Thursday, March 5, 2020

‘Washington Inaugural Bible on display’

     
New-York Historical Society opened an exhibit a few weeks ago where you can see the King James Bible on which George Washington took his first presidential oath of office. “Meet the Presidents” has no posted closing date, but I figure the artifacts now on display will be succeeded by others planned for rotation, so check it out.

Courtesy St. John’s Lodge No. 1 Foundation, Inc.

The Bible, as I’m sure you know, is owned by St. John’s Lodge 1 in New York City. It was the lodge’s altar Bible on April 30, 1789 when Washington was to be sworn into office at what we now call Federal Hall on Wall Street. Just before the ceremony, it was decided to add a Bible to the proceedings, so Jacob Morton, Master of the lodge, retrieved this VSL for use in administering the oath of office. Read more about this here.

For more on this exhibit, click here. To help the foundation preserve this historic treasure, click here.
     

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