|
|
| Home | About Us | Archives | *Library | *Links | *News & Events |
|
Archive of News & Events Websites Hosted by the History Guild Mailing Lists Hosted by the History Guild To Join any List Click the Name and Use SUBSCRIBE as the Subject July 2008 Index
- Jul 4: Celebration at the Grover Cleveland Birthplace Celebration at the Grover Cleveland Birthplace - Jul 4 The public is invited to the July 4th Celebration at the Grover Cleveland Birthplace, 207 Bloomfield Avenue, Caldwell, N.J. from 12:30 to 3. The Ice Cream Social offers tours of the Birthplace, free ice cream, popcorn, Baby Ruth bars, lemonade, street theater, a DJ and an opportunity to have some fun. The opening ceremony, flag raising and reading of the Declaration of Independance is at 12:30. In an attempt to enjoy the life style of the America of the Cleveland's, we return to the not too principled years of the later 19th century, the Ice Cream Social will have in tis crowd Marco the Magician who just might pull a quarter out a child's ear, or the right card out of a shuffled deck. Maybe you will want a bottle of Chief Wahoo's Micacle Elixir to take home from the Medicine Show, it's guaranteed 100 fat free! George Esparza is also the ringmaster at the Phydeaux's Flying Flea Circus, a refined novelty act, and that is no humbug! Esparza avows the flea circus is an equal opportunity employer and the high wire flea is named Josephine, "she's the one wearing the pink leotard. She's up about 6-8 inches above the floor of the circus, which is a real long distance for a flea, about a 40 story-drop." Perhaps a balloon animal might catch your fancy or maybe a balloon basket. Spectrum Creations will provide the music and the DJ. All these performances and more are free and open to the public, just bring a chair or blanket, have some ice cream, lemonade, popcorn, maybe a candy bar, or perhaps, buy a hamburger or hot dog prepared by the Cloverleaf Tavern of Caldwell's chef. "We hope to create a bit of the feel of the last century's small town celebration, a bit of magic to help a town to get to know one another and be happy together. Medicine shows, often the only form of entertainment in small towns, were real events, stores closed, school was let out, and people dresed to go to a show, the school band might parade, all 76 trombones' worth. Eventually drug stores carrying patent medicines, newer advertising media, and the regulations of the claims for cures would drive the storytelling, balderddash, hyperbole and hokum of these unique, crowd adjusting entertainments from our street corners and trouble would once again return to River City." said David Cowell, the president of the Memorial Society. jack Benny, Red Skelton, and George and Gracie Burns all got their start doing medicine shows. President Stephen Grover Cleveland was born in Caldwell, N.J. in the church's manse. His father was the local minister in the 1830's and he tabled the Mas. Letter of Abolition before the congregation to open Presbyterian discusion of ending slavery nationwide. The birthplace wil be open for special tours, sourvenirs, free balloons and l9th century games. The New Jersey State Park Service manages the site and the Memorial Asociation works to provide the artifacts, help with the docenting, and arranges the celebrations. The next goal is to restore the barn and use it for asembling groups, showing films, a gift shop, and,long last, provide public toilets. The birthplace is a tourist attraction increasingly bringing people from acros the nation and an aset to the development of the Caldwell Downtown. David Cowell dcowell@drew.edu June 26, 2008 Reposted with permision from http://www.nj.com/ and the NJ Historical Commision's H-New Jersey listserver http://www.h-net.org/~njersey/.Top Solitude House Birthday Party With Nation - Jul 4 Walter O'Brien, Courier News Staff Writer High Bridge- A historic home that once entertained the country's first president will be honored on the nation's own birthday. Lake Solitude's 150th anniversary will be celebrated from 1 to 5 p.m. Friday at Solitude House Museum, 7 River Road, in High Bridge in conjunction with the town's 4th of July celebration. Visit Solitude House, circa 1717, the centerpiece of the Taylor Wharton Iron and Steel Company. The house greeted such famous visitors as George and Martha Washington, Aaron Burr, Col. Charles Stewart. John Penn and his attorney general General Chew were imprisoned at Solitude in 1777. The house will be decked out in flags, banners, buntings and the like. The event will feature three bands, prominent speakers, hot dogs, ice cream, soda, popcorn, old fashioned horse and carriage rides, and community spirit. Tour Lake Solitude Dam, recently named to Preservation New Jersey's 2008 10 Most Endangered List, and the last remaining buttres dam in the state, an engineering marvel for its time. Historical Greenway tours will also be provided. For more information, call (908) 638-3200. Sponsored by the Union Forge Heritage Asociation William Honachefsky Jr william.honachefsky@sprintmail.com July 2, 2008 Reposted with permision from http://www.nj.com/ and the NJ Historical Commision's H-New Jersey listserver http://www.h-net.org/~njersey/.Top Events at the Princeton Battlefield - Jul 4-6 In honor of Princeton’s 1783 Celebration, The Princeton Battlefield Society, with collaboration from the New Jersey Parks Division