Hello. In answer to your first question re:the Bible provenance, yes, you need a photocopy of the front page of the Bible. The genealogists will want to know the record page was contemporary to when the Bible was published. This means you can't have that record info from 1850 in a 1900 Bible. Your other option would be to type an affidavit for your relative to swear to with a notary, reciting the facts she handwrote for you and saying that the original Bible is in her possession but too fragile to copy. A member of my chapter submitted a Bible record in this fashion. Another used a digital photograph of the cover and title page, photocopied onto a sheet of paper and submitted with the copy of the record page. One has to be creative in getting the record copied when the record is fragile.

I was faced with the same question as you re:the Diary. I had a hand written ledger of letters sent home by a soldier, done by his wife. I had a copy of one of the letters in the soldier's handwriting. The text was exactly the same, but much more legible in the wife's hand than the soldier's. DAR took my copy of soldier's version and wife's full transcript as a first hand record. I had to provide a cover sheet with how I came to hold these letters and where the originals were, much like an affidavit of record. If you have the original and transcription or can identify where the original is, you can at least try submitting photocopies of both and see if the genealogists currently accept this kind of documentation.

Good luck!
Mary Duffe, DAR VIS Look-Up Board Volunteer