Treasured Artifacts of the Garden State

GSL's online museum!


GSL asked New Jersey's history groups, houses, museums, and archives to identify as many as three objects from their collections that they most-treasured for their significance to local or state history, or that reflected the Garden State's influence on American and world history. The result was a wonderfully diverse collection of artifacts!

These have been assembled here in GSL's online museum. Remember, these are only a small number of the remarkable objects on display at the participating institutions! Please go pay them a visit and let them know you learned about them on the GSL website.

If you would like to add to this collection, please email GSL. And, if you like what you see, please consider making a donation to help keep this page operating!


Images used here are with the permission of the participating organizations. All rights are reserved by them and no permission to reproduce or use them is granted or implied.

The Pageant of the Paterson Strike

A prized object in the American Labor Museum's collection is an original program from the Pageant of the Paterson Silk Strike, performed by the Paterson silk mill workers themselves on the stage of (the former) Madison Square Garden on June 7th, 1913. The Pageant represented a collaboration between New York City intellectuals, artist and "bohemians" and the workers. It's purpose was to raise funds for the strike's relief effort. Though it failed in this purpose, it proved to be the greatest effort to get publicity for the strikers' struggle for an eight-hour day, safer working conditions and an end to child labor.

The program's powerful cover image was created by the artist Robert Edmund Jones. The multi-page program contains photographs and essays explaining the events of the strike. There are also advertisements on the back cover.

This collection piece is currently safely stored in our Collection Room.

Thank you for the invitation to share this information with you and for the fine work that you do. 

American LaborMuseum/
Botto HouseNational Landmark
83 Norwood Street, Haledon, NJ 07508
www.labormuseum.net

The American Labor Museum is housed in the 1908 Botto House National Landmark. The Botto House was built for and owned by Italian immigrant and silk mill worker, Pietro Botto and his wife Maria. The museum features changing exhibits, restored period rooms and Old World Gardens that reflect the lifestyle of an immigrant family of the early 1900s, a free lending library, and a Museum Store. Exhibit receptions, lectures, poetry readings, teachers'workshops and other special events are offered. The Museum's education program provides on-site field-trip programs, including Millworker/Millowner and Labor Education Tour, and virtual field-trips via videoconferencing.

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Morro Castle Monument

The only monument ever erected to the Morro Castle was provided by the Asbury Park Historical Society, and is located in a grassy area slightly south of the Paramount Theater just off of the city’s famous boardwalk. This black granite memorial is a tribute not only to those who lost their lives in this fiery maritime disaster, but also to those brave souls of the Jersey Coast who rushed to the aid of the passengers and crew. This shipwreck may be thought of as the Titanic of its generation, and like that previous tragedy, resulted in many improvements which improved cruise ship safety for future passengers. These included: automatic fire doors, use of fire retardant materials, ship-wide fire alarms, the necessity of emergency generators, mandatory crew training in fire-fighting procedures and making fire drills a standard shipboard procedure. On September 8, 1934, the Morro Castle, while returning from a cruise to Havana, Cuba was en route to New York City. Under mysterious circumstances, it caught fire and burned off of the coast of southern Monmouth County. There were 137 deaths and 413 passengers and crew were rescued. While the Morro Castle was being towed to New York harbor, the towline broke, and the ship drifted and beached itself just north of Asbury Park’s Convention Hall. Initially, curiosity seekers paid 35 cents to see the wreck, and more than 100,000 people came to see the burned-out hull. The City of Asbury Park gave $7,750.00 of this money to various charities, which included the West Side Mission on Springwood Avenue. This attraction proved to be so popular that traffic had to be rerouted as one-way at the beachfront’s two main thoroughfares, Ocean and Kingsley Avenues. This was the origin of Asbury Park’s famous “circuit”. The Morro Castle disaster was a huge economic boon to the city during the Great Depression. Those looking for an inexpensive day trip came by train and automobile, spending money at city businesses which were struggling through hard times. The remains of the cruise ship were beached close enough to the shore that visitors could walk out in shallow water and actually touch the hull. The wreck was finally removed and salvaged in 1935. The Morro Castle Memorial Monument, an important artifact of New Jersey history, was dedicated to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the tragedy on September 8, 2009. A program at the Paramount Theater that included contemporary newsreels and remembrances from survivors, rescuers and their family members was presented that evening. An annual commemoration, also sponsored by the historical society, is held annually at the monument.

Asbury Park Historical Society
P.O. Box 543, Asbury Park, NJ 07712
http://www.aphistoricalsociety.org


The mission of the Asbury Park Historical Society is to advance the understanding, appreciation, preservation and restoration of anything of historical value to the City of Asbury Park, New Jersey through the collection, preservation, restoration, exhibition and archiving of artifacts and documents related to the founding and continuing evolution of the City of Asbury Park; the restoration and preservation of landmarks, buildings and sites that exemplify the City’s historically diverse character and standing as a premier New Jersey Shore resort; the development and presentation of educational, entertainment and social programs that highlight significant aspects of the City’s history as a center of life, culture and business on the New Jersey shore; and the researching, drafting and publication of historic or new articles, journals, books or newsletters and the development and production of audio and/or video recordings that document life in Asbury Park.

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Rainbow Room Neon Sign

Although Asbury Park has been the location of gay bars and clubs since the1930s, its importance as a destination for LGBT individuals grew significantly during the 1970s. This was due not only to Asbury Park’s renowned beaches, but also plummeting property values. Vintage homes and hotels could be had for a song, and many were purchased by gay people from New York City. These renovations were the beginning of the present rebirth of Asbury Park as a destination for recreation, music and dining, as well as a close-knit residential community. The Albion Hotel, formerly on the corner of Second and Ocean Avenues, opened in 1941, and was partially built with steel from the 1939 World's Fair. Rumor has it that this steel was from the French Pavilion, which was located on Rainbow Avenue at the Fair. Its nightclub, The Rainbow Room, came later, probably in the 1950s. In 1981, Carol Torre purchased this former grande dame of a hotel, which like so many others, had fallen on hard times. It was renamed the Key West Hotel and a restaurant and nightclub (Over the Rainbow) was added on the main level. Thus, the Rainbow Room was restored and used for special events and banquets. In a series of happy coincidences, the rainbow is emblematic of the LGBT community. The hotel’s most iconic feature was a fourteen foot long neon sign, which was able to survive its demolition in 2001 by being taken to the city’s public works yard. Don Stine, president of the Asbury Park Historical Society, was able to purchase this important artifact from the city on the condition that it be restored and displayed in a public space. Of course, the correct restoration of any piece of history is rarely inexpensive. The restoration of the sign took two years and $15,000.00. The funds were provided by a joint fundraising effort by Asbury Park’s LGBT community and the Asbury Park Historical Society. The actual restoration was lovingly carried out by Robert Ingui, of Artistic Neon in Ridgewood, New York, a multi-generational shop whose other restoration credits include numerous other historic neon signs. The Rainbow Room sign has been restored to its former shining glory, and is prominently displayed in Asbury Park’s own gateway-the city’s James J. Howard Transportation Center on Main Street. It now serves as a beacon of tolerance and optimism for all who visit “The Jewel of the Jersey Shore.” 

Asbury Park Historical Society
P.O. Box 543, Asbury Park, NJ 07712
http://www.aphistoricalsociety.org


The mission of the Asbury Park Historical Society is to advance the understanding, appreciation, preservation and restoration of anything of historical value to the City of Asbury Park, New Jersey through the collection, preservation, restoration, exhibition and archiving of artifacts and documents related to the founding and continuing evolution of the City of Asbury Park; the restoration and preservation of landmarks, buildings and sites that exemplify the City’s historically diverse character and standing as a premier New Jersey Shore resort; the development and presentation of educational, entertainment and social programs that highlight significant aspects of the City’s history as a center of life, culture and business on the New Jersey shore; and the researching, drafting and publication of historic or new articles, journals, books or newsletters and the development and production of audio and/or video recordings that document life in Asbury Park.

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The Stephen Crane House

Saved from demolition in 1995, the Stephen Crane House is Asbury Park's link to great American literature. This modest house was built about 1877 and was then-known as "Arbutus Cottage." It was bought by widow Mary Helen Peck Crane in 1883. Stephen Crane (1871-1900), born in Newark, was the youngest of Mrs. Crane's fourteen children. He was enrolled in the Asbury Park Public School system, and it was there that he wrote his first fully-developed short story. Later he worked as a journalist, filing stories from Asbury Park for a New York newspaper. After spending his last summer at the Jersey shore in 1892, he left to begin in earnest his writing career in New York City. Three years later his second novel, his masterwork, The Red Badge of Courage, was published to great acclaim in America and Europe. Despite his short life, Stephen Crane was a prolific essayist, poet, short story writer, novelist, and war correspondent. He died in Germany at the age of 28 and is buried in Hillside, New Jersey. Unfortunately, his birthplace in Newark was torn down many decades ago, and the Stephen Crane House in Asbury Park is the only remaining residence of the great author. Asbury Park provided the cultural hotbed of class differences, racial prejudice, and religious extremism that Stephen observed and referenced in his writing. Mrs. Crane, a staunch Methodist was active as president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union of Asbury Park and Ocean Grove.

Asbury Park Historical Society
P.O. Box 543, Asbury Park, NJ 07712
http://www.aphistoricalsociety.org


The mission of the Asbury Park Historical Society is to advance the understanding, appreciation, preservation and restoration of anything of historical value to the City of Asbury Park, New Jersey through the collection, preservation, restoration, exhibition and archiving of artifacts and documents related to the founding and continuing evolution of the City of Asbury Park; the restoration and preservation of landmarks, buildings and sites that exemplify the City’s historically diverse character and standing as a premier New Jersey Shore resort; the development and presentation of educational, entertainment and social programs that highlight significant aspects of the City’s history as a center of life, culture and business on the New Jersey shore; and the researching, drafting and publication of historic or new articles, journals, books or newsletters and the development and production of audio and/or video recordings that document life in Asbury Park.

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c1930s Paddleboard (restored)

The object the Avalon Public Free Library History Center considers most-treasured to its History Center is their circa 1930s paddleboard. Before the advent of all the new lifesaving methods and materials, the lifeguards in Avalon used this paddleboard for rescues. As the decades past, and the lifesaving crew of Avalon modernized, the paddleboard ended up being stored in a garage for some 50-odd years. By the time it made its way to the History Center, it was in a state of near disrepair, with a totally rotted rear panel, and filled with holes in the front. After undertaking a conservation project, with the help of a master shipwright, Timo White of the Tuckerton Seaport Museum, the paddleboard was restored to its former glory of the early 20th century. Other objects in the collection definitely have larger price tags and "flash" value, but nothing so captures the spirit of the resort community of Avalon like this lifesaving paddleboard. Crowning the conservation work was an appearance of the paddleboard on Philadelphia CBS News 3's program, Kathy Orr at the Shore. It felt like the full circle had been completed.

Avalon Public Free Library History Center
215 39th Street, Avalon, NJ 08202
www.avalonhistorycenter.com


The Avalon Free Public Library History Center, formerly the Avalon Museum, serves as an informational and cultural Gateway to Avalon for all residents and visitors. The Center's visitors explore Avalon’s past, present, and future in visually exciting, intellectually accessible, and emotionally evocative new exhibits and public programs. The History Center is an educational institution that serves to engage and inspire a large and diverse audience with links to the past, understanding in the present, and guidance for the future by preserving regional history and presenting the American experience with a southern New Jersey influence, particularly Avalon.

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TIROS Weather Satellite Antenna &
First Television Picture from Space

We may have the largest artifact. It is the TIROS weather satellite antenna. It is 60 feet across by Six stories tall. It was built in 1957 for command and control of the Television Infra Red Observation System from Camp Evans in Wall, NJ. The first photo sent from the satellite was developed into a photo (see next artifact below!). It was so great, the first photo was flown to Washington for presentation to President Eisenhower. A few days later the discovery was made that hurricanes could be seen from space. Hurricane tracking was born in NJ on April 9th, 1960. Since that time hundreds of thousands of persons owe their lives worldwide to the early warnings from satellites.

Camp Evans / InfoAge Center
2201 Marconi Road, Wall, NJ 07719
www.campevans.org

Camp Evans was once the 1914 Marconi Belmar Trans-Atlantic Wireless station, opened world-wide wireless communications, played an important role in WWI Trans-Atlantic communications, the first campus of The King's College, played a key role the development of radar as an effective WWII secret weapon, opened space communications in 1946, was a  cold war technology site, a nuclear weapons research site, visited by Senator Joseph McCarthy as he suspected a communist spy ring may have been operating here, the birthplace of satellite based hurricane tracking, was a pre-NASA space research site, and is a black history site. Now also home of the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

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1860 New Jersey Topo Map

Chester Library is home to an 1860 wall map of New Jersey that was conserved in 2012 and has become the centerpiece of the library. Because it was published right before the Civil War, the map is a vital document of our state’s prewar history. It also is the last, and arguably most important, work of William Kitchell, the second State Geologist of New Jersey. He was a Morris County native who died shortly after the map was published. Created from the State Geological Survey, U.S. Coast Survey, and surveys by civil engineer G. Morgan Hopkins, the map features illustrated views of Camden, the Delaware Water Gap, New Brunswick, Newark, Paterson, and Trenton. Mapped segments of New Jersey’s borders with Delaware, New York, and Pennsylvania, as well as the coastline, provide remarkable detail of the state’s roads and topography at that time. Additionally, viewers can see street map insets of Belvidere, Beverly, Bordentown, Burlington, Camden, Elizabeth, Jersey City/Hoboken, Morristown, Mount Holly, New Brunswick, New Jersey, Newark, Newton, Orange, Paterson, Rahway, Salem, and Trenton. The map also features a meteorological map of the state and a “Time Dial” showing the time in select cities when it is 12:00 in Trenton. The time dial is of particular interest to researchers exploring time measurement prior to the introduction of Standard Time in 1883. For several years, the wall map (approximately 80 x 70 inches, framed) had been in rolled storage. When unrolled in September of 2011, the map showed damage and wear from age and handling. However, Library Director Lesley Karczewski says, “As soon as we saw the amount of information shown on the map, it didn’t take us long to decide that the map had to be conserved and exhibited for our patrons to view.” Schiff brought the map to the conservators at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia (CCAHA) who cleaned it, removed the varnish, removed the original linen backing and replaced it with fine Japanese paper, in-painted areas with content loss (except in cartography), and mounted the map in a custom frame with museum-quality, ultra-violet light protecting acrylic. The CCAHA also digitized the map for Chester Library. The link to find out more about the map and to see a digitized version of it is here.

Chester Library
250 W. Main Street, Chester, NJ 07930
www.chesterlib.org/local-history-room/


The Chester Library serves the residents of Chester Borough and Chester Township, New Jersey. The library houses a collection of over 70,000 books, DVDs, CDs, video games, audio books and e-books. In addition, it offers a wide array of adult, teen and children's programs, public computers, online research services, and community meeting rooms.

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"The Honor Roll" Christmas 1943

Other well-loved prized artifacts in the Library’s collections include The Honor Roll newsletters. Discovered in a library office file drawer, The Honor Roll newsletters detail the lives of Chester’s young servicemen and women during World War II. The newsletters also document the history of a small town during 1943-1945. Originally composed by popular local English teacher and active Chester volunteer Mae Call, the newsletters were sold locally for a nickel to raise funds to purchase items for the soldiers such as candy. The digitized newsletters are accessible through the Chester Library web site at: http://chesterlib.com/local-history-room/finding-aids/the-honor-roll-newsletter-collection/. These touching and humorous newsletters feature local news (weddings, births, deaths, moves, home sales, gossip, and general news), photographs of the servicemen and women, their families, friends, and local events, humorous illustrations, newspaper clippings, pin-up girls, comics, and the Honor Roll listing of all servicemen from Chester. Call also included the mailing addresses of servicemen so readers could write to their local heroes. Additionally, she printed the stories of soldiers who had been killed or injured in the line of duty and where they had been hospitalized, as well as local residents’ ill health and/or injuries. Because Call was so specific in her descriptions, researchers can easily follow the events and people of Chester to a great degree during final years of World War II.

Chester Library
250 W. Main Street, Chester, NJ 07930
www.chesterlib.org/local-history-room/

The Chester Library serves the residents of Chester Borough and Chester Township, New Jersey. The library houses a collection of over 70,000 books, DVDs, CDs, video games, audio books and e-books. In addition, it offers a wide array of adult, teen and children's programs, public computers, online research services, and community meeting rooms.

