The following historical outline has been widely accepted by Urantia Book believers, though the lack of firsthand documentation makes it impossible to verify its accuracy:

Sometime around 1911, in Chicago, a man in his sleep began to transmit communications from celestial personalities. These were received by Dr. William S. Sadler, a psychiatrist, and his wife, Dr. Lena Sadler. 

The scope of knowledge and depth of wisdom of the communications were so extraordinary, that the man became a patient of Dr. Sadler. The doctor, a noted debunker of spiritualism, was forced to take the case seriously and stenographers were called in to transcribe the voluminous material.

In 1923 the Sadlers began inviting individuals to weekly meetings, known as the Forum, at their residence at 533 Diversey Parkway, to study and discuss the teachings that were coming through. This group grew to hundreds who came and went through the years. They were encouraged to ask questions, and the content of the papers would sometimes be modified by the celestial revelators in response. Forum members signed a pledge of secrecy not to discuss the material outside their group.

The Drs. Sadler, their son Bill, their "adopted" daughter Emma "Christy" Christensen, Lena’s sister Anna Kellogg and Anna's husband Wilfred Kellogg, became the custodians of the manuscripts and were known as the "contact commission.” The transmitter of the information was known as “the contact personality” or “the sleeping subject.” His name was never revealed.

Over the next few years the subjects covered included the nature of God, the structure of the universe and its divinely planned development; the angelic hierarchy; life on other planets; life after death; the origin and history of our world (known as Urantia) that correlated science and religion; the life and teachings of Jesus; and our eternal destiny as citizens of a friendly universe.

One Forumite, Clarence Bowman, kept diaries of his attendance from November 11, 1923, until December 1958. Though not detailed, they have helped us to pin down dates and clear up some mysteries and myths. They are available as The Urantia Diaries of Clarence Bowman 1923-1958 and an abridged version, The History of the Urantia Papers - as revealed in the Forum diaries of Clarence Bowman.

In 1941 the writer Harold Sherman and his wife Martha were introduced to the revelations by Harry Loose, a former Forumite with mysterious connections to the phenomena, and they joined the Forum. To study the material more closely they moved to Chicago and lived across the street at 530 Diversey Parkway from May 1942 until May 1947. Their fifteen handwritten notebooks describing the Forum sessions and the teachings themselves survive as one of the two firsthand records we have. They are available as The Urantia Diaries of Harold and Martha Sherman, in six volumes.

In 1955 the completed series of papers was published as The Urantia Book. Since 2002, after a decades-long battle for control, the text is in the public domain.

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