Pages for the ages
BY SUSAN HYLTON World Staff Writer
Monday, September 17, 2007
Restorer to breathe new life into old Bible
FORT GIBSON -- Zbigniew Niebieszczanski has restored many old
and ornate leather-bound Bibles in
his career, but never one as old as
the Brown family Bible.
It is in good shape for being 197
years old. But it will be even better
for the future Brown generations
when Niebieszczanski plies the
unique book binding and restoration trade he studied in his native
Poland.
The Brown family Bible, published in 1810, includes four pages
of hand-written family records including a marriage dating back to
1789.
Tulsan Susan (Brown) Haas said
the Bible originally belonged to her
great-great-grandmother Helen
March Brown, whose husband was
a bead merchant in New York City.
Niebieszczanski said it may be
the oldest Bible in Oklahoma.
"It's amazing," he said.
Niebieszczanski will start the
work by removing the book's broken spine and replacing it with new
one.
"I have over 4,000 customers and
no single complaint -- because I take care of the spine," he said.
He will redo the cover with the
same kind of leather and embossing
as the original.
The crumbled edges of family records will be coated with a water/rice powder mixture applied
with a special Japanese brush. Then
it will be adhered to Japanese tissues.
The Bible found its way to Haas'
great-grandfather Ernest Clement
Brown and his son Ernest Clement
Brown Jr. (her grandfather) in Minneapolis.
Family in Indiana and Chicago
had the Bible at one time. It even
went back to New York City in the
care of Haas' aunt at one point. But
finally, the torch was passed to another aunt, who lived in Tulsa and
was passionate about genealogy.
"It is a well-traveled Bible," Haas
said. "I really was not aware of it as a
kid growing up because it was not in
Tulsa."
When her aunt moved into an Alzheimer's unit, one of her cousins
happened to ask Haas if she wanted
the genealogy boxes. In one of
those boxes was the Brown family
Bible.
"I was stunned," Haas said. "For about five years nobody knew
where it was. I knew about the history of the Bible from the genealogy
things I'd done. I knew about it but I
thought it was lost."
Haas has found numerous family
records as a genealogist, but there's nothing like reading her great-great-grandmother's handwriting.
"It's probably a highlight for a genealogist to be able to have that
kind of link with the past," she said.
She's also proud that the Bible
represents a faith tradition in the
Brown family stretching back nearly 200 years.
Once Haas gets her restored Bible back, the names of the current
Brown generation can be entered.
Niebieszczanski has operated Artur International Bookbinding in
Fort Gibson for 14 years but has
been a book binder for 35 years.
The business is named after his
son Artur, 25, who has studied under his father and plans to carry on
the tradition.
Niebieszczanski said it is a dying
art in the computer era.
"But the book will never be replaced by any technology," Niebieszczanski said. "I'm 55 and I
think I can work the rest of my life."
Web site:
www.tulsaworld.com/biblerepair
Susan Hylton 581-8381
susan.hylton@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
The damaged binding and pages are part of a Bible that is 197 years old and is being restored by Zbigniew Niebieszczanski, who has
been repairing old books at his Fort Gibson business for 14 years. The Bible belongs to a Tulsa family.
The damaged binding and pages are part of a Bible that is 197 years old and is being restored by Zbigniew Niebieszczanski, who has
been repairing old books at his Fort Gibson business for 14 years. The Bible belongs to a Tulsa family.
Zbigniew Niebieszczanski shows
a 197-year-old family Bible
belonging to a Tulsa family that
he is restoring. It may be the
oldest Bible in the state, he said.
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