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National Colors of the 3rd NJ Militia Regiment

Among the museum’s treasured artifacts are the National Colors of the 3rd New Jersey Militia Regiment carried by future Medal of Honor recipient, Sergeant John Beech, over the Long Bridge into Virginia on the morning of May 21, 1861, as part of the Union Army's first advances into the Confederacy.

Civil War Museum of the General James A. Garfield Camp No. 4
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
151 Eggerts Crossing Rd., Lawrenceville, NJ 08648


The Civil War Museum consists of Civil War artifacts and pictures left to us by the three Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Posts that operated in the Trenton area. They are on display in two rooms. The Frederick Dauber Room contains artifacts and pictures from the Civil War including the National Colors of the 3rd NJ Militia Regiment carried across the Potomac River into the Confederacy in May 1861, Springfield rifle-muskets that were manufactured in Trenton under contract, and other weapons, personal gear, and items of equipment used during the Civil War by New Jersey soldiers. The second room contains artifacts of the New Jersey GAR.

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Model 1861 Springfield Rifle Muskets

Similar testaments to Trenton’s importance are these six Model 1861 Springfield Rifle Muskets. They were manufactured under two simultaneous contracts, for 50,000 arms each, at $20 per arm, that the federal government awarded to Addison M. Burt and James T. Hodge of the Trenton Arms Company, located in a closed down Trenton Locomotive and Machine Manufacturing Company facility. Only 21,995 Trenton Rifle Muskets of the 100,000 originally contracted were produced due to financial and production problems. The State of New Jersey purchased 10,000 and an unknown number were produced for other states and private sources. 

Civil War Museum of the General James A. Garfield Camp No. 4
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
151 Eggerts Crossing Rd., Lawrenceville, NJ 08648

The Civil War Museum consists of Civil War artifacts and pictures left to us by the three Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Posts that operated in the Trenton area. They are on display in two rooms. The Frederick Dauber Room contains artifacts and pictures from the Civil War including the National Colors of the 3rd NJ Militia Regiment carried across the Potomac River into the Confederacy in May 1861, Springfield rifle-muskets that were manufactured in Trenton under contract, and other weapons, personal gear, and items of equipment used during the Civil War by New Jersey soldiers. The second room contains artifacts of the New Jersey GAR.

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Emerson and Silver Saber

Trenton’s furnaces are well-known for having produced the iron needed by the Americans during the War for Independence. But the city’s manufacturing was also important during the Civil War, as attested by this elaborate presentation grade officer's sword, featuring a figural grip and a gold-washed etched blade. It was made by Trenton-based Emerson and Silver, one of the more prolific manufacturers of swords for the Union Army.

Civil War Museum of the General James A. Garfield Camp No. 4
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
151 Eggerts Crossing Rd., Lawrenceville, NJ 08648


The Civil War Museum consists of Civil War artifacts and pictures left to us by the three Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Posts that operated in the Trenton area. They are on display in two rooms. The Frederick Dauber Room contains artifacts and pictures from the Civil War including the National Colors of the 3rd NJ Militia Regiment carried across the Potomac River into the Confederacy in May 1861, Springfield rifle-muskets that were manufactured in Trenton under contract, and other weapons, personal gear, and items of equipment used during the Civil War by New Jersey soldiers. The second room contains artifacts of the New Jersey GAR.

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The Swedish Granary

The most significant artifact in the collection of the Cumberland County Historical Society is also its largest and oldest. The Swedish Granary, located since 1975 on the Society’s Gibbon House headquarters in Greenwich, Cumberland County, was probably constructed in the third quarter of the 17th century by Swedes or Forest Finns from the New Sweden Colony as an agricultural building, and may well be the oldest surviving agricultural building, and possibly the oldest log building, in the nation. Its Swedish/Finnish lineage has been attested to by several experts in the field over the past forty years, since it was discovered on a nearby farmstead and donated to the society. Its most likely original use was as a drying house, or granary, built at a site of the production of rye or corn (part of the Scandinavian “slash and burn” farming practice) in which the grain was dried close to the point of production before transportation. Its Atlantic White Cedar logs have survived three and a half centuries in remarkably good condition, and the Cumberland County Historical Society is proud to be the steward of this rare structure.

Cumberland County Historical Society
Multiple Locations along Ye Greate Street, Bridgeton, NJ 
http://www.cchistsoc.org/


The Cumberland County Historical Society was founded in 1905 concurrently with the initiative to erect a monument to the Greenwich Tea Burning of 1774. The Society has been headquartered since 1947 in the picturesque village of Greenwich, about seven miles southwest of the county seat of Bridgeton. It consists of several buildings devoted to various historical interests. The Gibbon House, CCHS's Headquarters, is an 18th century house museum known for its fireplace cooking. Call 856-455-4055; open Tuesday to Saturday 1-4 (closed January, February and March). The Warren and Reba Lummis Genealogical and Historical Research Library offer an extensive collection of deeds, maps and other primary documents, as well as books on local and New Jersey genealogy and history. Call 856-455-8580 or email cchistsoc@verizon.net. Open Wednesday 10-4 and Saturday and Sunday 1-4. The John DuBois Maritime Museum's exhibits celebrate South Jersey's maritime heritage. Call 856-455-1774; open Sunday 1-4.The Alan Ewing Carman Museum of Prehistory exhibits American Indian artifacts and fossils. Call 856-455-8141; open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 12-4. All buildings are on Greenwich's main street, Ye Greate Street.

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Ship John Figurehead

Another prized artifact in the collection of the Cumberland County Historical Society attests to the county’s maritime character. The Ship John Figurehead, an eighteenth-century carved wooden effigy, was salvaged from a shipwreck in Delaware Bay near the mouth of the Cohansey River. It stands today in the Society’s museum, the Gibbon House, and depicts a handsome and elegantly robed woman. Once thought to have been the work of the celebrated sculptor William Rush, the artist has yet to be identified. The story of the December 1797 wreck is dramatic. The ship John was built in Newburyport, Massachusetts, sailed out of Hamburg, Germany, and was captained by Robert Folger of Nantucket. It had anchored in order to help a sloop in distress and was forced onto a shoal by ice. Some fifty German immigrants reached shore, as did much of the cargo, including a large shipment of German toys and dolls. The Ship John Lighthouse was built in 1877 upon the dangerous shoal and was one of the last architecturally stylized lighthouses to be built. The Society’s Lummis Library has some of the original documents relating to the wreck, including lists of retrieved cargo.

Cumberland County Historical Society
Multiple Locations along Ye Greate Street, Bridgeton, NJ
http://www.cchistsoc.org/


The Cumberland County Historical Society was founded in 1905 concurrently with the initiative to erect a monument to the Greenwich Tea Burning of 1774. The Society has been headquartered since 1947 in the picturesque village of Greenwich, about seven miles southwest of the county seat of Bridgeton. It consists of several buildings devoted to various historical interests. The Gibbon House, CCHS's Headquarters, is an 18th century house museum known for its fireplace cooking. Call 856-455-4055; open Tuesday to Saturday 1-4 (closed January, February and March). The Warren and Reba Lummis Genealogical and Historical Research Library offer an extensive collection of deeds, maps and other primary documents, as well as books on local and New Jersey genealogy and history. Call 856-455-8580 or email cchistsoc@verizon.net. Open Wednesday 10-4 and Saturday and Sunday 1-4. The John DuBois Maritime Museum's exhibits celebrate South Jersey's maritime heritage. Call 856-455-1774; open Sunday 1-4.The Alan Ewing Carman Museum of Prehistory exhibits American Indian artifacts and fossils. Call 856-455-8141; open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 12-4. All buildings are on Greenwich's main street, Ye Greate Street.

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The Delaware & Raritan Cana

The canal system was dug mostly by hand tools, mostly by Irish immigrants. Work began in 1830 and was completed in 1834, at an estimated cost of $2,830,000. When the canal first opened, teams of mules were used to tow canal boats through it (the steam engine was not yet applied to such uses). The canal's greatest usage occurred during the 1860s and 1870s, when it was used primarily to transport coal from Pennsylvania to New York City, during the Industrial Revolution. On May 18, 1872, the D&R Canal Company was merged with several parallel railroads into the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company, and leased by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Over time, the importance of the D&R Canal waned as railroads were used to more rapidly perform the same function as canals, but it remained in operation until 1932. In 1974, most of the canal system was declared a New Jersey state park. It remains one today, and is used for canoeing, kayaking, and fishing. The Delaware and Raritan Canal was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. 

Delaware & Raritan Canal State Parks
See website for park locations.
www.dandrcanal.com


The Delaware and Raritan Canal Commission was established in October, 1974, when Governor Brendan Byrne signed the D&R Canal State Park Law.

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Welcome to Zaberville Sign

The "Welcome to Zaberville" sign sat outside Ed Zaberer's legendary restaurant since 1954 and welcomed visitors at the north entrance to the Wildwoods in the Anglesea section of the barrier island. The sign has found a new home in the Doo Wop Experience. "Eventually, he [Zaberer] offered 12 dining rooms with seating for 1,600, 6 bars requiring staff of 35 bartenders, and 10 lounges. Each night, Zaberer served 4,000 people. Among those who frequented the famous eatery were Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, New Jersey Governor Richard Hughes, Jimmy Durante, Don Rickles, and Muhammad Ali. The secrets to Zaberer's success were atmosphere, quality, and fair pricing. The term ‘to Zaberize’ came into usage for anything that was done in a big way." (Francis, David W. and others. "Wildwood by the Sea: The History of an American Resort." Ohio: Amusement Park Books, Inc. 1998.) The building, sign garden, and "Zaberville" sign are all located at the Doo Wop Experience. The building is open in the summer, and off-season you may call for an appointment. 

The Doo Wop Experience and Neon Sign Garden
4500 Ocean Avenue, Wildwood, NJ 08260
www.doowopusa.org


The Doo Wop Preservation League is a 501 c3 non-profit organization. The Doo Wop Experience is a vintage gallery, food/gift concession, neon sign garden, and outdoor stage for concerts. Our mission is to foster awareness and appreciation of the popular culture and imagery of the '50s and '60s and to promote the preservation of the largest concentration of mid-century (Doo Wop) architecture in the United States. We preserved the former Surfside Diner built in 1963, and used the superstructure to house our prized artifacts. When the diner became endangered we raised money and put the columns and beams in storage. The diner was re-assembled at its current location in 2006.

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Wildwood Neon Sign Garden

The neon garden outside the Doo Wop Experience contains some of the signs from demolished motels; the White Star is a motel that got a new sign and later changed its name. Las Vegas has a neon graveyard, but ours are lit whenever possible so they are very much alive. They remind us of our heritage as a family destination for post-war vacationers. The Wildwoods saw exceptional growth when the Garden State Parkway was completed in 1955 and with ever-increasing beaches Wildwood Crest expanded eastward toward the ocean with new sections of motels. Approximately 100 motels were built between 1954 and 1964 in the Wildwoods.|

The Doo Wop Experience and Neon Sign Garden
4500 Ocean Avenue, Wildwood, NJ 08260
www.doowopusa.org


The Doo Wop Preservation League is a 501 c3 non-profit organization. The Doo Wop Experience is a vintage gallery, food/gift concession, neon sign garden, and outdoor stage for concerts. Our mission is to foster awareness and appreciation of the popular culture and imagery of the '50s and '60s and to promote the preservation of the largest concentration of mid-century (Doo Wop) architecture in the United States. We preserved the former Surfside Diner built in 1963, and used the superstructure to house our prized artifacts. When the diner became endangered we raised money and put the columns and beams in storage. The diner was re-assembled at its current location in 2006.

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Jem Jr. 120 Camera

This attractive camera—the Jem Jr. 120—with two lightning bolts, is a metal box camera which was made by the J.E. Mergott Company, a metals firm, in the 1940s. The company, founded in 1894, was located on Jeliff Street in Newark. Advertisements boasted that the camera took eight 2-1/4-inch x 3-1/4-inch negatives on standard-size 120 roll film. Directions for taking pictures in the instruction manual read, “Hold camera firmly against body at waist level. Sight your subject in the viewfinder, and, when ready, press shutter lever gently but firmly down as far as it will go, then let it return.” It sold for $4.95. The Fleetwood’s Jem Jr. 120 is in excellent condition and is on display in our box camera collection

Fleetwood Museum of Art and Photographica
314 Greenbrook Avenue, North Plainfield, NJ 07063
www.fleetwoodmuseum.com

The Fleetwood Museum was established in 1985 and exhibits the camera collection of Benjamin Fleetwood and the oil paintings of his wife, the late Matilda Fleetwood. Sponsored by the Green Acres Commission of the Borough of North Plainfield, New Jersey and the Plainfield Foundation, the museum is housed in an early 19th century mansion as the Vermeule Community Center. The museum contains over 800 cameras, illustrating the 150 year evolution of camera design, and examples of many of the photographic processes which evolved during that period. The mission of the museum is to preserve and display these artifacts and to use them to stimulate interest in the art and science of photography.

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Edward Weston Light Meters

The Fleetwood Museum of Art and Photographica also has a large collection of Weston Exposure meters. Edward Weston, the prolific Newark inventor, and a founder of the Newark College of Engineering predecessor to NJIT, produced his first exposure meter in 1932. His meters were a favorite of prominent photographers like Ansel Adams. 

Fleetwood Museum of Art and Photographica
314 Greenbrook Avenue, North Plainfield, NJ 07063
www.fleetwoodmuseum.com


The Fleetwood Museum was established in 1985 and exhibits the camera collection of Benjamin Fleetwood and the oil paintings of his wife, the late Matilda Fleetwood. Sponsored by the Green Acres Commission of the Borough of North Plainfield, New Jersey and the Plainfield Foundation, the museum is housed in an early 19th century mansion as the Vermeule Community Center. The museum contains over 800 cameras, illustrating the 150 year evolution of camera design, and examples of many of the photographic processes which evolved during that period. The mission of the museum is to preserve and display these artifacts and to use them to stimulate interest in the art and science of photography.

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Haddon Heights Train Station

The railroad came to Haddon Heights, New Jersey, in 1877 with the Philadelphia and Atlantic City Railroad. In 1890, Benjamin A. Lippincott was given permission by the company to construct a passenger station. Lippincott and other property owners around the station began to subdivide and sell their land, leading to the growth of the community and the incorporation of the Borough of Haddon Heights in 1904. Lippincott also constructed a freight storage station in 1906. Passenger service continued until 1965 and the tracks are still used for freight service. Haddon Heights is one of the few towns in the Garden State with both the passenger and the freight stations intact around which its community grew.

Haddon Heights Historical Society
Various Sites
PO Box 118, Haddon Heights, NJ 08035
www.hhhistorical.org


The land that was to become Haddon Heights was settled in 1699 by John Hinchman. In 1713, John Siddon built a farmhouse near Hinchman's property. John Thorn Glover dammed King's Run and constructed a mill race and fulling mill on this property before 1776. Jacob Hinchman built a frame dwelling no later than 1720 that was later enlarged by American Revolutionary War hero Col. Joseph Ellis. New Jersey governor Joseph Bloomfield later purchased this property. Benjamin A. Lippincott, with Charles Hillman, filed a grid street plan with Camden County to develop a community. They named it Haddon Heights because of its proximity to Haddonfield and its high elevation.

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Haddon Heights Boy Scout Cabin

In 1936, nearly a thousand boy scouts, girl scouts, and visitors assembled in the Haddon Heights municipal park to witness the dedication of a log cabin built by the Boy Scouts as a meeting place. Measuring 25-feet by 40-feet and including a fireplace built of stones the scouts dug from a nearby park, the cabin served the community's youth for decades. By the dawn of the 21st century, however, it had fallen into a state of disrepair, so the Mayor and Council approved its rehabilitation. Today, it remains a center of Haddon Heights' community life as a space available for rent for private parties and functions.

Haddon Heights Historical Society
Various Sites
PO Box 118, Haddon Heights, NJ 08035
www.hhhistorical.org


The land that was to become Haddon Heights was settled in 1699 by John Hinchman. In 1713, John Siddon built a farmhouse near Hinchman's property. John Thorn Glover dammed King's Run and constructed a mill race and fulling mill on this property before 1776. Jacob Hinchman built a frame dwelling no later than 1720 that was later enlarged by American Revolutionary War hero Col. Joseph Ellis. New Jersey governor Joseph Bloomfield later purchased this property. Benjamin A. Lippincott, with Charles Hillman, filed a grid street plan with Camden County to develop a community. They named it Haddon Heights because of its proximity to Haddonfield and its high elevation.

