Morgan Monks
Informant: Jerry Morgan
Place Collected: Grandfather's home


Title: An Aging Text


Genre: Artifact

Informant:
The person whom I found my artifact from was my Grandfather on my mother's side. He had been given the family bible form his family and had been keeping it in storage.

Context:
In order to collect this Bible I asked my mother where the Bible was because I had seen it when I was younger but it had been a long time since I had last seen it.  I then asked my mom to locate it and it happened to be at my Grandfather's house. He brought it over to my mom and she took some pictures and sent them to me. She also gave me a little backstory of the family bible (mostly which my grandfather had told her)

Text:
The item is an old family bible from the early 1800's with a family history in the front pages. It is a rather average bible from that time period with no special decoration considering my ancestors purchased the book either right before or soon after their voyage to the America's. It also has inserts of birth, death, and marriage dates.

Texture:
I feel like the age of this book really gives it a lot of texture. When you flip the pages the old material and the age on the spine really lends to a sense of awe and curiosity when it comes to antiques. It is crazy to think that this book has lived over wars and famine and plague when the owner's may have not.

Meaning:
This family bible really means a lot to me not because of the bible, but because of the records inside of it. As much as I love looking at things of the past-- because I love to look at them and just wonder about the stories it could hold-- It really meant a lot to be able to look at the names of my ancestors written with a quill and ink. It made me really appreciative of their pilgrimage and the opportunities that their struggles and trials have given to me. I now want to study more about these ancestors and find more about my history and past.