Several weeks ago I was in downtown Salt Lake and decided to stop in at the Church History Library (not to be confused with the Family History Library or the Church History Museum). When I was last there several years ago they had a display of documents related to The Book of Abraham. There were different documents on display this time and as is too often the case with Church sites I wasn't able to just look around on my own, but was intercepted by a (senior) missionary who inisted on showing me around and giving me the spiel.

Some of the documents on display were related to the 'translation' and publication of the Book of Mormon. The missionary described the translation process as being accompliahed by Joseph peering into a "hat like object." I thought to myself "hat like object?". Can a hat correctly be described as a "hat like object" when it is in fact just a hat? 

The missionary gave me a little guide book that talked about the various documents on display. In the entry on the original Book of Mormon manuscript the text talks about how most of that document was destroyed by water damage, having been improperly sealed in a buildings corner stone. This corner stone was in the 'Nauvoo House', which it describes as "a place appointed by revelation for the lodging of vistors." This awkward phrasing seems a way to get around the less flattering and more straight forward: 'Joseph put this sacred document in a poorly insulated corner stone of a hotel he owned because he got the Church membership to build it for him.' Ironically the Church has never been more honest about its history then it is now.