Collecting ephemera has always been one of my favorite pastimes. My history of lasers and holography ephemera collection amounted to in excess of 20,000 pieces at one point in time. My Christian based ephemera collection started as a sub-set of my laser and holography collection, focusing primarily on religious-based 3D imaging technologies (holograms, lenticulars, etc.).
And so it continues with my Wonders of the Bible collection. With this selection, we see that it is tied in to the Declaration of Independence, which is the theme of this blog for the month of June 2020.
"For the Love of Christ and Country. I hereby make my Declaration of Independence against King Alcohol. I pledge myself never to use intoxicating liquor as a drink, and I promise to do all I can to end the DRINK HBIT and the LIQUOR TRAFFIC.
Then there is a place for a signature, a date (note the 190_) and place.
It is a lot of fun to collect ephemera ... which is, for the most part, collecting items that otherwise would have been thrown away by others. In fact, before the rather official title of "ephemera" came to be, these type of collectibles were already known as "throw aways". Lately, the term ephemera has taken on a much more broad range of meaning, and includes items that, originally, would never have been considered ephemeral. But, that's just how it goes, I guess. For me, personally, I still focus my ephemera collecting on the more traditional definition: throw aways.
I do hope that the Holy Bible finds inclusion in the official 2026 semiquincentennial celebration(s). It has in most other anniversaries: 50, 100, 150, 200. In fact, the America's Freedom Train from the Bicentennial Celebration had a Bible on board, and a dedicated display for religious freedom in America.
In the meantime, I'm working hard to prepare a great exhibit and presentation that will begin taking place already by Fall 2020: "Christ, Creation, and the Declaration of Independence".