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Drinking Fountain

In 1903 a drinking fountain was placed at the intersection of White Horse Pike and King's Highway, dedicated as a memorial to Chalkley Albertson by his son, John J. Albertson. Alberston senior served in the New Jersey State Assembly in 1863, 1864, 1867, and 1873. It was meant to slake the thirst not of travelers, but their horses. In 1938, however, automobiles had replaced enough of the animals that, after it fell out of use, the fountain was moved to a park. The times had changed enough that after many years most people in town had no idea what it was. It was returned to its previous vicinity in 2003 where it is displayed prominently with an explanatory marker. The fountain is especially significant as a reminder of life and travel in the early part of the twentieth century. 

Haddon Heights Historical Society
Various Sites
PO Box 118, Haddon Heights, NJ 08035
www.hhhistorical.org


The land that was to become Haddon Heights was settled in 1699 by John Hinchman. In 1713, John Siddon built a farmhouse near Hinchman's property. John Thorn Glover dammed King's Run and constructed a mill race and fulling mill on this property before 1776. Jacob Hinchman built a frame dwelling no later than 1720 that was later enlarged by American Revolutionary War hero Col. Joseph Ellis. New Jersey governor Joseph Bloomfield later purchased this property. Benjamin A. Lippincott, with Charles Hillman, filed a grid street plan with Camden County to develop a community. They named it Haddon Heights because of its proximity to Haddonfield and its high elevation.

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Letter to General George Washington from Theodosia Prevost

he Hermitage Museum has on display a letter from 1778, addressed to General George Washington from Theodosia Prevost, who resided at The Hermitage at that time. In July, 1778, as the Continental Army approached Paramus, General Washington and his top aides expected to make their headquarters there. However, his plans were changed by an invitation from Mrs. Theodosia Prevost, who persuaded him to stay at The Hermitage instead from July 11th-14th. This was an act of considerable courage on the part of Mrs. Prevost, as she was in the precarious position of being married to a British officer, yet protecting her home depended on the favor of the highest patriot military officers. The stay was a success. The letter was acquired by the Friends of the Hermitage through the Partner’s Fund on December 19, 2012. It reads: “His Excellency General George Washington, Mrs. Prevost presents her best respects to his Excellency Gen’l Washington. Requests the honor of his Company – as she flatters herself the accommodations will (be) more commodious than those to be procured in The Neighborhood. Mrs. Prevost will be particularly happy to make her House Agreeable to His Excellency and family - Hermitage, Friday morning, eleven o’clock”

The Hermitage
335 North Franklin Turnpike
Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ 07423-1035
thehermitage.org


The Hermitage has more than 250 years of history. Built around 1760 and reconstructed in 1847-1848, it has been designated a National Historical Landmark as an outstanding example of Gothic Revival architecture and recognized by the State of New Jersey for the historical significance of many of the people who lived in and visited it. A tour of The Hermitage will allow you to walk in the footsteps of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Theodosia Prevost and four generations of the entrepreneurial Rosencrantz family. Guided Museum Tours: Wednesdays– Sundays, 1:15, 2:15 and 3:15. Please call for group tour reservations.

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Painting of John Philip Sousa

One of the Historical Societies artifacts is a memorial portrait of John Philip Sousa, “The March King.” The 1950 oil painting measuring 29-inches by 64-inches is by artist Angelo DiVincenzo. Three medals, The US 6th Army Corps (1900), The Victorian Order (1901), and the French Rosette Award (1904) are found illustrated on the dark green tunic. The painting was a commission by one of his band members. Sousa appeared in the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove 13 times over his long band career.

Historical Society of Ocean Grove
PO Box 446, Ocean Grove, NJ 07756
www.oceangrovehistory.org


Since its founding in 1970 the Historical Society of Ocean Grove has pledged itself to preserve, document, and encourage community interest in the history of Ocean Grove. The purpose of this non-profit Society is to sustain the heritage and honor of being designated a Nation Historic District. A legacy of past tradition which in current practice is preserved and includes: The Camp Meeting heritage of Ocean Grove and Ocean Grove’s Unique history; The family seashore resort of natural beauty that has welcomed and delighted vacationers including U.S. presidents and other famous people; The Historic District buildings, structures, and objects that we control and/or maintain; The largest assemblage of authentic Victorian architecture in the nation established as a 19th century planned community.

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Model of the SS Saint Paul 

When in 1993 the four foot long representation of the 1895 SS Saint Paul left the family of its original owner, it was accompanied by this hand written statement from that owner’s great grandson:“According to my mother, Florence Fleetwood Shinn, the model was built by a lifer prisoner in the Burlington County Prison in Mt. Holly. He made it from pieces of wood glued together, shaped, and sanded. Mother told he even glued used match sticks and cigar box wood to my great grandfather, William Rodman Fleetwood, sometime during his two terms in the 1890’s as Burlington County Sheriff.” - Alvin Fleetwood Shinn Other, undocumented, sources say that the maker had worked at the Cramp Shipyard in Philadelphia, killed a man in a fit of temper and was jailed for life in the jail in Mount Holly, where he built the model from memory, and presented it to the then Sheriff Joseph Fleetwood, who ran the jail. Now, in the 1890s, no one did more than a year in a county jail, so the “lifer” reference is nonsense. Sheriff Fleetwood served only one three year term. The rest of the story holds together. The representation has one funnel more and a noticeably different hull configuration then did the ship itself, so it was not built from plans. The various cuts are very small, as though made with partial razor blades, not model-makers’ x-acto blades, and the materials were all things available to an inmate of a somewhat informally managed jail. The black coloring of the hull is lamp black, not paint, and the quality of the model is not such that anyone, even a ship model collector, would have paid for it. As for the original, it had a very eventful life. Among other events, it was christened by Mrs. Grover Cleveland, fought in the Spanish-American War (damaging a Spanish destroyer off San Juan), went in to mercantile service and served as a troop transport in 1917-18. In 1898, one G. Marconi sent the first wireless message sent from shipboard from her deck.

Historic Burlington County Prison Museum
P.O. Box 483, Mt. Holly, NJ 08060
www.prisonmuseum.net

The Burlington County Prison Museum is a National Historic Landmark located in the heart of historic Mount Holly, New Jersey. Designed by Robert Mills, America’s first native-born and trained architect, the Burlington County Prison was completed in 1811. One of Mills’ first independent architectural designs, the interior vaulted ceilings of poured concrete and brick and stone construction made the building virtually fireproof. Not only was the structure virtually maintenance free and well suited to its purpose, its management plan, although never effectively implemented, incorporated the philosophies of penal reform that were advocated during the period. In short, this structure was a fine example of innovative interior planning, fireproofing, heating and ventilation systems and the growing notion of social responsibility to rehabilitate criminals. In fact, it was so well constructed that it remained in constant use until 1965. This building was a prison for 154 years, and at the time of its closing it was the oldest continually used prison in the United States.

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Recruitment Poster for the Delaware Guards of Sergeantsville

The forceful heading reading “WAR!” on this recruitment poster for the well-organized Delaware Guards of Sergeantsville was sure to catch the eye of young men itching to get at the Rebels. Major G. H. Larison of the Hunterdon County Militia Regiment ordered the document calling for recruits “in the defence [sic] of our country.” It is dated April 23, 1861 and printed by the “Beacon Power Press Office, Cor. Bridge and Union Streets, Opposite Moore’s Hotel, Lambertville, NJ.” The broadside measures 24-inches tall by 20-inches wide and has a period frame with delicate decorative brass inlay at the corners. In over 50 years of searching by Civil War collector and lecturer John W. Kuhl, this is the only Hunterdon County recruitment poster he has seen.

Hunterdon County Historical Society
8114 Main Street, Flemington, NJ 08822
hunterdonhistory.org


The Society was founded in 1885 for the collection and proper storage of all social and material culture in the evolving history of Hunterdon County; dissemination of historical and genealogical knowledge; promotion of public historical knowledge through education; and solicitation of gifts of cash, property and securities to promote its activities. In short, to “Collect, Preserve and Share the History of Hunterdon County.” Its collection ranges across ancient Lenape artefacts, family bibles, wills, diaries, maps, photographs, quilts, costumes, ecclesiastical, civic and business records, furniture, ceramics and more, and grows monthly with a continual donation stream. Membership changes, but remains around 500 people. All programming and its three facilities are open to the public at no charge. Those facilities are the three-story, high-style 1845 Greek Revival Doric House museum listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places and furnished with antiques appropriate to the period (several of them made in Hunterdon). Designed and built by Mahlon Fisher (1810-1874), a carpenter/architect of ability and taste, for his own residence, it stands at 114 Main Street in Flemington, NJ. Complimentary tours may be scheduled by calling 908-782-1091. In an adjacent one-story building added to the house in the 1940s is the Hiram Deats Memorial Research Library considered one of New Jersey’s best for prime source genealogical and historical material about its home county. It is open for researchers at no charge every Thursday 12-4pm and the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month from 10-4pm. Materials not maintained in the Library and two basement archival vaults under it are stored in the Society’s 2009 two-story, all-concrete, state-of-the-art, environmentally-controlled Archives Building at 67 River Road in Raritan Township. For more information on the Hunterdon County Historical Society at go to www.hunterdonhistory.org.

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Armenia Hutchinson 1833 Sampler

Armenia Hutchinson (1821-1844) stitched this rare and lovely sampler in 1833 at Eleanor T. Stephen’s Cream Ridge Seminary in Monmouth County. Only a handful of samplers from this school are known and those date from 1827 to 1838. Armenia lived with her parents, Sylvester and Phebe Hutchison, in Hightstown where her father was a Methodist-Episcopal minister. Her needlework was referenced, but not pictured, in the most important book on schoolgirl needlework, Girlhood Embroidery, by Betty Ring, which was published in 1993. A new book published in 2013, “A Sampling of Hunterdon County Needlework: the motifs, the makers & their stories”, by Dan and Marty Campanelli does picture the sampler. 

Hunterdon County Historical Society
8114 Main Street, Flemington, NJ 08822
hunterdonhistory.org

The Society was founded in 1885 for the collection and proper storage of all social and material culture in the evolving history of Hunterdon County; dissemination of historical and genealogical knowledge; promotion of public historical knowledge through education; and solicitation of gifts of cash, property and securities to promote its activities. In short, to “Collect, Preserve and Share the History of Hunterdon County.” Its collection ranges across ancient Lenape artefacts, family bibles, wills, diaries, maps, photographs, quilts, costumes, ecclesiastical, civic and business records, furniture, ceramics and more, and grows monthly with a continual donation stream. Membership changes, but remains around 500 people. All programming and its three facilities are open to the public at no charge. Those facilities are the three-story, high-style 1845 Greek Revival Doric House museum listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places and furnished with antiques appropriate to the period (several of them made in Hunterdon). Designed and built by Mahlon Fisher (1810-1874), a carpenter/architect of ability and taste, for his own residence, it stands at 114 Main Street in Flemington, NJ. Complimentary tours may be scheduled by calling 908-782-1091. In an adjacent one-story building added to the house in the 1940s is the Hiram Deats Memorial Research Library considered one of New Jersey’s best for prime source genealogical and historical material about its home county. It is open for researchers at no charge every Thursday 12-4pm and the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month from 10-4pm. Materials not maintained in the Library and two basement archival vaults under it are stored in the Society’s 2009 two-story, all-concrete, state-of-the-art, environmentally-controlled Archives Building at 67 River Road in Raritan Township. For more information on the Hunterdon County Historical Society at go to www.hunterdonhistory.org.

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Trial of the Century 

The collection of the Hunterdon County Historical Society includes this framed photograph of the Flemington Court House, a daily pass for Monday, January 28, 1935 to the “Trail of the Century,” and a double-sided sheet with 77 original autographs of reporters—like Dorothy Kilgallen, Damon Runyon and Walter Winchell—who covered the event, State troopers in the security detail, a chauffeur, and others. The framed collection is on view at no charge in the Richard H. Stothoff Galleries at the Society’s research library, 114 Main Street in Flemington. The memorabilia was donated by the family of Daniel and Edna Sherry. Daniel was born in 1916 and grew up in Flemington collecting coins, stamps and other interesting articles. He and his mother worked together when he was age 19 to gather the Lindbergh trial autographs. Daniel served in World War II, and was employed most of his working years at Johns Manville Corp. He died in 1999; his wife Edna was born in Readington in 1921 and died in 2011. 

Hunterdon County Historical Society
8114 Main Street, Flemington, NJ 08822
hunterdonhistory.org

The Society was founded in 1885 for the collection and proper storage of all social and material culture in the evolving history of Hunterdon County; dissemination of historical and genealogical knowledge; promotion of public historical knowledge through education; and solicitation of gifts of cash, property and securities to promote its activities. In short, to “Collect, Preserve and Share the History of Hunterdon County.” Its collection ranges across ancient Lenape artefacts, family bibles, wills, diaries, maps, photographs, quilts, costumes, ecclesiastical, civic and business records, furniture, ceramics and more, and grows monthly with a continual donation stream. Membership changes, but remains around 500 people. All programming and its three facilities are open to the public at no charge. Those facilities are the three-story, high-style 1845 Greek Revival Doric House museum listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places and furnished with antiques appropriate to the period (several of them made in Hunterdon). Designed and built by Mahlon Fisher (1810-1874), a carpenter/architect of ability and taste, for his own residence, it stands at 114 Main Street in Flemington, NJ. Complimentary tours may be scheduled by calling 908-782-1091. In an adjacent one-story building added to the house in the 1940s is the Hiram Deats Memorial Research Library considered one of New Jersey’s best for prime source genealogical and historical material about its home county. It is open for researchers at no charge every Thursday 12-4pm and the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month from 10-4pm. Materials not maintained in the Library and two basement archival vaults under it are stored in the Society’s 2009 two-story, all-concrete, state-of-the-art, environmentally-controlled Archives Building at 67 River Road in Raritan Township. For more information on the Hunterdon County Historical Society at go to www.hunterdonhistory.org.

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Aaron Lane Clock

Aaron Lane of Elizabethtown, New Jersey (1753-1819) was an industrious clockmaker, silver-smith, merchant, justice of the peace, and town councilor. Beginning in 1780, he also advertised himself as a clockmaker, but fewer than twenty clocks by him are documented by his name on the dial. The case of this example is made of mahogany with a pagoda-style hood with two turned brass-and-spire finials on square plinth and central finial above an inlaid fruitwood eagle and globe in the tympanum. The arched, glazed door with gilt surround is flanked by freestanding fluted colonnettes with brass capitals and bases. Deep cove molding transitions to a waist with fruitwood inlay, carved and molded door with fans and large oval inlays, completed with fluted quarter columns. Deep cove and quarter round moldings transition to a square base with corner fans, line surround inlay, and step base molding supported by spurred, ogee bracket feet. The eight-day brass weight-powered six-tune musical movement on ten bells. The eight-turned-brass-pillar construction has an anchor recoil escapement. The hour strike on the bell is regulated by a count wheel. The engraved and silvered sheet-brass dial has a seconds register, strike/silent register, a date register, a chime/silent register, and a moon's age register. In the arch above a tune selector are engraved the titles of the six tunes: "Washington's Resign," "Banks of the Dee," "Deserdurand," "Hob or by Nob," "Belleisle March," and "Worthington." The dial is also engraved: "Aaron Lane / Elizabeth Town." Note that the barrels are not grooved; this is a common characteristic of New Jersey movements. Dimensions: 95 ½ x 19 ½ x 10-inches; dial width: 12-inches

Liberty Hall Museum
1003 Morris Avenue, Union, NJ 07083
libertyhall.kean.edu


The Liberty Hall Museum at Kean University was home of New Jersey’s first elected governor and signer of the Constitution, William Livingston. Built in 1772, on the eve of the American Revolution, Liberty Hall has been a silent witness to more than 200 years of American history. The site houses extensive collections of antique furniture, ceramics, textiles, toys and tools owned by seven generations of the Livingston and Kean families.

