Typewritten Statement by Woodrow Wilson on the Bible, Framed

Collection ID: OBJ.000397.3
Type: Papers
Date: 1917
Geography: United States
Language: English
Medium: Printed on Paper
Dimensions: 6.5 × 7.5 in. (16.5 × 19.1 cm); Frame: 11 × 12.5 in. (27.9 × 31.8 cm)
Exhibit Location: Not on View

The United States entered World War I in April 1917. As the nation mobilized its forces, President Woodrow Wilson issued this statement about the importance of reading the Bible. “The Bible is the word of life,” he writes, urging people to read “not just little snatches here and there, but long passages that will really be the road to the heart of it.” The message was included as a preface in pocket New Testaments that were produced by the YMCA and distributed to soldiers during the war.

Written in 1917 by the Office of the President of the United States, Washington, DC. Acquired before 2017 by RR Auctions, Boston, Massachusetts;[1] Purchased at auction in 2017 by Lee and Beth Leibold, private collectors, Highland Village, Texas; Donated in 2017 to Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC.

Notes: [1] RR Auctions, Fine Autographs & Artifacts Featuring Science and Technology, June 14, 2017 (Boston: RR Auctions, 2017), 64. RR Auctions could provide no further information (Email from RR Auctions to Museum of the Bible, May 7, 2019).