View source for Source:Personal Statement of S. W. Richards:1907:This was done by holding the ‘translators’ over the hieroglyphics, the translation appearing distinctly on the instrument

{{FME-Source
|title=Personal Statement of S. W. Richards (1907): "This was done by holding the ‘translators’ over the hieroglyphics, the translation appearing distinctly on the instrument"
|category=Book of Mormon/Translation/Method/Seer stone
}}
<onlyinclude>
==Personal Statement of S. W. Richards (1907): "This was done by holding the ‘translators’ over the hieroglyphics, the translation appearing distinctly on the instrument"==
Personal Statement of S. W. Richards:
<blockquote>
He [Oliver Cowdery] represented Joseph as sitting at a table with the plates before him, translating them by means of the Urim and Thummim, while he sat beside him writing every word as Joseph spoke them to him. This was done by holding the ‘translators’ over the hieroglyphics, the translation appearing distinctly on the instrument, which had been touched by the finger of God and dedicated and consecrated for the express purpose of translating languages.<ref>Personal Statement of S. W. Richards, 25 May 1907, at Harold B. Lee Library, BYU, Special Collections, quoted in Anderson, “By the Gift and Power,” 79.</ref>
</blockquote>
</onlyinclude>
{{endnotes sources}}