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Library Company of Burlington Minutes Book

Our Minute Books span the entire history of the Library, from its founding in 1758 to the present. Minute Book A contains many noteworthy events and references in our history, including: a transcription of our Charter, granted by George II; the original rules of the Library and subsequent revisions; some details on the publication of the 1758 library catalogue and later catalogues; the names of founders, new members and shareholders, deaths, and transfers of shares; a donation of land in 1788 on which would be erected the first dedicated library building in New Jersey; other donations and curiosities, including items brought; “500 Leagues west of the Missouri River," given in 1799; the planning for a new building (our present building, opened in 1864), along with the fundraising efforts of local residents, including Julia Dent Grant, wife of Ulysses S. Grant. The Minutes give a glimpse of the founding of the colonial library, how it was shaped and how it grew. It is the continuing and uninterrupted saga of the development of the institution to the present. |

The Library Company of Burlington
23 West Union Street, Burlington, NJ 08016
librarycompanyofburlington.org

In 1757, The Library Company of Burlington was chartered by British monarch King George II for founders Thomas Rodman and John Reading as chief officers. It is the oldest library in continuous operation in New Jersey, and has the distinction of being the seventh oldest in the United States. The founding members paid both a membership fee to join and annual dues, and donated over 700 of their own books to start the Library. The Library Company of Burlington was the first library in the U.S. to publish a catalogue of books (1758).

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Library Company of Burlington Circulation Book 

These nearly complete records, from 1758 to the 1890s, tell us by date and by individual name what circulated from the library. We can see what people were actually reading, the popularity of titles and subjects in certain time periods, and learn the reading habits of individual people, including many people of historical significance.

The Library Company of Burlington
23 West Union Street, Burlington, NJ 08016
librarycompanyofburlington.org

In 1757, The Library Company of Burlington was chartered by British monarch King George II for founders Thomas Rodman and John Reading as chief officers. It is the oldest library in continuous operation in New Jersey, and has the distinction of being the seventh oldest in the United States. The founding members paid both a membership fee to join and annual dues, and donated over 700 of their own books to start the Library. The Library Company of Burlington was the first library in the U.S. to publish a catalogue of books (1758).

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Library Company of Burlington Catalog

The first printed library 1758 catalogue in the United States, this resource tells us not just what was in the original collection of the Library Company of Burlington, but also tells us what books the people of a colonial society possessed and what they were willing to donate to achieve their vision of a town library. The catalogue identifies donors for almost all of the 700+ items, thereby providing us with unique insight into the reading habits and the breadth of possessions of certain members of colonial society.

The Library Company of Burlington
23 West Union Street, Burlington, NJ 08016
librarycompanyofburlington.org


In 1757, The Library Company of Burlington was chartered by British monarch King George II for founders Thomas Rodman and John Reading as chief officers. It is the oldest library in continuous operation in New Jersey, and has the distinction of being the seventh oldest in the United States. The founding members paid both a membership fee to join and annual dues, and donated over 700 of their own books to start the Library. The Library Company of Burlington was the first library in the U.S. to publish a catalogue of books (1758).

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Thomas Nast Testimonial

“The Gift of three thousand five hundred Officers and Enlisted Men of the Army and Navy of the U.S. Presented to Thomas Nast by his Friends in the Army & Navy of the U.S. in recognition of the patriotic use he has made of his rare abilities, as The Artist of the People.” So reads the inscription on the reverse of this testimonial gift. Thomas Nast was a non-military hero of the Civil War, described by Abraham Lincoln as "The Union's best recruiting officer." Following the war, rank and file veterans contributed to the commission of this testimonial, made by Tiffany & Co. and created by the firm's master silversmith, E.J. Soligny. Soligny's design creates a rare double portrait of Columbia and Nast. Columbia was a symbol of lofty moral themes. Nast's occasional self-portraits were typically satirical and thus not worthy of association with Columbia. Recognition for his public service through this depiction with Columbia at last brought these two icons together. 

Macculloch Hall Historical Museum
45 Macculloch Avenue, Morristown, NJ 07960
www.maccullochhall.org


Macculloch Hall Historical Museum is named for George Macculloch, a Scotsman born in Bombay, India, who immigrated to America from London with his family in 1806, settling there in 1810. Macculloch is best known as the “father of the Morris Canal,” an international engineering marvel. Generations of the Macculloch family influenced education, economics, politics and cultural events of their day. Today, the museum is renowned for its major collection of works by America’s leading 19th century political cartoonist, Thomas Nast, who lived across the avenue. Nast is known for popularizing the Republican Elephant, Democratic Donkey, and America’s image of Santa Claus.

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Majolica Bowl 

We chose the Majolica bowl that is displayed in the formal parlor of the Physick Estate as our most treasured artifact because it illustrates so many of the themes that we talk about in one object. In our tours, we discuss the Industrial Revolution, Dr. Physick's family history, the evolution of taste and styles in the nineteenth century, and many aspects of daily life. This majolica bowl was given to Dr. Physick as a housewarming present when the Physick house was built in 1879. A hand-modeled bowl this large is a good evidence of Dr. Physick's wealth and social status compared to ordinary, middle-class Cape Mayers. That the bowl is handmade gives us a chance to talk about the Esthetic Movement's turning away from the products of the Industrial Revolution and the "French" taste that most such products were designed in. This bowl is not only hand modeled, but it is modeled in a naturalistic style that was associated with Anglo-Japanese taste. Esthetic Movement tastemakers associated Japanese, Middle-Eastern, and medieval styles with good taste. This was because of what they had in common—namely, the absence of Renaissance influences. Bourgeois Victorians considered themselves the heirs to the good taste of the Renaissance/classical tradition. This pretention repelled Esthetic Movement tastemakers, so they turned to the exotic and the archaic for inspiration. Majolica as a medium was caught up in the Industrial Revolution. At first, English potteries like Minton and Wedgewood began by producing tin-glazed earthenware in the Italian tradition. They also made naturalistically modeled plates crawling with snakes and bugs called Palissy ware after a sixteenth century French potter called Bernard Palissy. By the mid-nineteenth century, English potteries switched to lead glazed ceramics which they inaccurately called Majolica. "Art pottery," either made by hand, or molded in the Japanese naturalistic manner (like Bordalo Pinheiro in Portugal), continued the real, tin tradition. Whether being co-opted by or reacting against the industrial revolution, Majolica embodies this change.

Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities
1048 Washington Street, Cape May, NJ 08204
www.capemaymac.org

The American Labor Museum is housed in the 1908 Botto House National Landmark. The Botto House was built for and owned by Italian immigrant and silk mill worker, Pietro Botto and his wife Maria. The museum features changing exhibits, restored period rooms and Old World Gardens that reflect the lifestyle of an immigrant family of the early 1900s, a free lending library, and a Museum Store. Exhibit receptions, lectures, poetry readings, teachers'workshops and other special events are offered. The Museum's education program provides on-site field-trip programs, including Millworker/Millowner and Labor Education Tour, and virtual field-trips via videoconferencing.

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Mrs. Ralston's Bed

Mrs. Ralston's bed gives us a chance to talk about the taste and career of Frank Furness, the architect to whom the design of the Physick house and some of its furniture is ascribed. The bed makes it clear that Frank Furness was an Esthetic Movement, reform-minded, architect. Compare it to a typical Renaissance Revival bed of the era. The Renaissance Revival bed might feature shields, flowers, cornices, women's faces, pilasters and capitals, all made of different woods or "compo," glued together and varnished dark to make the elements look alike. The ornament would be independent of the structure of the bed. Instead, this bed shows its structure. The stiles and rails and panels that make up the headboard are immediately apparent. The ornament consists of reeding, bulls-eyes, and other geometric decoration that emphasizes, rather than disguises, the real structure of the bed. The wood is left light colored and lightly varnished to show off its grain. Showing the structure and showing the wood were both considered "honest" design by Esthetic Movement writers. The stained-glass window in Mrs. Ralston's bathroom shows the same design as the headboard in her bedroom. Frank Furness was also a proponent of the architect creating an entire environment; including architecture, furniture, millwork and interior decoration. This attitude toward the architect's role was continued by his student, Louis Sullivan, and passed on to Sullivan's student, Frank Lloyd Wright. Comparing the furniture and millwork of Furness, Sullivan, and Wright shows the continuity through these three generations of modernists. The placement of Mrs. Ralston's bed, in the room next to her son's bedroom, head to head, mirrors their close relationship. Dr. Physick moved to Cape May with his mother when he was twenty-one. They lived here until she died and he died only a few months after her. He never married and lived in what the locals called Mrs. Ralston's house all of his life. There is a long tradition of dysfunctional marriages in the Physick family. Dr. Physick's grandfather, Philip Syng Physick, separated from his wife in a fight over planting a tree in their back yard. He never saw her again until she lay on her deathbed. Dr. Physick's father never married and kept at least two parallel households; and our Dr. Physick never married either. We can only speculate on the odd family dynamics that shaped Dr. Physick's life. 

Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities
1048 Washington Street, Cape May, NJ 08204
www.capemaymac.org

The American Labor Museum is housed in the 1908 Botto House National Landmark. The Botto House was built for and owned by Italian immigrant and silk mill worker, Pietro Botto and his wife Maria. The museum features changing exhibits, restored period rooms and Old World Gardens that reflect the lifestyle of an immigrant family of the early 1900s, a free lending library, and a Museum Store. Exhibit receptions, lectures, poetry readings, teachers'workshops and other special events are offered. The Museum's education program provides on-site field-trip programs, including Millworker/Millowner and Labor Education Tour, and virtual field-trips via videoconferencing.

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Link Trainer

During WWII there were no fancy electronic flight simulators. No computer screens with flashing lights and voices calling out commands. Learning to fly fighter planes and bombers was much more of a challenge then—a challenge that was met eagerly and effectively by young, brave men and women who had a job to do to protect our country. How did these pilots of yesteryear ever learn how to fly and land at night and in poor visibility, let alone perform combat maneuvers in these conditions? Enter the ‘Link Trainer’—a name given to a series of flight simulators, produced from the late 1920s to the early 1950s, that were designed and built by Edwin Albert Link at his family business in Binghamton, NY. The Link Trainer became famous during World War II, when thousands were produced. The United States Army and Navy alone purchased 7,000 of these trainers. In its day, the Link Trainer was the premier instrument used for safe flight instruction. The original Millville Air Base Link Trainer Building, part of the Museum's historic complex, contains one of just five fully operational Link Trainers in the world. 

Millville Army Air Field Museum
1 Leddon Street, Millville Airport, Millville NJ 08332
www.p47millville.org


The Millville Army Air Field Museum (MAAFM) preserves the history of the Millville Army Air Field, Millville, NJ, which was dedicated by the U.S. War Department in 1941 as "America's First Defense Airport." During its four-year existence, more than 10,000 men and women served here, with 1,500 pilots receiving advanced fighter training in P-47 Thunderbolt and P-40 Warhawk fighter planes. The Museum honors the memory of 14 pilots who died while training at Millville. Located in the original Base Headquarters Building, the Museum displays a large collection of World War II aviation artifacts of local and national interest. Programs and tours focus on educating the community about Millville's vital role in aviation history. Expanded displays include items of interest from the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Airshows and static displays of vintage aircraft are featured. The MAAFM is a federal non-profit 501c-3 organization which was incorporated by the State of New Jersey in 1988.

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Robert Rhea Chair

This singular chair is the oldest piece of documented New Jersey furniture and the only surviving wainscot chair made here. The chair’s form, with its roots in the Renaissance, featured heavy turnings, massive construction, and bold carvings. Maker Robert Rhea emigrated from Scotland to America and eventually settled in Monmouth County. Rhea, who was both farmer and carpenter, carved the Scottish thistle along with his and his wife Janet’s initials into the back as well as the date “1695.” Originally, the carved back was painted in red, blue, green, yellow, and blue. Gift of Mrs. J. Amory Haskell, 1941

Monmouth County Historical Association
70 Court Street, Freehold, NJ 07728
www.monmouthhistory.org


The Monmouth County Historical Association (MCHA) collects, preserves, and interprets its extensive museum, library, and archival collections that relate to Monmouth County's history and culture and makes these resources available to the widest possible audience. MCHA promotes the study and appreciation of regional and national history through educational programming, publications, special exhibits, and research services. MCHA also preserves and interprets five significant historic sites which represent the County's vanishing architectural heritage.

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"The Battle of Monmouth" by Emanuel Leutze

This dramatic and powerful painting depicts the confrontation between General George Washington and General Charles Lee during the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778. German-born artist Emanuel Leutze, known for his historic genre paintings including Washington Crossing the Delaware, created two versions of the Monmouth scene. This painting is the second and smaller version, which the artist painted for Massachusetts art collector David Leavitt. Leutze’s scene includes not only Washington and Lee but also Alexander Hamilton, the Marquis de Lafayette, and General Baron Von Steuben, who trained the Continental troops during the previous winter at Valley Forge. On the morning of the battle, troops under the direction of Charles Lee turned and made a disorganized and panicked retreat after meeting oncoming British troops. When Washington arrived at the scene, the force of his leadership restored morale and order to the troops, who rallied and fought the British with success. June 28th saw intense heat, with temperatures soaring well above ninety. More soldiers on both sides died from heat exhaustion than from battle wounds. After the battle, Charles Lee was court-martialed and dismissed from the Continental Army. Gift of the Descendents of David Leavitt, 1937

Monmouth County Historical Association
70 Court Street, Freehold, NJ 07728
www.monmouthhistory.org


The Monmouth County Historical Association (MCHA) collects, preserves, and interprets its extensive museum, library, and archival collections that relate to Monmouth County's history and culture and makes these resources available to the widest possible audience. MCHA promotes the study and appreciation of regional and national history through educational programming, publications, special exhibits, and research services. MCHA also preserves and interprets five significant historic sites which represent the County's vanishing architectural heritage.

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Sewing Bird Clamp (Bird)

These sewing "birds" are actually sewing clamps that functioned as fabric and thread holders, providing a "third hand" to hold material or thread while sewing. The Museum's collection includes over 300 clamps made from a variety of materials, including iron, brass, silver, wood, bone, and ivory. The designs range from a simple cast-iron bird to elaborate carved ivory clamps and brass cherubs, butterflies, dolphins, and imaginative creatures. Many clamps include pincushions, thread winders, mirrors, and small boxes for sewing tools. Sewing clamps became popular in the United States at the beginning of the 19th century and production continued even after the advent of the sewing machine around 1900. Our collection was donated by Eugenie B. Bijur, a former resident of Asbury Park, who started her collection with a sewing bird found in an antique shop in Phalanx, NJ. A portion of the collection is on display at the Museum, including the sewing clamps pictured. This Waterman brass clamp features a bird with two fabric pincushions. The "bird" resembles a cross between a barn swallow and a canary, has an emery or pin cushion on its back, and another cushion is attached to the clamp. It was patented (number 546) by Charles Waterman in 1853 and the patent date appears on the rounded edge of the bird's wing.

The Monmouth Museum
765 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ 07738
www.monmouthmuseum.org


The Monmouth Museum, founded in 1963, presents changing art, history and science exhibitions to educate and entertain while providing a destination for creative expression and life-long learning to the diverse community it serves. Educational programs at the Museum include guided tours, lectures, workshops and demonstrations for visitors of all ages. The Museum is one of the largest private museums in New Jersey and celebrates "Fifty Years of Great Ideas" in 2013.

Mobirise

Sewing Bird Clamp (Frog)

These sewing "birds" are actually sewing clamps that functioned as fabric and thread holders, providing a "third hand" to hold material or thread while sewing. The Museum's collection includes over 300 clamps made from a variety of materials, including iron, brass, silver, wood, bone, and ivory. The designs range from a simple cast-iron bird to elaborate carved ivory clamps and brass cherubs, butterflies, dolphins, and imaginative creatures. Many clamps include pincushions, thread winders, mirrors, and small boxes for sewing tools. Sewing clamps became popular in the United States at the beginning of the 19th century and production continued even after the advent of the sewing machine around 1900. Our collection was donated by Eugenie B. Bijur, a former resident of Asbury Park, who started her collection with a sewing bird found in an antique shop in Phalanx, NJ. A portion of the collection is on display at the Museum, including the sewing clamps pictured. This Waterman brass clamp features a bird with two fabric pincushions. The "bird" resembles a cross between a barn swallow and a canary, has an emery or pin cushion on its back, and another cushion is attached to the clamp. It was patented (number 546) by Charles Waterman in 1853 and the patent date appears on the rounded edge of the bird's wing.

The Monmouth Museum
765 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ 07738
www.monmouthmuseum.org

The Monmouth Museum, founded in 1963, presents changing art, history and science exhibitions to educate and entertain while providing a destination for creative expression and life-long learning to the diverse community it serves. Educational programs at the Museum include guided tours, lectures, workshops and demonstrations for visitors of all ages. The Museum is one of the largest private museums in New Jersey and celebrates "Fifty Years of Great Ideas" in 2013.

