’s handwriting and the writing on some of the original manuscripts of the Book of Mormon. After considerable media attention, all three experts clarified that they would need to see more original manuscripts of Spaulding‘s work to “definitely come to a conclusion”
Similarity to Book of Mormon
In 1832, Latter Day Saint missionaries Samuel H. Smith and Orson Hyde visited Conneaut, Ohio, and preached from the Book of Mormon. Nehemiah King, a resident of Conneaut, who knew Spalding when he lived there, felt that the Mormon text resembled the story written by Spalding years before.
In 1833, Spalding's brother John and seven other residents of Conneaut signed affidavits stating that Spalding had written a manuscript, portions of which were identical to the Book of Mormon. Spalding's widow told a similar story, and stated that "the names of Nephi and Lehi are yet fresh in my memory, as being the principal heroes of his tale." These statements were published in E. D. Howe's 1834 book Mormonism Unvailed.
Historian Fawn Brodie expressed suspicion regarding these statements, claiming that the style of the statements was too similar and displayed too much uniformity. Brodie suggested that the witnesses had a "little judicious prompting". (Despite her suspicions about these claims, Brodie, in her study of Joseph Smith, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, found him to be a fraud who "improvised" the Book of Mormon.)
In an article published in June 1834, the Hudson, Ohio Observer printed interviews with some of the Conneaut witnesses.