— “The workings of the human heart are the...

The goal of this Tumblr is to bring our Archives and Special Collections to life, one item at a time. 

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On February 20^th, 2014, we spoke with the University Archivist, Craig Tuttle.

The topic: the Chesnutt family Bible that is housed in the Archives and Special Collections Department on the 4^th Floor of Chesnutt Library.

 Charles W. Chesnutt played a significant role during the nascent stages of what is now Fayetteville State University. And among other accomplishments, Chesnutt is regarded as a forerunner of Black American literature.

In today’s post, Mr. Tuttle discusses the importance of the family Bible, education in the South, the process of tanning leather, the historical energy that archived documents possess, as well as a few other tidbits about the archival process.

(The text set off in bold is a transcript of the conversation we had with Mr. Tuttle in Archives.)

It was the Chesnutt family Bible and they made notations there [in the Bible] in terms of births, marriages, and deaths…which, you know, with family Bibles, that’s pretty much what people did as a way of documenting important dates in the family. They would either do it in the back or the front.

Often times, [Bibles were] the only book that you would find in a house. And still even during that period of time, a lot of people were either illiterate or had an extremely limited scope in terms of what they could read or write. Often times, they could read or write a few basic things and sign their name…and that would be it. The South wasn’t big on education, except if you had a lot of “dough.” Then, of course.

But I think each one (Bible) is distinctive in that it holds the information with regard to the family that owned it…They may be the same print Bible, but each one gives you different feel, a different sense. And maybe that’s just me, but I think items do kind of hold something of the energy of those who have used it. But I could be called daft because of that; I still feel that that’s the case.

Does that Bible have family names in it?

It does. It doesn’t have as much as I thought it would, but it obviously has been used well.

And, of course, few people, even now, know the proper care. So the fact that it has lasted as long as it has is really quite remarkable. I think it speaks to the quality of the Bible to begin with because the paper is pretty decent; it’s not absolute top-grade, but it’s not bottom- grade either. [The paper] is more middle to high in paper quality and the leather binding is pretty good too. And it’s not the vegetable tanning that was used later on by the mid-1870s. Those are the ones where you find the reddish, brown [dye] that will come off…and it has the powder—that’s from the vegetable tanning that is a low-grade tanning process of leather. It was done on the cheap and they could make a big profit. But this [Chesnutt family Bible] is quality leather. And it would have cost significantly more for that reason.

Mr. Tuttle explained the value that objects obtain over time and when they are used for historical events. He gave the example of a pen that President may have used to sign legislation being placed in a valuable display.

Their value, their distinctiveness has been transformed by that one thing alone. Now, it’s no different than that Bible out there. And I think in the case of the Bible, even more so, because it was being handled and used, and been a part of someone’s life far, far longer than just a piece of legislation. So I think that when you interact with documents for as long as I have, you get to realize that they are distinct and they have had a life of their own in a way. And when you organize and put them together, you’re going to help building on that energy. It’s a marvelous way of learning a living…it really is.

You can visit the Archives and Special Collections here.