Springsteen Family Bible

This month’s featured item is not a rock relic, but a historic artifact that dates back several centuries.

The Springsteen Family Bible was discovered at an estate sale in the winter of 2021 and donated that March to the Bruce Springsteen Archives.

Sue Griffin was attending a multi-day estate sale at 3 Van Schoick Road in Middletown New Jersey. She had arrived on the last day of the sale when the price of the items had been significantly reduced and noticed a bag of books on a shelf in the library. When she viewed the contents she spotted the small Bible. Upon opening the cover she noticed several pages of birth dates and marriages listed, all with the last name of Springsteen. Sue astutely purchased the bag of books for $5.

Sue did some prelminary research, realized the significance of her find and reached out to the Bruce Springsteen Archives generously offering to donate the Springsteen Family Bible to our collection. We were able to authenticate the names and dates featured in the Bible due to recent research conducted by the Monmouth County Historical Association for our Bruce Springsteen: His Hometown exhibit along with additional research from our Archives team and from Sue Griffin.

Artifacts and assessments of historic documents such as these provide us a comprehensive look into the family that Bruce so often refers to in song. Additional research shows that Bruce was certainly not the first guitarist in his family.