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Museum object · Sacred and Ceremonial Objects

Holy Bible from New Bethany Baptist Church

1970

Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America

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Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

Hardback copy of the Bible. Cover is black, with incised decorations as borders (resembles an illustrated manuscript kind of style). Silver stickers on top of front cover, spell out "HOLY / BIBLE". Interior pages extremely thing, white with black type. Has a built in red ribbon bookmark that extends approximately 3 1/2 in. past the book pages. Presentation/Owner information page is filled out with black pen, and reads "This Bible was presented to / Rev. Dr. John J. Koger / on the 4th day of November 1979 / at New Bethany Baptist Church / by William H. Mathis / On the occasion of / 44th Anniversary of church". A chunk of pages (573-586) are paper clipped together. A couple scraps of paper with handwritten notes are stuck between pages.

Sources & collection details

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture — original record ↗

Source collection ↗

Catalog metadata · CC0 · Source checked 2026-10-13

Catalog reference: 2014.260ab

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