Eye-o-Graphic Holyland Bible Travelogue

The Famous Rapid System Questionnaire

This unusual example of Biblical instruction utilizes the Eye-Graphic Bible System, an educational device first patented by A.F. Futterer in 1916. This is an example of the 5th edition, compiled by the ‘Golden Ark Explorer’ and copyrighted in 1918. The contents present the reader with a deluge of 200 questions that utilize different ‘travelogue maps’ (not present), designed to be presented by a teacher to the classroom. Instructions on page 15 outline the efficacy of the method. “By so doing they will see it, hear it, and read it, to help fasten the facts through the Eargate, and the Eye-gate, and they WILL REMEMBER BECAUSE THEY CANNOT FORGET. INSIST ON LOOKING AT MAPS AT ALL TIMES DURING DRILL.” The booklet concludes with one of Futterer’s maps, ‘A Trip Through the Bible World From Adam in Eden to Paul in Rome.’

The author of the volume, Antonia Frederick Futterer, was a Methodist minister and adventurer born in the late 19th century, known for his passionate interest in biblical archaeology. Inspired to ministry by a near-death experience, he traveled extensively in the Middle East searching for the Ark of the Covenant and may be one of the inspirations behind the character of Indiana Jones. Upon returning to the United States, he founded the Holyland Bible Society in Los Angeles, California, in the 1920s to showcase artifacts and replicas from his travels – it can still be visited today as the Holyland Exhibition. Though they were popular and necessitated several reprints, Futterer’s works are scarce on the market and in institutional collections.

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