Howdy! Sorry for the long blog silence. It’s not that I’m lacking for topics or material to share with you all, but I’ve been busy “behind the scenes” at the Clark House for the last month or so.

In particular, I’ve been working on two big projects. JCH executive director Nina Look and I have just published the Spring | May 2025 issue of the JCH Newsletter, and Nina and I have been collaborating with JCH intern Nicole Buerosse on a major, archival-quality upgrade for the preservation and display of the museum’s irreplaceable Bonniwell Family Bible.

Scaffolding at the Clark House? What’s up with that? Read on for more info…

The big Spring Newsletter is here!

The Spring | May 2025 JCH Newsletter comprises eight lavishly-illustrated pages of Clark House news, updates, and coming events information. You can read and save the whole thing by either clicking here, or by clicking over to the Newsletters page of the official JCH website.

As you can see there is a lot to do at the Clark House in 2025, whether as a visitor, volunteer, or donor. If you’d like to lend a hand, join us for our Spring Clean Up Day at the museum, Saturday, May 17, from Noon until 3:00 p.m. Click on the poster for all the info.

Bonniwell Bible news

The Spring 2025 newsletter has a brief article about our JCH Bonniwell Family Bible archival project, but we had to cut some of the piece for space reasons. Here’s the whole article, with both illustrations, for your enjoyment.

A NEW HOME FOR THE JCH BIBLE

Don’t worry! The museum’s oldest treasure is not going anywhere. But our historic Bonniwell Family Bible is getting a new, archival-quality display case and set of adjustable book supports. JCH Historian Reed Perkins, assisted by museum studies intern Nicole Buerosse, has been at work on this project since mid-2024, researching the best archival handling and display practices so that our 440-year-old family Bible will be preserved for generations to come. Our new, custom-made display case will arrive at the museum later this Spring.

Reed has also been studying the history of this unique volume, and has been discovering many interesting details about its history and provenance. He will also photograph the entire book so that he can make a full bibliographic description of our Bible and its contents, which includes Old and New Testaments, the Apocypha, Two Right Profitable […] Concordances, an edition of the Metrical Psalms, and three centuries of Bonniwell family birth, marriage, death, and other inscriptions.

Above: Bonniwell Family Bible, end of second “Right Profitable… Concordance” showing part of Barker’s large printer’s device, followed by the manuscript record of the birth of Alfred Tibbett Bonniwell: Alfred Tibbett Bonniwell was born April 1th [sic] 1826 / and was Baptized and Registered in Chatham Church [Kent, England]

In 1851 Alfred married Mary Clark’s youngest sister, Sarah Turck. Mary and Sarah’s father, Mequon pioneer and sometime Baptist preacher Peter Turck, performed the ceremony.

And what’s up with the scaffolding?

The Friends of the Jonathan Clark House Board of Directors have embarked on a comprehensive preservation plan. The goal of the plan’s three current projects is to preserve and maintain the house’s 1848 historical integrity, ensuring its longevity as a cultural landmark and educational resource for the community. Each project is essential for the physical upkeep of the building and for safeguarding our community’s identity and heritage for future generations. For more details, see page 4 of our May Newsletter, or click the image, below.

You can be a Local History Preservationist! Your financial assistance—a donation of any size—would be greatly appreciated.

Those are the Clark House headlines for today. I’ll be back with some new historical blogging shortly. See you then.

Postscript

In the “credit where credit is due” department, I should note that much of the text, many of the photos, and almost all of the (non-biblical) facts in this blog post—and in the May newsletter—were collected, written and provided by JCH executive director Nina J. Look. Thanks, Nina!