Sidney B. Sperry

Who was Sidney B. Sperry?

Sidney Branton Sperry was one of three scholars who were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who began the scholarly and systematic study of the Book of Mormon in the mid-20th century — the other two being John L. Sorenson and Hugh W. Nibley. Sperry was also a leading Latter-day Saint scholar of the Bible.

Sperry was born in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory.

In 1917, Sperry graduated from the University of Utah with a B.S. in Chemistry. For the next two years he worked for the United States Bureau of Metallurgical Research. Sperry then served as a Mormon missionary in the Southern States Mission of the LDS Church from 1919 to 1921. He was for much of this time president of the South Carolina District of the church. In September 1921, Sperry married Eva Lila Braithwaite. They eventually had eight children.

After returning from his mission, Sperry began work as a seminary and institute instructor for the Church Educational System of the LDS Church. He received an MA from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1926 and a Ph.D. from that university's Oriental Language and Literatures Department in 1931. He then did a year of post-doctoral research in archaeology at the American School of Oriental Research.