http://archive.archaeology.org/0405/reviews/michigan.html

>>In 1961, James Bird and Paul Roundy had been assigned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to South Bend, Indiana. While there, they met with Father Charles E. Sheedy, at the University of Notre Dame. The two missionaries told him the story of Joseph Smith and the inscribed gold plates from which they believed he transcribed the Book of Mormon.

>>"I have some of Joseph Smith's type of writing here at Notre Dame," Father Sheedy interrupted. He showed the two surprised men to the attic of the nearby o'Shaughnessy Building. There they discovered three open boxes from which the Catholic priest removed several slate and copper tablets covered with hieroglyphics, pictographs and inscriptions. Father Sheedy hoped someone might be able to authenticate or disprove the collection. Perhaps the Mormons with their "golden plate" theory would come to the rescue.<<

Check out the photos in this document:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fchapmanresearch.org%2FPDF%2FAncient%2520Michigan%2520Tablets%2520and%2520Artifacts.pdf

Can I get. the readers digest version please?

I did not see the connection made in either of those sources, but this looks like the work of James J. Strang or some of his followers. From the docs.google.com source, I noticed that the *discoveries* began in 1858. Not so coincidentally, the Strangites established their headquarters at Beaver Island, Michigan in 1848. Strang was a state congressman for Michigan from 1853 until he was killed in 1856.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Strang
http://www.strangite.org/Plates.htm