on the first event, is planning three major events on the Princeton Battlefield. They are: July 4th Old Barracks Fifes & Drums & Interpretative History Demonstrations (10-11 am Fifes & Drums; 11-4pm Interpretative Demonstrations) July 5th The Play - “Ghosts of Princeton Battlefield” (A Premier) (7-10pm) July 5th and 6th - Revolutionary Soldiers’ Encampment (10-9pm Sat.; 10-4pm Sun.) The Continental Army was victorious at the Battle of Princeton, which was fought on January 3th, 1777. This Battle was the Continental Army’s first succes against British regulars and is considered by historians to be the turning point of the American Revolution. July 4th Old Barracks Fifes & Drums & Interpretative History Demonstrations The series of events will be kicked off at on July 4th at 10am by the music, demonstrations, and lesons of the Old Barracks Fifes and Drums. At 11 am a series of seven Interpretative Educational Stations will open around the Clarke House on the Battlefield. They will provide a series of seven interpretative educational demonstrations where visitors will move around from station to station learning interactively about different aspects of colonial military life before and after a battle. Under a partial grant from the New Jersey Historical Commision, The Princeton Battlefield Society has joined with Princeton Battlefield State Park and Mott’s Artillery Company for this July 4th program. The program at each station will last about 15 minutes. The stations will be spread out around the Clarke House with sufficient space to allow children and their parents to sit on the lawn. Each of the interpretative presenters will be dresed in the period clothing. A key to the program will be a visit to the Money Changer, who will be giving a presentation on money of the day and providing replicate tenders that can be used to “purchase” various small objects or documents as a part of the educational program at each station: · Musket and Cannon firing and lecture by Motts Artillery including children’s enlisting and maneuvers · Period money exchange, hosted by Profesor of Economics Clifford Thies, · Period toymaking hosted by toy maker Joe Remus, · Music teaching/demonstrations of the 18th Century fiddle by fiddler Robert Mouland · Cooking by Denise Williams who will demonstrate roasting chicken on a string, bread and cookiemaking. · Historical dental medicine lecture and demonstration by Marjy Wienkop · A talk on 18th century dres and fashion will be given by writer Laura Crockett dresed as Annis Boudinot Stockton. At 1:30pm John Mills will read the Declaration of Independence, which was signed by five New Jersey leaders – Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, and Abraham Clark. Copies of the Declaration will be distributed on “aged” paper, along with Cadwalader’s Spymap – used by General Washington at the Battle of Princeton. The event ends at 4pm. July 5th The Play - “Ghosts of Princeton Battlefield” (A Premier) On July 5th, the play, Ghosts of Princeton Battlefield authored by Laura Crockett, will be profesionally presented in which various people who fought during the battle will come to life and describe their story. The play tells the story of important events in Princeton six years before Congres made Princeton the Capital in 1783. The “Ghosts” and other personalities will tell their parts of the story beginning with how the soldiers of each army met unexpectedly early on the cold morning of January 3, 1777 and culminating in what many historians have called Washington’s greatest victory. Had things not gone well for the Americans at the Battle of Princeton, we may not have had to worry about where Congres met in 1783! Groups of people will be led from “stage” to “stage” by ghost hunters Richard Stockton, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, or his wife, Annis Boudinot Stockton (and sister of Elias Boudinot, the President of Congres in 1783) to locations around the battlefield. At each of the stages, the audience group will meet other “ghosts” who will tell the story of the Battle of Princeton. The “ghosts” of George Washington and General Hugh Mercer will be there along with the Clarkes, William and Thomas and their families, whose adjoining farms and nearby homes became the battlefield. “Ghosts of Princeton Battlefield” was written by Laura Crockett, an author and playwright, formerly of Trenton, NJ, now living in San Diego, CA. Her play entitled “American, Revolution!” was produced at the Tracy Theater in Burbank, CA. The Director is Joe Doyle, who is also Managing Director of Actors Net at the Historic Heritage Theater in Morrisville, PA. Mr. Doyle has staged numerous works focused on the American Revolutionary period. He is also well known for his performance as John Adams, presented annually in Washington, D.C. Each audience group will be made up of 15-20 people. The play begins at 7:00 pm, with the last scheduled start at 10pm. Patrons will be encouraged to visit the Solders’ Encampment area while they wait for their group to move forward, and to again visit the Encampment at the end of the play. July 5th and 6th - Revolutionary Soldiers’ Encampment A series of interpretative activities within the environment of an actual military encampment typical of the American Revolution - allows visitors to be observers of the action. The Encampment will be made up of volunteers of