Mobirise

Sewing Bird Clamp (Shell, Fish, and Child)

These sewing "birds" are actually sewing clamps that functioned as fabric and thread holders, providing a "third hand" to hold material or thread while sewing. The Museum's collection includes over 300 clamps made from a variety of materials, including iron, brass, silver, wood, bone, and ivory. The designs range from a simple cast-iron bird to elaborate carved ivory clamps and brass cherubs, butterflies, dolphins, and imaginative creatures. Many clamps include pincushions, thread winders, mirrors, and small boxes for sewing tools. Sewing clamps became popular in the United States at the beginning of the 19th century and production continued even after the advent of the sewing machine around 1900. Our collection was donated by Eugenie B. Bijur, a former resident of Asbury Park, who started her collection with a sewing bird found in an antique shop in Phalanx, NJ. A portion of the collection is on display at the Museum, including the sewing clamps pictured. This Waterman brass clamp features a bird with two fabric pincushions. The "bird" resembles a cross between a barn swallow and a canary, has an emery or pin cushion on its back, and another cushion is attached to the clamp. It was patented (number 546) by Charles Waterman in 1853 and the patent date appears on the rounded edge of the bird's wing.

The Monmouth Museum
765 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ 07738
www.monmouthmuseum.org


The Monmouth Museum, founded in 1963, presents changing art, history and science exhibitions to educate and entertain while providing a destination for creative expression and life-long learning to the diverse community it serves. Educational programs at the Museum include guided tours, lectures, workshops and demonstrations for visitors of all ages. The Museum is one of the largest private museums in New Jersey and celebrates "Fifty Years of Great Ideas" in 2013.

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William Paterson's Law School Notebook

William Paterson (1745-1806) is probably best known today for the "New Jersey Plan," or the "Paterson Plan," introduced during the Constitutional Convention in 1787. However, far from being a figure to be known for one shining moment in time, Paterson is in fact someone who had many shining—and some not so shining—moments in the early history of the American Republic. Paterson was born in Ireland and brought to the Colonies by his parents at the age of two. His father's modest prosperity, combined with William's intellectual acumen, enabled him to gain admittance to the College of New Jersey (later Princeton) where he graduated in 1763. After taking his undergraduate degree, he stayed on and completed his graduate work in 1766. Simultaneously, he was apprenticed to Richard Stockton (one of the New Jersey signers of the Declaration of Independence) in the study of the law. Paterson was admitted to the bar in 1769. A single ledger or note book held in the archives at the Morristown National Historical Park allows researchers a chance to enter the evolving mind of a young law student. Part of the large Lloyd W. Smith archival collection which the park has maintained since 1957, this notebook allows us to take the measure of Paterson as he contemplated the legal world of his day and of his potential place within that world. Paterson's notebook is serious. There are no doodles or mindless wanderings over pages with a pen which one might expect to accompany a student's notebook. Instead, the erudition which he was already known for and which he would build a career upon is evident throughout. In the notebook, there are several sections with headings for pleas; administration; leases; indictment; juries; jointure; mortgages; appeal; devises; and evidence. Throughout are references to English cases which supply the reasoning and precedent for which Paterson bases his argument upon.

Morristown National Historical Park
Morristown, NJ
www.morristownnhpmuseum.blogspot.com


Morristown National Historic Park's library, museum artifacts, and archives focus not just on the period of George Washington's encampment with the Continental Army in Morristown, New Jersey, but greatly extend beyond that period. The collection represents highlights which reflect the aspirations, achievements, and failures of seminal events over the past five-hundred years. The voyages of exploration are chronicled in the archives, research studying the causes and implications of revolutions are available in the library, and the museum collection allows us to marvel at the ingenuity of our shared American heritage.

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Luke Miller Axe-Head

This goose-wing axe-head features a hand-forged iron blade stamped with three Ds and three Miller's. The makers’ marks strongly suggest that this axe-head was forged by Luke Miller, Bottle Hill's (now Madison, NJ) Revolutionary War hero. It is one of the few surviving pieces that are attributed to him. Luke Miller himself is buried in Bottle Hill Cemetery, Madison, NJ. From http://lukemillerhouse.com, Chris Fillimon described Miller’s career: “Luke Miller joined the militia at the age of seventeen and, according to original documents, “In the month of June, 1776 he turned out and went into service as a volunteer when the British troops landed at Staten Island. He joined a company then commanded by Lieutenant Hand.” Luke fought in several important battles including the battles of Springfield and Short Hills; he achieved the rank of Major in 1778, at the age of nineteen. When he returned to his home and farm, Luke continued with the family’s blacksmith trade as his father Josiah Miller had before him. Luke’s son, John B. Miller, followed him in the trade, and John’s son, David L. Miller, also adopted the blacksmith trade.” General George Washington and his officers stayed at the Miller home, and, according to the September 14, 1901 issue of the Newark Evening News: “In the front room on the northeast of the building, [Miller’s Station] Washington wrote several letters while in another wing of the building he discussed the war situation with his brother officers.”

Museum of Early Trades & Crafts
9 Main Street, Madison, NJ 07940
http://www.metc.org


The mission of the Museum of Early Trades & Crafts is to enhance the understanding and appreciation of America's past by presenting and interpreting the history, culture and lives of ordinary people through educational programs, through preservation and stewardship of our collection, and through exhibition and demonstration of the trades and crafts practiced in New Jersey from its earliest settlement.

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The Intelligent Whale

The so-called "Intelligent Whale" is the only surviving Union Civil War submarine. The Whale was financed by New Jersey investors and largely built in Newark, NJ in 1864, and Newark attorney and lobbyist Oliver Halstead represented the owners in their effort to sell the vessel to the United States Navy. The submarine was designed to allow a diver to exit from a portal in the bottom while it was submerged, with the air pressure within preventing water from rushing in as he exited. The diver would then clear obstacles or attach mines to enemy vessels and return to the submarine. Although it was successfully tested in New York Harbor in the summer of 1864, the navy did not purchase the Whale, fearing it was not seaworthy enough to survive being towed to Charleston, South Carolina, for deployment. Unable to sell the submarine, Halstead purchased it himself and offered, in the spring of 1865, to take it up the James River to Richmond if President Lincoln would appoint him as a naval officer. Unfortunately the war ended before Halstead had his chance. Halstead brought the submarine home to Newark, where he docked it on the Passaic River and took it out for occasional pleasure cruises before selling it to the navy in 1866. The navy tested it again, with unsatisfactory results, in 1872, and it ended up as an ornament on the Brooklyn Navy Yard commander's lawn. When the Navy Yard closed, the Whale was transported to the Washington, DC Navy Yard, from where it was subsequently, as a New Jersey-related artifact, offered on permanent loan to the New Jersey National Guard Militia Museum.

The National Guard Militia
Museum of New Jersey
Sea Girt Ave. & Camp Dr., Sea Girt, NJ 08750
www.nj.gov/military/museum

Established in 1980, the National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey presents the role of the New Jersey Militia and the National Guard within the context of the larger history of the state. Collections include original and reproduction uniforms, weapons, photographs, artifacts and art from the period of Dutch, Swedish and British colonization through the War for Independence, Civil War and World Wars I and II to the present day, with particular attention paid to the diversity of the New Jersey citizen soldier and his or her experience.

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Napolean 12-Pounder Cannon

The National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey can lay claim to having the only US Model 1857 "Napoleon" 12-pounder cannon mounted on a carriage on display in a museum in New Jersey. The barrel of this artillery piece was produced by the Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts, in the fall of 1861. It is one of only twenty-three Napoleon barrels manufactured by the Ames Company that has handles on its barrel, a feature subsequently removed to streamline production. This barrel and its mate were on display outside the East Orange Armory for many years, during which time they acquired an undesirable patina from acid rain and bird droppings. When the state sold the armory building, the barrels were removed and stored at the Sea Girt museum. Several years ago the museum staff decided, with the upcoming sesquicentennial of the Civil War, to mount one of the barrels for public display on a reproduction carriage, which would be built by museum volunteers. Using funds from grants, donations and the Museum's Board of Trustees, iron work and lumber was acquired, along with a copy of the original 1857 plans, to build an accurate reproduction carriage. The barrel was meticulously hand cleaned and mounted for display on the completed carriage. The generous donation of a limber by the 6th New York Civil War reenactment battery (the original 6th New York was recruited in Rahway), completed the display. Originally situated in the museum's main gallery, the Napoleon, complete with artifacts and a narrative on Civil War artillery in general and New Jersey Civil War artillery in particular, was moved into the museum's new New Jersey in the Civil War exhibit, where it will remain during the sesquicentennial years.

The National Guard Militia
Museum of New Jersey
Sea Girt Ave. & Camp Dr., Sea Girt, NJ 08750
www.nj.gov/military/museum


Established in 1980, the National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey presents the role of the New Jersey Militia and the National Guard within the context of the larger history of the state. Collections include original and reproduction uniforms, weapons, photographs, artifacts and art from the period of Dutch, Swedish and British colonization through the War for Independence, Civil War and World Wars I and II to the present day, with particular attention paid to the diversity of the New Jersey citizen soldier and his or her experience.

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Armored Tactical Vehicle Door

This door is from an armored tactical vehicle which was used in Iraq by soldiers of the Main Support Battalion of the 42nd Infantry Division in 2004. The door took a direct hit from a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) in the layered ballistic plastic window, which effectively stopped the round from penetrating into the crew compartment. The crew survived and continued their mission.

The National Guard Militia
Museum of New Jersey
Sea Girt Ave. & Camp Dr., Sea Girt, NJ 08750
www.nj.gov/military/museum


Established in 1980, the National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey presents the role of the New Jersey Militia and the National Guard within the context of the larger history of the state. Collections include original and reproduction uniforms, weapons, photographs, artifacts and art from the period of Dutch, Swedish and British colonization through the War for Independence, Civil War and World Wars I and II to the present day, with particular attention paid to the diversity of the New Jersey citizen soldier and his or her experience.

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Phillip Durell Redware Charger

The only documented piece of “Pennsylvania German” sgrafitto from the Garden State it is a piece that was made in New Jersey but by an artisan who was not German. Phillip Durell was a commercial redware potter in the bustling Federal town of Elizabeth. Redware was the basic ceramic product in pre-industrial New Jersey, made from readily-available clay and fired at a low temperature that did not require advanced technology. This is what everyday housewives used for cooking and serving until mass-produced tablewares made redware obsolete. [Redware charger. Phillip Durell, Elizabeth, NJ, 1793. Collection of the Newark Museum. Purchase 1948 Thomas L. Raymond Bequest Fund 48.440]

Newark Museum
49 Washington Street, Newark, New Jersey 07102
www.newarkmuseumart.org


The Newark Museum is New Jersey’s largest art museum and among the finest museums in the United States. Founded in 1909 by Newark’s civic and industrial leaders, the Museum today encompasses global art collections comprising over 130,000 objects as well as a vast natural history specimen collection. Collection strengths include American Art (Colonial to contemporary), the Arts of Africa, Arts of Asia, Native American art, classical antiquities, European and American decorative arts, and the 1885 Ballantine House.

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"The Children of Marcus Ward,"
by Lily Martin Spencer

Lily Martin Spencer was the first professional woman painter in America, and she supported a husband and a houseful of children with her art. She became nationally celebrated for her genre paintings and scenes of happy domestic life, but often her pictures were enlivened with a subtle feminism that spoke to her unique role as wife, mother, and family breadwinner. In the 1850s she lived in Newark and painted for her rent. This monumental portrait of the four surviving children of Governor Marcus L. Ward is considered Spencer’s most important work. It hung in the Ward family mansion in Newark until 1921, when it came to the Museum. The house was demolished in 1922 and the new Museum building was erected on the site facing Washington Park. [“The Children of Marcus L. Ward,” Lily Martin Spencer, Newark, NJ , ca. 1858. Collection of the Newark Museum, Marcus L. Ward Bequest, 1921 21.1913]

Newark Museum
49 Washington Street, Newark, New Jersey 07102
www.newarkmuseumart.org


The Newark Museum is New Jersey’s largest art museum and among the finest museums in the United States. Founded in 1909 by Newark’s civic and industrial leaders, the Museum today encompasses global art collections comprising over 130,000 objects as well as a vast natural history specimen collection. Collection strengths include American Art (Colonial to contemporary), the Arts of Africa, Arts of Asia, Native American art, classical antiquities, European and American decorative arts, and the 1885 Ballantine House. 

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The Smith High Chest

Jasper Smith of Maidenhead, NJ (now Lawrenceville), ordered this stylish walnut high chest of drawers as a wedding gift for his daughter Catherine Smith at the time of her marriage to Thomas Stevens. It remains today the only example of a New Jersey Queen-Anne style high chest of drawers, distinctive for its paneled sides and surviving engraved English brasses. The high chest was a status symbol in Colonial America, its scale and elegance disguising the fact that it was used for the storage of mundane household linens such as shirts and underclothes. Because the best bed was often kept in the best parlor—and because bedrooms were used for entertaining in ways very different from today—high chests were visible testimony to a family’s prosperity and taste. [The Smith High Chest, Maidenhead (Lawrenceville), NJ, 1740-50. Collection of the Newark Museum. Purchase 1963, The Members’ Fund 63.27a, b]

Newark Museum
49 Washington Street, Newark, New Jersey 07102
www.newarkmuseumart.org


The Newark Museum is New Jersey’s largest art museum and among the finest museums in the United States. Founded in 1909 by Newark’s civic and industrial leaders, the Museum today encompasses global art collections comprising over 130,000 objects as well as a vast natural history specimen collection. Collection strengths include American Art (Colonial to contemporary), the Arts of Africa, Arts of Asia, Native American art, classical antiquities, European and American decorative arts, and the 1885 Ballantine House. 

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First Book Donated to The State Library

The New Jersey State Library dates its official inception to 1796 when, for the first time, the legislature assigned responsibility for its collection of books to an individual, the Clerk of the House. But the origin of the state library is actually much earlier. It began as a collection of books maintained by the New Jersey Assembly when New Jersey was an English colony. Over time this collection of books grew until it became a reference collection used by members of both houses of the legislature. Eventually New Jersey became a state and the collection came to be called the state's library. In 1738 Lewis Morris became New Jersey's first governor independent of New York. Governor Morris influenced the development of the Assembly's collection of books by presenting it with a book from his personal library. The Assembly noted the gift in its proceedings: “Whereas D'Ew's Journal of the Parliament in Queen Elizabeth's Reign was made a Present of to this House; Ordered, That it be lodged in the Clerk's Hands for the Use of the House.” (Votes & Proceedings, 24 November 1738) This is the first documented case of the New Jersey Assembly acquiring a publication not of its own making. The book was published in England and provides transcriptions of the activities of the English Parliament during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It is in the library's collection today and has on its dedication page a handwritten note stating: "The Gift of His Excellency Lewis Morris Esq. to the Colony of New Jersey." The presentation of this book to the New Jersey Assembly marked the first step in the broadening of the Assembly's collection, a collection that would in 1796 become recognized as the state's library. 

New Jersey State Library
185 West State Street, Trenton NJ 08625
www.njstatelib.org

The New Jersey State Library, based in Trenton, New Jersey, was established in 1796 to serve the information needs of New Jersey’s executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.

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The Trenton Vase

December 25, 1776...a bitter wind swept across a river filled with winter ice floes. But frigid temperatures and an impending storm were not enough to convince George Washington to cancel his daring plan to surprise the Hessian troops in New Jersey. Things had gone poorly in 1776 and he desperately needed a victory. The military password of the day was resolute—"Victory...or Death." For Continental soldiers, the crossing of the Delaware facilitated their decisive victory at the Battle of Trenton. It also created an American icon. In 1904, the Trenton Potteries Company chose Washington's crossing as the subject for the "Trenton Vase," a monumental, four-and-a-half-foot tall porcelain urn displayed at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis. Lucien Boullemier, the urn's artist, used Emanuel Leutze's famous painting of the crossing as his inspiration. A composite work of five skilled craftsmen, the urn required seven kiln firings in order to bring out the brilliant colors. It was one of four grandiose urns on display at the Exposition. The Trenton Vase is highly prized for its ability to chronicle two seminal aspects of New Jersey's history-its status as the Crossroads of the American Revolution and its reputation as an industrial powerhouse, particularly in the production of American pottery.

