A metro Atlanta man has painstakingly restored a Bible that belonged to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. so it can be used in Monday’s presidential inauguration.
Gordon Ponsford, who lives in the Acworth area of Georgia, was commissioned by the King Center to prepare the leather-bound King James Bible for the president’s swearing-in ceremony.
In a symbolic milestone, Obama will take the oath of office for his second term with his hand placed not on a single Bible, but two – the one owned by Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln’s.
Ponsford, 54, a sought-after conservator, told theGrio he performed relatively minor “stabilization” work using adhesives to attach the loose leather to the slain civil rights leader’s Bible. King’s Bible was then shipped to D.C. in a traveling box constructed by the National Library Bindery in Georgia.
“It’s an honor to think that that Bible was in King’s hands at one time and has now been passed onto Obama,” said Ponsford. “No amount of words can describe how thrilled I am to have worked on this project.”
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Source: The Grio.
