After Joseph Smith 's death , the Egyptian artifacts were in the possession of his mother , Lucy Mack Smith , and she and her son William Smith continued to exhibit the four mummies and associated papyri to visitors . Two weeks after Lucy 's death in May 1856 , Smith 's widow , Emma Hale Smith Bidamon , her second husband Lewis C. Bidamon , and her son Joseph Smith III , sold " four Egyptian mummies with the records with them " to Abel Combs on May26 , 1856 . Combs later sold two of the mummies , along with some papyri , to the St. Louis Museum in 1856 . Upon the closing of the St.Louis Museum , these artifacts were purchased by Joseph H. Wood and found their way to the Chicago Museum in about 1863 , and were promptly put on display . The museum and all its contents were burned in 1871 during the Great Chicago Fire . Today it is presumed that the papyri that formed the basis for Facsimiles2 and3 were lost in the conflagration
Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
Book of Abraham