State Museum of New Jersey
205 West State Street, Trenton, NJ 08625
www.nj.gov/state/museum


The New Jersey State Museum serves the life-long educational needs of residents and visitors through its collections, exhibitions, programs, publications, and scholarship in science, history, and the arts. Within a broad context, the Museum explores the natural and cultural diversity of New Jersey, past and present.

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The Wilson Chair

"The rarest thing in public life is courage, and the man who has courage is marked for distinction; the man who has not is marked for extinction..."—Woodrow Wilson, farewell address to New Jersey, March 2, 1913. The words of conviction that ended Woodrow Wilson's tenure as governor of New Jersey catapulted him to two successful terms as President of the United States. As commander-in-chief, Wilson guided the United States through the turmoil of World War I. As a diplomat, he became a tireless advocate for a League of Nations to preserve peace for future generations. And on the home front, the former president of Princeton University expanded the progressive reforms that he had achieved in New Jersey to the entire nation. Woodrow Wilson purportedly sat in this one-of-a-kind, throne-like armchair. Levis S. Chasey, a carpenter from Red Bank, built the chair from wood samples that he meticulously gathered from the governors of forty-eight states. In 1915, the chair was displayed in the New Jersey Building at the Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. Some accounts suggest that it was acquired by New Jersey Governor James Fielder, Woodrow Wilson's successor, who offered it as a gift to the new president. The so-called "Wilson Chair" is highly prized as a unique piece of politically-themed American folk art and for its connection to the emerging national political career of Woodrow Wilson. 

State Museum of New Jersey
205 West State Street, Trenton, NJ 08625
www.nj.gov/state/museum


The New Jersey State Museum serves the life-long educational needs of residents and visitors through its collections, exhibitions, programs, publications, and scholarship in science, history, and the arts. Within a broad context, the Museum explores the natural and cultural diversity of New Jersey, past and present.

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The Baseball Vase

The word porcelain conjures up images of delicate dishware and tiny tea sets. But New Jersey ceramic artist Isaac Broome liked to make big things out of porcelain. In 1873, the Trenton pottery firm, Ott & Brewer, hired Broome to create display pieces for the 1876 Centennial International Exposition in Philadelphia. Reproduced several times using his original mold, Broome's multicolored bust of Cleopatra garnered much attention at the event and even appeared in magazine accounts about Trenton potteries. Also exhibited at the Centennial, Broome's monumental baseball vase captured the essence and spirit—as well as the costumes—of a great American pastime still in its infancy. The vase is made of parian, an unglazed porcelain named for the marble that it resembles. It is considered to be one of the most important pieces in the history of American ceramic art. When he crafted the baseball vase, Broome probably knew little about the sport's strong historical connection to the state of New Jersey. On June 19, 1846, the first officially-recorded game of baseball as we know it today took place at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken. New Jersey, therefore, is where modern baseball was born. The Baseball Vase, like the Trenton Vase, is highly prized for its ability to chronicle the Garden State’s reputation as an industrial powerhouse, but also its pioneering role in the history of early baseball.

State Museum of New Jersey
205 West State Street, Trenton, NJ 08625
www.nj.gov/state/museum

The New Jersey State Museum serves the life-long educational needs of residents and visitors through its collections, exhibitions, programs, publications, and scholarship in science, history, and the arts. Within a broad context, the Museum explores the natural and cultural diversity of New Jersey, past and present.

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2nd New Jersey Regiment Muster Roll

This muster roll is one of the most compelling artifacts in the Old Barracks Museum collections. It brings to life about 90 officers and men of a New Jersey Regiment from the earliest days of New Jersey's active involvement in the Revolution. These men were mustered into the West Jersey Regiment which would, within days, become the 2nd New Jersey regiment (the East Jersey Regiment would become the 1st NJ and a regiment raised "at large" two months later would become the 3rd NJ Regt.) in the Barracks building and, about a month later, would march off to Canada for the relief of the failed expedition by New York and New England troops to take Quebec. It is the only known list of men's names that actually had stayed in the barracks at Trenton. Bringing these common New Jersey soldiers to life is one of the most powerful experiences.

Old Barracks Museum
101 Barrack Street, Trenton, NJ 08608
www.barracks.org

Built in 1758, during the French and Indian War, the Old Barracks housed British soldiers until 1776. It was the scene of the American’s stunning 1776 Christmas Day victory—a turning point after a year-long series of defeats for Washington’s army. From March of 1777 until the treaty of Paris in 1783, the Barracks served as a military hospital. The building later fell into disrepair, until in 1902 it was purchased by a small group of local patriotic women who became the Old Barracks Association and opened it as the Old Barracks Museum in October of 1903. They gave it to the State of New Jersey in 1914, with the Old Barracks Association continuing its day to day programming and operation to this very day. 

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Christian Strenge Fraktur

These two Frakturs (a style of Pennsylvania German illuminated documents in archaic German calligraphy), one a wedding announcement and the other a prayer on the arrival of a new baby, came up for auction in Philadelphia and the Old Barracks Association acquired them. The artist, Christian Strenge, was a private in Col. Johann Gottlieb Rall's own Regiment of Grenadiers, who was captured at the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776. After the War he remained in Pennsylvania and became an American and practiced the art of Fraktur making. This is another outstanding example the Old Barracks' trend in collecting that focuses on pieces that tell a very personal story and bring to life an otherwise unknown player in the iconic events in which the Old Barracks was involved. Rather than another rusty gun part or uniform button, they are an example of a transfer of cultures.

Old Barracks Museum
101 Barrack Street, Trenton, NJ 08608
www.barracks.org


Built in 1758, during the French and Indian War, the Old Barracks housed British soldiers until 1776. It was the scene of the American’s stunning 1776 Christmas Day victory—a turning point after a year-long series of defeats for Washington’s army. From March of 1777 until the treaty of Paris in 1783, the Barracks served as a military hospital. The building later fell into disrepair, until in 1902 it was purchased by a small group of local patriotic women who became the Old Barracks Association and opened it as the Old Barracks Museum in October of 1903. They gave it to the State of New Jersey in 1914, with the Old Barracks Association continuing its day to day programming and operation to this very day. 

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Wilkes & Liberty

This may be the tiniest artifact in The Old Barracks' collection. It was found by archeologists from Hunter Research, who was searching for physical evidence of the wooden fence that surrounded our barracks in the 18th Century (found near where our South gate currently is). John Wilkes was an extremely colorful (one could fairly call him a reprobate) Whig member of the British Parliament in the 1760s who opposed the policies of King George III and his ministers towards the American colonies. He published a series of pamphlets and in edition No. 45, he'd skewered them so badly that he was jailed. Uproar resulted, with crowds taking up the chant "Wilkes & Liberty No. 45!" Ben Franklin, then in London, wrote that he saw the number "45" painted on house doors running from within London and continuing for miles outside the city. He became a hero to the various "Sons of Liberty" groups in the American colonies. This apparent sleeve link insert is evidence of someone at the Barracks in Trenton expressing their personal political views. Those views were obviously aligned with what would eventually become the cause of independence.

Old Barracks Museum
101 Barrack Street, Trenton, NJ 08608
www.barracks.org

Built in 1758, during the French and Indian War, the Old Barracks housed British soldiers until 1776. It was the scene of the American’s stunning 1776 Christmas Day victory—a turning point after a year-long series of defeats for Washington’s army. From March of 1777 until the treaty of Paris in 1783, the Barracks served as a military hospital. The building later fell into disrepair, until in 1902 it was purchased by a small group of local patriotic women who became the Old Barracks Association and opened it as the Old Barracks Museum in October of 1903. They gave it to the State of New Jersey in 1914, with the Old Barracks Association continuing its day to day programming and operation to this very day. 

Mobirise

Blue Center Steel Wire Rope

For 112 years, the Roebling Company made wire rope for every sector of the industrialized economy. New technologies demanded wire for telegraphs, elevators, tramways, telephones and electrification—to name just a few. Roebling patented Blue Center Wire Rope retained a self-lubricating hemp center and lasted twice as long as many conventional wire ropes. This blue center wire is now the logo of the Roebling Museum. [Collections of the Roebling Museum] 

Roebling Museum
100 Second Avenue, Roebling, NJ 08554
www.roeblingmuseum.org


Opened in 2009 on the grounds of an historic steel mill, the Roebling Museum is dedicated to interpreting the John A. Roebling’s Sons Company, its founding family, its workers, and its seminal engineering innovations. Beginning with John A. Roebling, whose Brooklyn Bridge set a new standard of engineering excellence, Roebling’s technological innovations created the longest suspension bridges in the world; forged the undersea cables that made possible transatlantic communication, and manufactured the wire rope for elevators that allowed skyscrapers to soar. The 7,000 square foot Museum is located in the Main Gate building, circa 1907, which leads to 250 riverfront acres where the Roebling steel and wire mill once stood. Declared a federal Superfund site in 1983, the entire mill property was remediated by the Environmental Protection Agency. The adjacent town of Roebling, one of the nation’s most intact company towns, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and recognized by the White House as a Preserve America community. The Roebling Museum is open year-round, presenting a menu of programs, events, and interactive workshops led by scholars, educators and experts. These are designed to foster exploration of engineering, technology, invention, social and industrial history, and related topics. Guided tours of the exhibits and grounds are available upon request to schools, seniors, and other groups. Scholarly research is encouraged via the website and draws on the resources of the Ferdinand Roebling III Archives Center. 

Mobirise

Cross Section Cable of the Golden Gate Bridge

Instantly recognizable in its distinctive orange hue, few bridges are as dear to Americans as the Golden Gate Bridge. Spanning the entrance to San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate reigned as the world’s longest suspension bridge for a record 27 years. The cables of the Golden Gate—the largest ever spun—are perhaps the greatest achievement of the John A. Roebling’s Sons Company. The task called on Roebling’s decades of experience of manufacturing bridge wire and improved on the Roebling technique patented in 1847 to spin cables in place. The job required 80,000 miles of wire weighing 24,500 tons. [Collections of the Roebling Museum 1937]

Roebling Museum
100 Second Avenue, Roebling, NJ 08554
www.roeblingmuseum.org


Opened in 2009 on the grounds of an historic steel mill, the Roebling Museum is dedicated to interpreting the John A. Roebling’s Sons Company, its founding family, its workers, and its seminal engineering innovations. Beginning with John A. Roebling, whose Brooklyn Bridge set a new standard of engineering excellence, Roebling’s technological innovations created the longest suspension bridges in the world; forged the undersea cables that made possible transatlantic communication, and manufactured the wire rope for elevators that allowed skyscrapers to soar. The 7,000 square foot Museum is located in the Main Gate building, circa 1907, which leads to 250 riverfront acres where the Roebling steel and wire mill once stood. Declared a federal Superfund site in 1983, the entire mill property was remediated by the Environmental Protection Agency. The adjacent town of Roebling, one of the nation’s most intact company towns, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and recognized by the White House as a Preserve America community. The Roebling Museum is open year-round, presenting a menu of programs, events, and interactive workshops led by scholars, educators and experts. These are designed to foster exploration of engineering, technology, invention, social and industrial history, and related topics. Guided tours of the exhibits and grounds are available upon request to schools, seniors, and other groups. Scholarly research is encouraged via the website and draws on the resources of the Ferdinand Roebling III Archives Center. 

Mobirise

"Opening Ceremonies of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge," May 24, 1883

On the opening day of the Brooklyn Bridge, one hundred fifty thousand people crossed the bridge in celebration. John A. Roebling first proposed building a bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn in 1857. Despite skeptics, he was hired 1868 as chief engineer. Unfortunately, he did not live to see his great masterpiece which he predicted would be the “greatest engineering work of the continent, and of the age.” A ferry boat slammed into a pier while he was surveying and his foot was crushed. He died ten days later in 1869. His son Washington Roebling and his wife Emily, who became a liaison for Washington after he fell ill from “caisson’s disease,” completed the bridge to the wonderment of generations. It has become the symbol of New York. [Collections of the Roebling Museum]

Roebling Museum
100 Second Avenue, Roebling, NJ 08554
www.roeblingmuseum.org

Opened in 2009 on the grounds of an historic steel mill, the Roebling Museum is dedicated to interpreting the John A. Roebling’s Sons Company, its founding family, its workers, and its seminal engineering innovations. Beginning with John A. Roebling, whose Brooklyn Bridge set a new standard of engineering excellence, Roebling’s technological innovations created the longest suspension bridges in the world; forged the undersea cables that made possible transatlantic communication, and manufactured the wire rope for elevators that allowed skyscrapers to soar. The 7,000 square foot Museum is located in the Main Gate building, circa 1907, which leads to 250 riverfront acres where the Roebling steel and wire mill once stood. Declared a federal Superfund site in 1983, the entire mill property was remediated by the Environmental Protection Agency. The adjacent town of Roebling, one of the nation’s most intact company towns, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and recognized by the White House as a Preserve America community. The Roebling Museum is open year-round, presenting a menu of programs, events, and interactive workshops led by scholars, educators and experts. These are designed to foster exploration of engineering, technology, invention, social and industrial history, and related topics. Guided tours of the exhibits and grounds are available upon request to schools, seniors, and other groups. Scholarly research is encouraged via the website and draws on the resources of the Ferdinand Roebling III Archives Center. 

Mobirise

Wood from the Plainfield Quaker Meeting House

This foot-long piece of splintered lumber with one nail is said to have been removed from original Quaker Meeting House built in 1790. The artifact is part of the Marjorie & Roger Vail Collection. Their relative, David Vail, was a member of the meeting house construction committee. During the Revolutionary War, when the British forces held possession of Perth Amboy and nearby country, General Washington and Staff called at the farm residence of John Vail, great, great, grandfather of Charles E. Vail (who would become the oldest member of the Meeting in 1938), and requested to be guided to some prominent spot in the Watchung mountains from which he could get a good view of the plain below and the movements of the enemy. There was a man at Friend Vail's house at that time that was acquainted with the mountain paths, and he at once volunteered his services and led the Continental Commander to a high point which is now called Washington Rock. That guide was Edward Fitz Randolph, also a member of the committee in charge of building this Meeting House and who, as a carpenter, gave manual labor to its construction. 

Plainfield Public Library
Local History, Special Collections & Genealogy
800 Park Avenue, Plainfield, NJ 07060 
www.plainfieldlibrary.info


The award-winning Plainfield Public Library serves Plainfield's residential, educational, and business communities. Through inter-local agreements, the Library also serves residents of many neighboring towns. The Library houses approximately 140,000 volumes, including many special collections, and employs a staff of 35 full-time; fourteen of whom hold M.L.S. degrees. Nine rooms of various-sizes are available to the public for programs, meetings, tutoring, and private study. The Library itself presents a variety of special events, such as exhibits by local artists and photographers, thematic local history exhibits, lectures, candidate forums, computer training, and children's activities.

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Badge of Charles William Otto Giese

This badge belonged to Charles William Otto Giese (1841-1907), a Plainfield Police Officer for nine years. Charles was born in Germany and came to America around 1858, touring as an actor with a Virginia theater group. When the Civil War began, he returned to New Jersey where he worked for a brewery, as a restaurateur on Somerset Street, and also ran a saloon. He joined the police force in 1885; he had many arrests recorded under his name in the police logs. By 1900, Charles worked as a cigar maker on Elm Place. In 1893, he was voted most popular German/American in the Dunellen, Plainfield, and Somerset/Union County area. His sons and grandsons were active with the local police departments and the Plainfield post office. The Plainfield Police Department was established June 1870, when the Plainfield Common Council created the office of police chief and authorized two assistants. The department maintained headquarters on West Front and Cherry streets before moving to the Depot Park location. The Depot Park building, near the eastbound station of the Central Railroad, was officially designated as the site of the city jail in 1879. In 1909, headquarters was moved to Sycamore Street (now known as Cleveland Avenue). The Plainfield Police Department operated out of the Sycamore Street location for 54 years, when the department moved to 200 E. Fourth St. 

Plainfield Public Library
Local History, Special Collections & Genealogy
800 Park Avenue, Plainfield, NJ 07060
www.plainfieldlibrary.info


The award-winning Plainfield Public Library serves Plainfield's residential, educational, and business communities. Through inter-local agreements, the Library also serves residents of many neighboring towns. The Library houses approximately 140,000 volumes, including many special collections, and employs a staff of 35 full-time; fourteen of whom hold M.L.S. degrees. Nine rooms of various-sizes are available to the public for programs, meetings, tutoring, and private study. The Library itself presents a variety of special events, such as exhibits by local artists and photographers, thematic local history exhibits, lectures, candidate forums, computer training, and children's activities.

