Salt Lake City, USA - A new book by an Arizona computer consultant claims to have uncovered the only known photo of LDS Church founder Joseph Smith, but some experts are skeptical it really is the Mormon prophet.
S. Michael Tracy has been analyzing historical data about Smith's physical appearance, including an extensive examination of the LDS leader's death mask, since first seeing the photo in 1994. Though the image is strikingly different from known portraits of Smith, Tracy is convinced the man in the photo is the man who established The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830 as a 25-year-old in New York and was murdered by a mob in an Illinois jail in 1844. Tracy also explored Smith's possible countenance in In Search of Joseph, a book he wrote under the name Shannon M. Tracy, and sees his research as supporting his own Mormon faith. LDS officials declined to confirm the photo's authenticity.
"On the basis of available evidence, it is not possible to confirm that the image is in fact, of Joseph Smith," LDS spokesman Scott Trotter said in a statement first issued in March.
The photo, known as a daguerreotype, belongs to the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), which has its own team of experts studying it.
"If scholarly proof of identity satisfies rigorous internal guidelines, Community of Christ may make a statement concerning its authenticity," spokeswoman Jennifer Kilpack said.
But other experts have no such hesitation.
"It took me three seconds after looking at this image and I knew it couldn't be Joseph Smith," said Dennis Waters, a New Hampshire dealer who owns the country's largest collection of daguerreotype portraits from those years.
Waters, who has not seen the actual daguerreotype, just copies of it, had three main critiques: the photo's quality was too good to have been taken before Smith died in 1844; even if it were taken as early as 1839, Smith would have been 34 and the man in the photo was clearly younger than that, and the suit the person was wearing was not fashionable until about 1846.
Tracy believes he has answers to every objection and they are in his book, Millions Shall Know Brother Joseph Again: The Joseph Smith Photograph, produced recently by a small Salt Lake City press, Eborn Publishing.
On the age question, Tracy said Smith was often described by others as looking younger than his years.
"They talked about his 'youthful' countenance," Tracy said, adding that the photo was a tad out of focus, which might have obscured Smith's receding hairline.
He disputes Waters' statements about the daguerreotype technology's development, insisting that high quality photos were available as early as 1839.
In addition, Tracy's experts say that Smith bought a couple of new suits before he died that could have matched the suit in the photo.
What really convinced Tracy, though, were what he said are 32 points of alignment between the face in the photo and Smith's death mask.
Smith had a reclining forehead, his left eyebrow was substantially lower than his right and his left cheekbone was flatter than his right.
"When I first was involved in it, I was going to try to disprove it," Tracy said Thursday. "There were some unique features on Joseph's face that are like a thumbprint. When we saw those in this photo, we needed to take it up seriously."
He is not attached to the image, Tracy insisted, and welcomes critics to bring their questions.
"You don't have to believe this," he said. "Before you criticize, at least review the data. We hope this will start the conversation."