the 43rd Foot and Second Pennsylvania Regiment. Each of the two days will begin with revelry, posting of the guards, colours posted, safety inspection and orders read. During the day there will be practice battle maneuvers with artillery and infantry firing demonstrations. Visitors walking among the encamped soldiers can ask them questions about anything and everything, including their dres, weapons, maneuvers, and even their feelings about the Revolutionary War and their places in it. The Continental Army was always under strength, so be careful lest you find yourselves drafted into their ranks! The Encampment will continue into the evening hours, so you can hear talk of the day’s maneuvers and see how the soldiers and camp followers entertained themselves. As the dusk deepens, the camp will be lit by campfire and lanterns on posts. Be ready to hear some stories around the campfire but remember that it is traditional to do a little exaggerating in the telling! The day will end with taps. There will also be a tent with a small field desk that will be used as the “headquarters” of the head of the Regiment, which will be conducted as an 18th century headquarters with guards posted at the door. Mini-demonstrations will be featured in the Encampment throughout both days include wound dresing, emergency dental work, horseshoe smithing, campfire cooking, shoe repair, darning and button sewing, and fiddle and flute playing. On Saturday, the Encampment begins at 10:00 am when visitors will be able to begin moving among the encamped soldiers and followers with opening events followed by activities and mini-demonstrations throughout the day, until 9pm. On Sunday, the encampment begins again at 10:00am. At 4:00 pm soldiers will retire the colours and decamp. The Battlefield is open from Dawn to Dusk. The Thomas Clarke House is open 10-4pm, Wednesday through Saturday and opened 1-4 on Sunday. There is parking on Mercer Street and also on the South side of the Battlefield. For further information please contact: Kip Cherry, Member of the Princeton Battlefield Society, and Co-Chair of the PBS 1783 Committee – 609-731-9336, kcherry@michaelgraves.com ; OR Ruth Ann Mitchell, Member of the Board of the Princeton Battlefield Society, and Co-Chair of the PBS 1783 Committee – 609-902-2938, ram4050@hotmail.com. June 13, 2008 Reposted with permision from http://www.nj.com/ and the NJ Historical Commision's H-New Jersey listserver http://www.h-net.org/~njersey/.Top Key Ingredients: America By Food The New Jersey Council for the Humanities is proud to announce the opening of Key Ingredients: America By Food, a Smithsonian Institution travelling exhibition, at Historic Walnford in Allentown, NJ. Key Ingredients, which will be visiting 6 sites in the Garden State, traces the national story of food in America, from immigration to technological change. The host sites are: Historic Walnford, Allentown May 31-July 13 Borough of Woodbine and Sam Azeez Museum of Woodbine Heritage, Woodbine July 19-August 31 Tuckerton Seaport, Tuckerton September 6-October 19 Woodbury Public Library, Woodbury October 25-December 7 Morris County Historical Society, Morristown December 13-January 25 New Jersey State Museum, Trenton January 31-March 15 Each site is developing programs, events and local exhibits that highlight New Jersey's culinary traditions and Garden State products. From long-treasured family recipes to pork roll and tomato pie, Key Ingredients in New Jersey shows that our states history is intricately tied to food. As one of the most diverse and densely populated states in the country, New Jersey's food history is really the history of America. To see a calendar of events, test your knowledge of New Jersey food and get some mouth-watering recipes visit: http://www.njch.org/keyingredients. Key Ingredients in New Jersey in sponsored by the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. Mary Rizzo, Ph.D. Asociate Director New Jersey Council for the Humanities 28 W. State Street, 6th floor Trenton, NJ 08608 Ph: 609-695-4838 In NJ: 888-394-6524 Fax: 609-695-4929 mrizzo@njch.org http://www.njch.org Reposted with permision from http://www.nj.com/ and the NJ Historical Commision's H-New Jersey listserver http://www.h-net.org/~njersey/.Top Book Review: The Last Three Miles Steven Hart.__ The Last Three Miles: Politics, Murder and the Construction of America's First Superhighway__. New York: The New Pres, 2007, 216 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $24.95 (cloth) ISBN 978-1-59558-098-6. Reviewed for H-List by Joseph G. Bilby, Asistant Curator, National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey at Sea Girt The Bos and the Bridge to the Future Once upon a time in New Jersey everyone knew of Mayor Frank Hague. Today, however, he is little remembered outside his Hudson County homeland, save to historians and political junkies. Hague has so much faded from the popular imagination that many "boomer" adults, even those born in the hospital complex he built, don't recognize the name that struck fear, respect and even awe in a generation of state and national political figures. Hague was a product of the "Horseshoe," a gerrymandered Jersey City election district into which Republican state legislators shoehorned immigrant Irish Catholic Democrats in 1871 to lesen their voting power. Republicans no doubt thought the Horseshoe, so