Mobirise

William Franklin's Memorial Design for His Wife

We think of America’s War for Independence as a revolution, yet it was every bit as much a civil war as the conflict that bears that name of nearly a hundred years after. As hostilities between England and her American colonies deepened, many ordinary people were compelled by circumstances to choose sides—choices that could cost one not only their fortunes, but their very lives. Families were bitterly divided over such decisions. Perhaps the best-known example of such familial strife is that which came between the famed Benjamin Franklin and his son, William. William Franklin’s mother is unknown, but his stepmother, Debora, took him in and raised him as her own. It is a young William often depicted by the elder Franklin’s side in illustrations of his legendary kite experiment. Thanks to his father’s influence, William Franklin was appointed Royal Governor of New Jersey in 1763. As the king’s representative in the colony, he would remain a staunch loyalist. In 1775, Benjamin Franklin visited his son at his mansion in Perth Amboy and for three days, the two men debated and argued, each trying to bring the other over to their side. When it was over, neither had prevailed and their relationship was never the same. Indeed, the only saw one another briefly on more time, in 1785 when the elder Franklin was traveling through England. They discussed some outstanding business, but their relationship beyond saving. There was, however, another less well-known price William Franklin would pay for his loyalty. The Provincial Congress had ordered him placed under house arrest in January of 1776, with the stipulation he could not conduct any government business. When he defiantly attempted to convene the Assembly as usual, he was formally arrested that June and imprisoned for two years and five months in Connecticut, spending 250 days in solitary confinement for secretly attempting to still support the Loyalist cause. His wife, Elizabeth, was permitted to remain in their house, fleeing to British-occupied Manhattan when the British Army briefly controlled Perth Amboy in late 1777, early 1778. She had moved all their belongings into a New York City warehouse, but all was destroyed by fire. Elizabeth Franklin died in New York at age 49, her husband having been refused permission to attend her funeral. William Franklin’s decisions had cost him his liberty, his relationship with his father, his home, and then his wife. Yet he remained dedicated to his cause. Freed in a prisoner exchange in 1778, he remained a leader in the Loyalist community in New York before becoming exiled to England in 1782. He later sat down and designed a memorial plaque to his late wife, who was buried across the Atlantic in New York’s St. Paul’s Chapel. Installed there in 1787, it read: “Beneath the altar of this Church are deposited the remains of Mrs. Elizabeth Franklin, Wife of his Excellency, William Franklin, Esq. late Governor under his Brittanick [sic] Majesty of the Province of New Jersey, Compelled by the adverse circumstances of the time to Part from the Husband she loved and at length deprived of the soothing hope of his speedy return she sunk under accumulated distresses and departed this life on the 28th day of July 1778 in the 49th year of her age. Sincerity and Sensibility, Politeness and Affability, Goodness and Charity, With sense refined and person elegant in her united. From a grateful remembrance of her affectionate tenderness, And constant performance of all the duties of a good Wife This monument is erected in the year 1787, By him who knew her worth and still laments her loss.” This document, along with a hand-drawn sketch of the design, is now on display at The Proprietary House, a poignant reminder of the personal costs of revolution.

Proprietary House
149 Kearny Avenue, Perth Amboy, NJ 08861
https://www.theproprietaryhouse.org/ 


Constructed between 1762 and 1764 by order of the Board of East Jersey Proprietors, The Proprietary House was intended to become the mansion of the Royal Governor and advance their ambitions of making Perth Amboy into the London of America. Royal Governor William Franklin lived there from 1774 until his arrest in 1775. Almost lost to fire after the American Revolution, it was reconstructed and served as a fashionable resort hotel, private residence, an hotel again, retirement home for Presbyterian ministers and their widows and orphans, an hotel yet again, a boarding house, and now as office space and museum. The property is owned by the State of New Jersey and the museum is operated by The Proprietary House Museum Association. House tours, lectures, teas, concerts, and other events are offered and the space is available for rental.

Mobirise

Fruit Sorter

This fruit sorter was patented in 1874 and manufactured by John A. Jones of York, Pennsylvania. Fruit farms were an important part of Hunterdon County's early economy from the 18th through the early 20th centuries. Hand-cranked fruit sorters allowed farmers to sort a large amount of fruit quickly. Picked fruit was dumped on the elevate feeder rolls (left). Rotating bars rolled the fruit for inspection for rot. Rotted fruit was removed and marketable fruit entered one of four grade-sized chutes and fell into baskets below. (Donor: Mr. and Mrs. William Horton)

Red Mill Museum Village
56 Main Street, Clinton, NJ 08809
www.theredmill.org

The Red Mill Museum Village is the setting for over 200 years of history. Within the walls of a dozen buildings, contained in the wood and cloth of 40,000 objects, are the stories of the growth of a community. How did the first European settlers harness the river, tame the wilderness, improve the land, encourage commerce, build a village, and create the Town of Clinton? The museum offers changing exhibits, lectures, concerts and special events that provide visitors with an ongoing conversation with the past.  

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Ice Bicycle

In the 19th century the Raritan froze solid in the winter and children took to the ice to play. The children of the wealthy Leigh family, able to have the best, enjoyed exclusive use of this ice bicycle. Created by Irish-born blacksmith Michael Gooley (1850-1900), this bicycle used and iron studded back wheel to propel the bicycle forward. Steering was accomplished as with a bicycle, but, the front wheel has been replaced with a skate blade. Alas, the Leigh children had to do without any brakes. This object is unique to Clinton, NJ as other examples have not been found. (Gift of Myrtle Lewis in Memory of Walter & Jenny Leigh) 

Red Mill Museum Village
56 Main Street, Clinton, NJ 08809
www.theredmill.org


The Red Mill Museum Village is the setting for over 200 years of history. Within the walls of a dozen buildings, contained in the wood and cloth of 40,000 objects, are the stories of the growth of a community. How did the first European settlers harness the river, tame the wilderness, improve the land, encourage commerce, build a village, and create the Town of Clinton? The museum offers changing exhibits, lectures, concerts and special events that provide visitors with an ongoing conversation with the past.  

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Dr. Mary Gaston

Dr. Mary Gaston and her brother were benefactors of the Library; her brother Hugh monetarily. She was a founder of the Somerville Civic League and a proponent of both the early Library and Medical Center. The portraitist's last name is (a best guess) “____grath,” and it was painted approximately 1900. 

Somerville Branch Library
35 West End Avenue, Somerville, NJ 08876 www.somerset.lib.nj.us/somerville.htm


The Somerville branch of the Somerset County Library System, along with Borough Hall, occupies the former home of Daniel Robert Esq. (1888-1923) constructed in 1888 at the west end of Main Street. The Tudor-Gothic building style, with turrets and towers, had gained enormous popularity following the Civil War. The building was home to The Elks organization between 1923 and 1958, then the Borough Hall from 1959 to present. 

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The Kline Children Painted by Jonathan K. Trego

The Kline Children of Kline's Mill was painted in 1860 by Jonathan K. Trego. The child in the center of the portrait is Jacob Kline Jr., who was born in 1853 and died in 1911. The child to the left of the boy was named Elizabeth. The youngest child’s name, long unknown, was Orion. Jennie Kline said in her will that the portrait was that of her father and his brother and sister, but the toddler was long referred to as “Jane” because the rose-colored gown suggested a girl to modern eyes. The puzzle was resolved by checking the 1860 census. Jacob Kline spent most of his adult life in Somerville. He was a member of the firm of Hardgrove and Kline. He operated his grocery business in a building that was occupied by the Somerset Messenger-Gazette at East Main and Warren Streets in Somerville. He later was associated with the Vroom coal and feed business on South Bridge Street, Somerville. While Trego's is less impressive than those of the outstanding portrait painters of his day, it is far superior to the semi-primitive portraiture which abounds from the 1860s. Jennie Kline inherited the portrait. Her will bequeathed the portrait to Mrs. Lancelot Ely. Mrs. Ely held it for safe-keeping. Feeling that the portrait was of local and historical interest, Mrs. Ely donated it to the Somerville Public Library.

Somerville Branch Library
35 West End Avenue, Somerville, NJ 08876 www.somerset.lib.nj.us/somerville.htm


The Somerville branch of the Somerset County Library System, along with Borough Hall, occupies the former home of Daniel Robert Esq. (1888-1923) constructed in 1888 at the west end of Main Street. The Tudor-Gothic building style, with turrets and towers, had gained enormous popularity following the Civil War. The building was home to The Elks organization between 1923 and 1958, then the Borough Hall from 1959 to present.  

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The R. Van Dyke Reid Photograph Collection

The R. Van Dyke Reid photograph collection includes more than 300 images of streets, businesses, people, residences, and other aspects of South River between the years 1891 and 1906. One of the most heavily used resources in the museum collection, it provides a unique view of South River during its early development as a borough. The collection also includes hundreds of additional photographs of surrounding communities. Included are images from: New Brunswick, Red Bank, Sayreville, South Amboy, Milltown, Morristown, Matawan Station, Newark, and other locations. Richard Van Dyke Reid was a South River native, born in 1833, and a graduate of Rutgers College. He taught in South River and later moved to Red Bank, where he taught and served as school principal for a time. After the death of his wife Sarah, in 1886, and his daughter Eva, in 1892, Reid returned to South River. He moved back to Red Bank about 1910 and died there in 1915. The R. Van Dyke Reid collection also includes several scrapbooks and the earliest known map of South River (then known as Washington). Copies of South River images and digital images of every photograph in the collection can be viewed at the South River Museum. 

South River Historical & Preservation Society, Inc.
64-66 Main Street, South River, NJ 08882 | www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njsrhps


The South River Historical & Preservation Society began in August of 1988 with a list of twelve South River residents who had a strong commitment to the preservation of the history of South River. The Society was incorporated on October 3, 1988 and remains dedicated to sharing and preserving the proud history of South River for future generations.

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Stickley Lantern

The most significant artifact selected by The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms was not a piece of the furniture for which Gustav Stickley is best-known, but this electric lantern, (variant of No. 203) c. 1911, made from hammered copper with amber hammered glass, and iron extension arm. This is one of two such lanterns used on the exterior of the Log House at Craftsman Farms. One was located over each of the large Dutch doors on the front porch. It reflects Stickley's role as a designer and his role as an innovator. Stickley's role as a designer is apparent in the rectilinear form of the fixture and its classic simplicity which harmonizes with the building itself. In the December 1901 issue of The Craftsman magazine, Stickley himself wrote "Forms and materials once deliberately and well-chosen, must not be made subject to the vagaries of fashion. They are to be modified only so far as to maintain a constant progress in utility, simplicity, and beauty." His role as an innovator is evident in his use of electricity for a doorway lantern on a rural farm in 1911. In his essay for the 2011 exhibition, Mr. Stickley's Home, Peter K. Mars states, ". . . Craftsman Farms hovers in the balance between the pre and post electric world. Due in part to a profusion of wealthy estate owners and the nearness of Bell Laboratories, electricity came to Morris Plains in 1909, concurrent with the construction of the Farms. Buildings at the Farms were wired for municipal electricity, placing it decades ahead of the 90% of rural American farms that didn't have municipal electricity until after the Rural Electrification Act of 1936." This lantern still welcomes our visitors today as it once welcomed Gustav Stickley's family and guests in 1911. And it still glows as symbol of the innovative and straightforward honesty of Stickley's design of the entire property of Craftsman Farms.

The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms
2352 Route 10 West, Morris Plains, NJ 07950
www.StickleyMuseum.org


This 30-acre National Historic Landmark is the centerpiece of Gustav Stickley’s early 20th century country estate. The Stickley family’s home, known as the Log House, was built in 1911 and is one of the most significant landmarks of the American Arts and Crafts movement. It has been restored to its 1911 appearance and is operated by the Craftsman Farms Foundation as a historic house museum. Tours of the Log House are available year round, as well as group tours for clubs, churches, special interested groups, schools, scouts, etc. The Museum also offers lectures, workshops, and numerous educational programs, plus two family days each year.

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Sussex County Court House Weather Vane

The first Sussex County Court House, erected in Newton between 1762 and 1765, had a steeple that was topped by this wrought iron weather vane. The vane swung freely atop an upright staff with four fixed arms pointing east, west, south, and north so that people could note the direction of the wind. Since Colonel John Hackett (1729-1766), a junior partner in the Andover Iron Company, helped supervise the construction of the Court House, it is likely that the vane was crafted at Andover Forge from iron cast at Andover Furnace. The date of the building and decorative motifs were cut from the iron so that the pattern would be silhouetted against the sky. The steeple and vane were taken down in 1845, when a third story and new dome, along with the reinstalled vane, were added to the Court House. A disastrous fire in the early hours of January 28, 1847 reduced the building "to ashes, leaving nothing standing but its massive pillars upon which the architrave rested." The weather vane vanished in a spectacular finale when "the dome, soon reduced to a mere framework of fiery timber, swayed a moment forward by the force of the wind, and sank blazing and crashing into the centre of the glowing mass." While the vane's whereabouts long remained a mystery, it was discovered by Margaret Stuart, daughter of Dr. John R. Stuart of Newton, after his passing away on January 15, 1873. Found among his possessions, Dr. Stuart lived at the corner of Spring Street and Union Place in a dwelling later known as the Newton Homestead and now the site of an auto dealership. The vane is 38" long and 5 3/4" to 6 1/4" wide from end to end. The sheet metal is about 1/8" thick and weighs about 10 pounds.

Sussex County Historical Society
82 Main Street, Newton, NJ 07860 www.sussexcountyhistory.org


The purpose of the society is to promote public knowledge and interest in the history of Sussex County, New Jersey, and surrounding areas by: Compiling, publishing and disseminating information; Collecting, preserving and studying historical, genealogical and archaeological records, documents, papers and artifacts; Maintaining a public museum; Promoting the preservation and protection of buildings, cemeteries and other sites of historic interest and co-operating with other organizations of similar interest.

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Bust of John A. Roebling

John A. Roebling, (1806 – 1869) founder of the John A. Roebling and Sons Wire Rope Company in Trenton, NJ, was the designer of the Brooklyn Bridge and the inventor of the wire rope cable that made such suspension bridges possible. Isaac Broome, teacher in the Life and Antique department at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts was a distinguished ceramic artist who worked for a number of Trenton potteries and tile makers. While employed by Trenton’s Ott & Brewer, he was commissioned to produce a case of parian sculpture -- vases and busts including the famous Baseball Vase and Cleopatra – for the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition. The bust of John A. Roebling was created in 1911 for Lenox China Co., at the behest of the Roebling family. (Bust of John A. Roebling, by Isaac Broome, Canada, 1835–1922, Trenton, NJ, Lenox, Date: 1909)

Trenton City Museum
Ellarslie in Cadwalader Park
PO Box 1034, Trenton, NJ 08606
www.ellarslie.org 


The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie is celebrating its 40th anniversary as a repository of the culture and history of Trenton, its people and its industries. Through its exhibits, collections, and community programs, the Trenton City Museum preserves and promotes Trenton’s diverse history, art and culture for the benefit of Trenton residents and visitors.

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The Woodland Vase 

The Woodland Vase was one of four produced by the Trenton Potteries Company for the 1904 World Exposition held in St Louis. The pottery industry in Trenton was well developed in the last quarter of the 19th century, producing fine porcelains to rival the best that Europe could produce, but recognition of the quality of American ceramics lagged behind. The Trenton Potteries Company hoped to dazzle the world with the production of 4 amazing vases. These vases, each 4 feet 7 inches tall, were exhibited at the Exposition and were given the highest praise. Two of the vases were returned to Trenton, but the Woodland Vase was lost for over one hundred years and only recently recovered by the Trenton City Museum. The vase is porcelain in four parts designed by Peter Korzilius and was decorated in the Sevres style with Lucien Boullemier creating the central design, embellished by John Wigley, and embossed with jeweled and gold overlay by George Mardle. This vase is now part of the permanent exhibit of Trenton-made ceramics at the Trenton City Museum. (Woodland Vase, Trenton Potteries Company; Designer: Peter Korzilius; Decorator: Lucien Boullemier; Date: 1904)

Trenton City Museum
Ellarslie in Cadwalader Park
PO Box 1034, Trenton, NJ 08606
www.ellarslie.org

The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie is celebrating its 40th anniversary as a repository of the culture and history of Trenton, its people and its industries. Through its exhibits, collections, and community programs, the Trenton City Museum preserves and promotes Trenton’s diverse history, art and culture for the benefit of Trenton residents and visitors. 

