After Smith 's death , they passed through several hands and were presumed to have reached a museum in Chicago and been destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire . Some fragments were eventually acquired in 1947 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art ( the Met ) . In 1966 , Dr. Aziz S. Atiya of the University of Utah noticed that these fragments were clearly part of Smith 's collection of papyri . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( LDS Church ) acquired the fragments in 1967
Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
Joseph Smith Papyri