With the support of the Northern Bible Society and a grant from the Willis E. and Emma E. O'Connor Foundation, Kathryn A. Martin Library staff designed and unveiled an interactive touch-screen kiosk that showcases the history, selected bibles, unusual languages, and other aspects of the Collection through high-resolution images and audio narration by Donald J. Pearce, who served as curator of the Collection from 1989 to 2001.
The dedication plaque reads: Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet and a Light Unto My Path. This interactive Kiosk has been created through the efforts of the UMD Library Staff, the Willis E. and Emma E. O'Connor Foundation, and the Northern Bible Society. The Board of Directors of the Northern Bible Society is pleased to have worked in a cooperative effort in making this program and facility available. The information contained in the kiosk materials is intended to be education and informative. Information has been collated, organized, prepared, and presented by the UMD Library Staff. Funding and assistance has been provided by the Willis E. and Emma E. O'Connor Foundation and the Northern Bible Society. The Ramseyer Northern Bible Society Bible Collection is a rare jewel whose availability to the public generally has been greatly increased by this effort. Northern Bible Society Board of Directors: Daniel H. Mundt, Sr. President; William D. Anderson; Joan Cressweller, Robert C. Flaischmann, Theodore L. Hall, Forence Stillman.
The kiosk's ease-of-use makes it appealing to those of all ages. One touch to the screen starts it, and you can sit back and watch the presentation like a movie. You also can touch large buttons on the screen to navigate the topics in any order you like. The oval buttons on the left are the main topics, and the rectangle buttons contain chapters within each main topic. The online version of the kiosk is here. Or you may read the transcript here.
Left to right: Paul Ramseyer, (great nephew of Henry Ramseyer)
with wife Grace, and Donald Pearce, kiosk narrator
Church and lay groups, societies and clubs are cordially invited to organize special visits to the Ramseyer-Northern Bible Society Museum Collection. A member of the Library staff will give commentaries on the material held, by prior arrangement. Call 218-726-8102 for more information.
The following videos are conversions of the original Kiosk flash files. This was done by Sean Froyd, and captioning was edited and reviewed by Nicholas Kolas.