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The Charles G. Roebling Orchid Plates

Charles G. Roebling was the President of the John A. Roebling & Sons wire rope corporation founded in Trenton, New Jersey. The Roebling family, descendants of John A. Roebling, continued to create wire rope and bridges including the most famous Brooklyn Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. Charles was a rich and powerful man, whose hobby was the raising of orchids in his greenhouse on West State Street. In 1906-1911, his family commissioned a series of painted orchid plates from Trenton’s world-famous ceramic company, Lenox China. Each plate was one-of-a-kind with a single orchid hand-painted in the center surrounded by a heavy, opulent gold border. Renowned ceramic artist William H. Morley would travel to the Roebling greenhouse to paint the special orchids. The magnificent plates were given to Mr. Roebling each Christmas. Each Lenox plate is date marked with the Latin name of the orchid on the base. Only 30 of these plates were made and they have never been duplicated. (The Charles G. Roebling Orchid Plates - Cypripendium Insigue Sanderce. William H. Morley (England, 1869-1934, Trenton, NJ). Lenox China for Charles G. Roebling; Date: 1906) 

Trenton City Museum
Ellarslie in Cadwalader Park
PO Box 1034, Trenton, NJ 08606
www.ellarslie.org


The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie is celebrating its 40th anniversary as a repository of the culture and history of Trenton, its people and its industries. Through its exhibits, collections, and community programs, the Trenton City Museum preserves and promotes Trenton’s diverse history, art and culture for the benefit of Trenton residents and visitors. 

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Taylor Iron and Steel Company Map

This map is from Union Forge Heritage Association's Taylor Wharton collection displays the mid-19th century Taylor Iron and Steel Company and the surrounding area. The company, founded in 1742, as a colonial iron forge, is the oldest iron and steel foundry in United States history. Created by the Union Forge Heritage Association, the historical Taylor Wharton properties are now connected as the Taylor Steelworkers Historical Greenway, a 7 mile trail in High Bridge. 

Union Forge Heritage Association
7 River Rd.,
P.O. BOX 174, High Bridge, NJ 08829

www.solitudehouse.org

Founded in 2002, The Union Forge Heritage Association's mission is to preserve and protect the rich culture and heritage of Hunterdon County, New Jersey and the United States and boasts an incredible variety of artifacts from the 18th to 20th centuries. The Association, a 501c3 corporation, holds numerous events, tours and lectures during the year including Halloween, Christmas and Independence Day festivals.

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Johnny McDermott 1911 U.S. Open Gold Medal

Scottish- and British-born professionals had won the first sixteen U.S. Opens, but Johnny McDermott, a 19-year-old Philadelphia native, turned back Britain's best and in 1911, at Chicago Golf Club, became the first American to win the championship. The following year, he backed up his first national championship victory with a win at the Country Club of Buffalo. More than 100 years have passed since McDermott's 1911 U.S. Open victory, but he still stands as the youngest winner in history, and he is one of only six players to win back-to-back U.S. Open titles. McDermott worked at Camden County Country Club and Merchantville Golf Club, before settling in as the head professional at Atlantic City Country Club. His gold medal from the 1911 U.S. Open was donated to the USGA Museum by the Atlantic City Country Club in 1987. 

USGA Museum and Arnold Palmer Center for Golf History
77 Liberty Corner Road, Far Hills, NJ 07931
usgamuseum.com


The USGA Museum is an educational institution dedicated to fostering an appreciation for the game of golf, its participants, and the Association. It serves as a caretaker and steward for the game’s history, supporting the Association’s role in ensuring the game’s future. By collecting, preserving, and interpreting the historical developments of the game in the United States, with an emphasis on the Association and its championships, the Museum promotes a greater understanding of golf’s cultural significance for a worldwide audience.

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1868 Ballot Box

One of the Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society's most prized possessions is the small green cloth-covered box shown here. It was the ballot box used at Cosmopolitan Hall by the women of Vineland, who voted in the 1868 presidential election, even though they were not legally allowed to cast their ballots. It was the first presidential election to be held after the Civil War. The winner was the Republican candidate, Ulysses S. Grant, a popular war hero, who defeated the Democratic candidate, Horatio Seymour, the former governor of New York State. While the votes cast by the women didn't count, word of their efforts quickly spread throughout the rest of America, where other women also began to demand the right to vote. As a result, the American women's suffrage movement was born. The ballot box is made of balsa wood and covered in green cloth with a metal insert at the top for ballots. It measures 10 inches in length, 6 1/4 inches in width and 4 inches in height. 

Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society
108 South Seventh Street, Vineland, NJ 08362
www.vinelandhistory.org


The Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society (VHAS) is the oldest local historical society in New Jersey, founded in 1864, just three years after Charles K. Landis established the town of Vineland. Its collections and artifacts are shared with the public at the Society's museum on South Seventh Street, one block south of the heart of Vineland's downtown shopping district.

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Philip Dufford Clarinet

This clarinet was donated to the museum by the great-great-grandson of Philip Dufford (1808-1864) who was a lifelong resident of Long Valley (German Valley). According to family history, Philip played this clarinet at either a parade or a reception for General Lafayette when he made his return trip to the US in 1824. Monsieur Sansay, who built a lovely home on DeHart Street in Morristown, NJ and was a dance teacher, decided to hold a ball at his home in honor of General Lafayette on his return visit to the US in 1824/1825. One account says that Lafayette's visit to Morristown was "long awaited" while other accounts say his visit was spur of the moment. The ball was held on July 14, 1825 and made Monsieur Sansay the most famous dancing-master in New Jersey history. It is at this ball that we are assuming Philip Dufford played the clarinet. After examining the clarinet more closely, we saw it was stamped "E. Riley, Chatham Street, NY." Doing some research on Mr. Riley, we found he and his family was well known makers of flutes and piccolos. It is not a stretch to say he then possibly started to make clarinets. However, our research also says that he imported clarinets made in Europe and then sold them here. He was also a song-writer. We will never know if he made the clarinet or had it imported, but it certainly passed through his store. We showed the clarinet to a conductor who is holding mini-classes on the symphony at our public library. He was truly impressed with the clarinet and said it was one of the finest examples of a boxwood clarinet he had ever seen.

Washington Township Historical Society
6 Fairview Avenue, Long Valley, NJ 07853

www.wthsnj.org

The Washington Township Historical Society aims to bring together people interested in the history of Washington Township, Morris County, the state of New Jersey, and promote a better appreciation of our American heritage. We support historical programs, archives, publications, preservation, markers, and historical collections in our museum.

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Luisa Neighbor Coverlet

The coverlet was made for Luisa Neighbor, a member of a prominent family in Long Valley (German Valley). It is a lovely example of Jacquard weaving and is an intricate design in blue and white. It has the words "Union" woven in and is also dated 1844. It measures 76-inches in width (comprised of two panels, 38-inches each, and seamed at the center) and 84-inches in length. The top is a rolled seam and the bottom has an additional 2-inch fringe. It is most likely a wool/linen blend or 100% wool. It is a traditional blue/natural coloring. It is a double woven plain weave, one layer being blue the other being natural. The reverse of the coverlet is the exact opposite of the face. It was woven by hand on a loom equipped with a jacquard mechanism. The ground of the coverlet is made up of repeating stylized floral medallions. The border is a leaf motif with a fine diamond outline that follows this border. At the base of the coverlet is the name Luisa Neighbour, March 1844. A band which runs all the way across the bottom of the coverlet has the word "Union" repeats itself as a mirror image—first forward then backward. The significance of the word is unknown. There are two possibilities for the owner of this quilt. The first being Luisa Neighbour who was born to William Neighbour and the second being Luisa Trimmer, who married Lemuel Neighbour (brother of the first Luisa). Having done some research on the family history, it was more likely made for the first Luisa Neighbour as per the age of the two young women. Also, the fact that it is in excellent condition is probably due to the fact the first Luisa Neighbour never married and she died young. With no heirs to pass the coverlet on, it was probably given or sold to the family from whom it was bought at auction.

Washington Township Historical Society
6 Fairview Avenue, Long Valley, NJ 07853
www.wthsnj.org

The Washington Township Historical Society aims to bring together people interested in the history of Washington Township, Morris County, the state of New Jersey, and promote a better appreciation of our American heritage. We support historical programs, archives, publications, preservation, markers, and historical collections in our museum.

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Old Number 385

This steam locomotive, known affectionately as "Old Number 385," had thrilled untold hundreds of thousands of people as the "star attraction" of the Morris County Central Railroad from 1965 until she made her very last run under steam in 1978. The MCC was New Jersey's first "Standard Gauge" historic preservation railroad, founded by the late Earle Richard Henriquez-Gil, Sr., of Parsippany, NJ. No. 385 was originally built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, PA in 1907 for the Southern Railway (SR). She and 24 other members of her unique class (Nos. 378-402) were renowned for their large size, power and speed. Conceived for SR fast-freight service, No. 385 is a Class H-4, 2-8-0 consolidation-type locomotive, weighing 120 tons in full working order. Of the 25 Southern H-4s built in 1907, only No. 385 and No. 401 (located at the Monticello Railroad Museum in Illinois) survive. On November 17, 1952, the Virginia Blue Ridge Railway (VBR) of Piney River, VA purchased the engine from the Southern. After just a few short years in freight service, the VBR retired the locomotive in 1958. The old engine was due to be scrapped, but in 1963, she was rescued by Earle H. Gil, Sr. who dreamed of restoring one of the magnificent locomotives to full operation for excursion use in New Jersey. Gil completely overhauled the locomotive at Morristown, NJ in an incredible three months' time. His excursion line was named the Morris County Central Railroad (MCC), beginning operating on May 9, 1965 with the restored 385 leading the first train. Based out of Whippany, NJ and running over the tracks of the Morristown & Erie Railroad from 1965 until 1973, Gil moved the MCC to Newfoundland, NJ in 1974, where his trains ran over an unused portion of the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad (NYS&W). The economics of the 1970's were hard on the MCC and the line went out of business at the end of 1980. Throughout the 15-year life of the MCC, No. 385 could be found pulling excursion riders, many of whom had never encountered a live, operating steam engine. On October 14, 1978, No. 385 made her final run for the Morris County Central and was reluctantly was taken out of service at age 71. She has not been under steam since. Now safe and secure, "Old No. 385" is happily on public display along with all the other historic rail cars and locomotives at the Whippany Railway Museum. She is carefully inspected and lubricated on a regular basis, and is periodically moved about the rail yard in an effort to keep her "limbered up." She is presently listed "as-eligible" for inclusion on the NJ State and National Register(s) of Historic Places. No. 385 is significant to New Jersey history as it was the first American-built, standard gauge steam locomotive to operate in the 1960s, specifically in Morris County, NJ, since the end of the American steam railroad era in the mid-1950s.

Whippany Railway Museum
1 Morristown & Erie Railroad, Whippany, NJ 07981
www.whippanyrailwaymuseum.net

Since 1965 the Whippany Railway Museum is dedicated to preserving the heritage and history of the railroads of New Jersey through the restoration, preservation, interpretation and operation of historic railroad equipment and artifacts from New Jersey and the immediate vicinity.

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Steam Locomotive No. 4039

Historic Steam Locomotive No. 4039 is known as a 0-6-0 switching-type locomotive. Built in November 1942 for the U.S. War Department by the American Locomotive Company, the engine weighs 135 tons in working order. Originally intended for overseas service during World War II, No. 4039 and her 79 sisters were instead used to switch various stateside military bases. After the War ended, No. 4039 was sold to the Virginia Blue Ridge Railway in Piney River, VA where she hauled freight trains until retired in August 1963. In late-1965 she was purchased by the Morris County Central Railroad and operated in passenger excursion service from 1966 until 1980 both at Whippany and later, Newfoundland, NJ. In 1994 No. 4039 was acquired by the Whippany Railway Museum. This locomotive is currently being restored (at Whippany) to full operating condition. No. 4039 has been designated "The Official Steam Locomotive of Morris County," and is listed on both the New Jersey and National Register(s) of Historic Places. This historic locomotive is the only piece of railroad equipment to be so listed in the State of New Jersey. 

Whippany Railway Museum
1 Morristown & Erie Railroad, Whippany, NJ 07981
www.whippanyrailwaymuseum.net


Since 1965 the Whippany Railway Museum is dedicated to preserving the heritage and history of the railroads of New Jersey through the restoration, preservation, interpretation and operation of historic railroad equipment and artifacts from New Jersey and the immediate vicinity.

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Railbus No. 10

Railbus No. 10 was originally built in 1918 by the White Motor Company for the Morristown & Erie R.R. It was placed in service between Morristown, Whippany and Essex Fells, NJ, and throughout its decade of hauling passengers on the M&E, No. 10 averaged 8 trips over the 11-mile line each day. Aggressive competition from auto and road buses forced the M&E to end all passenger service on April 28, 1928. No. 10 was converted into a track maintenance vehicle in 1929. By the mid-1950s all that remained was the frame and wheels. First restored by Morris County Central R.R. founder Earle Gil, Sr. in 1969, the bus features its own turntable slung under the frame. When originally built, No. 10 was turned on small turntables at Morristown and Whippany. At Essex Fells, the bus was turned on the Erie R.R. turntable. No. 10 weighs about 4 tons, and is gasoline-powered. This fully operational unit is a unique example of New Jersey Transportation History. The Railbus is operational, and is on view at the Museum site in Whippany. 

Whippany Railway Museum
1 Morristown & Erie Railroad, Whippany, NJ 07981
www.whippanyrailwaymuseum.net

Since 1965 the Whippany Railway Museum is dedicated to preserving the heritage and history of the railroads of New Jersey through the restoration, preservation, interpretation and operation of historic railroad equipment and artifacts from New Jersey and the immediate vicinity.

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"Cranberry Culture"

In the 1920s and 1930s, Whitesbog was the largest and one of the most innovative cranberry farms in New Jersey. Its owner, Joseph Josiah White, began raising cranberries as a young man at Rake Pond on a plot of land given to him by his maternal grandfather. During the winter of 1870 J. J. White wrote a book called “Cranberry Culture” as a guide for would-be growers of the fruit. It addressed topics such as choice of the location, preparing the ground, planting vines and picking. J. J.'s wife, Mary Anne Fenwick White, illustrated the manuscript. Because of “Cranberry Culture,” Joseph White was sought after as a consultant by those eager to be involved in what was becoming a profitable agricultural endeavor in certain areas of the United States. White went on to be recognized and respected as a leader of cranberry growers in New Jersey, New England, and Wisconsin.

Whitesbog Village
120 N. Whitesbog Rd, Browns Mills, NJ 08015
www.whitesbog.org


Whitesbog Village is an early 20th century company town and agricultural community. It represents an important part of New Jersey history and the history of the blueberry and cranberry culture in the United States. It is listed on both the National and State Registers of Historic Sites. Whitesbog includes the village and the surrounding 3,000 acres of cranberry bogs, blueberry fields, reservoirs, sugar sand roads, and Pine Barren’s forests.

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Elizabeth Coleman White Logs

Whitesbog's second claim to fame is as the birthplace of the cultivated blueberry. Following in her father's footsteps, Elizabeth Coleman White, eldest daughter of Joseph and Mary Anne White was an pioneering agriculturalist. In 1911 she began working with Frederick Coville of the US Department of Agriculture to develop the science and methodology that would allow growers to produce blueberries as a commercial crop. She began by soliciting local gatherers to supply her with a base of wild blueberry bushes. For each bush selected, Elizabeth kept extraordinary records so that the history of each offering was documented as to finder, location, berry characteristics, growth history and ultimate outcome of acceptance or rejection. What seemingly resulted was an untitled, typed "Log" kept in an ordinary stationer's binder. What really resulted was an unprecedented history of the development of a commercial crop and the beginning of a new agricultural industry.

Whitesbog Village
120 N. Whitesbog Rd, Browns Mills, NJ 08015
www.whitesbog.org


Whitesbog Village is an early 20th century company town and agricultural community. It represents an important part of New Jersey history and the history of the blueberry and cranberry culture in the United States. It is listed on both the National and State Registers of Historic Sites. Whitesbog includes the village and the surrounding 3,000 acres of cranberry bogs, blueberry fields, reservoirs, sugar sand roads, and Pine Barren’s forests. 

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