called because of its geographical configuration, a clever idea, but it spawned generations of angry underrepresented voters with scores to settle – and Frank Hague became their instrument. Born in a Horseshoe tenement in 1876, Hague came up the hard way. Expelled from elementary school, he ran the neighborhood with the "Red Tigers" street gang, worked odd jobs, and was an unsuccesful prize fighter and manager before entering politics under the tutelage of local bos and saloonkeeper Ned Kenny. Elected constable in 1899, Hague rose rapidly in the rough-and-tumble world of Hudson County Democratic politics. Running as a Wilsonian-style reformer, he was elected Jersey City public safety commisioner in 1913, closed firetrap theaters and hired tough Irishmen from the Horseshoe to sweep pickpockets, muggers and prostitutes from the streets of the city. In 1917 Hague was chosen as mayor by his fellow commisioners, and held that office for the next thirty years. The mayor's power base grew to include all of Hudson County, and he soon became the most powerful political bos in New Jersey. Although the dead often voted in Hudson County, Hague's amazing succes was primarily due to his ability to create and fund (from legal and illegal sources) the most efficient "get out the vote" machine in American history. In 1920 twenty-five percent of New Jerseyans were immigrants, and most lived in the state's crowded northeastern cities. The Democratic bos of Hudson County became their champion against a native-born rural and small town majority. There were not enough urban voters to control the New Jersey legislature, which was based on county representation, but Hague and his candidates were able to dominate statewide elections with regularity "Duh Mare," as he was known in Jersey City-ese, picked the majority of New Jersey's governors in the two decades preceding World War II. Among them was A. Harry Moore, who set a modern state record with election to three non-consecutive three year terms under the Constitution of 1844, which prevented a governor from succeeding himself. Hague made senators as well, including Moore and former governor Edward I. Edwards, and, at the height of his influence, played politics far beyond his power base. The mayor's 1928 political rally for Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith, held at the Sea Girt National Guard Training Center, where he turned out a crowd of over eighty thousand people, was certainly the largest such gathering ever held in New Jersey, and probably the country, and signaled Hague's arrival on the national political scene. The 1928 rally provided a graphic demonstration of Frank Hague's exceptional organizational abilities. The candidate was in awe of the whole operation, to be sure. At the end of the affair a newspaper account had Smith relaxing on the porch of Governor Moore's summer home, "contentedly puffing one of his big cigars" and seeing "in the rings of smoke he blew a vision of himself in the Big White House in Washington." [1] Hague seemed at the peak of his power, but within months his empire began an apparent downward spiral. Smith, in an uphill struggle against Republican credited prosperity compounded by his New York City Catholic immigrant heritage, lost his presidential bid to Herbert Hoover in a landslide that included New Jersey and carried Senator Edwards down along with him. Morgan Larson, who had ironically gained the Republican nomination for governor due to Hague's infiltration of the opposition's primary proces, won the state house against Democrat William L. Dill, and the Jersey City mayor was reelected by his smallest margin ever. Despite his new status as a national political player, Frank Hague's popularity among rank and file Democrats began to ebb when his personal profit agenda became apparent. Stories of government worker kickbacks, dubious real estate deals, suitcases of cash dispatched from city hall to New York stockbrokers and the "horse bourse" bookie consortium and other gambling enterprises operating under Hague's protection for a fee, coupled with a new Republican governor able to appoint judges and prosecutors, made the days of "Duh Mare" seem numbered to some, yet he maintained his grip on power through a difficult period. [2] Frank Hague's influence extended beyond elections, reaching into every nook and cranny of life in his Hudson County stronghold. And that influence looms large in Steven Hart's __The Last Three Miles: Politics, Murder and the Construction of America's First Superhighway__. Although Hague, of necesity, holds center stage in this New Jersey drama, Hart's story includes more than the mayor's tale. It is also a chronicle of the beginnings of a national highway system, told through the construction of an elevated roadway spanning the meadowlands and Hackensack and Pasaic Rivers between Jersey City and Newark, as well as an account of engineers transitioning from railroad to highway design and virulent and often violent corporate versus labor struggles played out against the background of the deepening Depresion. The road in question had its origins in the planning for the prosaically titled "Route 1 Extension," or "Newark - Jersey City Viaduct," proposed to mitigate the effects of the 1927 opening of the Holland Tunnel. Serious existing congestion in Jersey City was exacerbated by a stream of vehicles exiting the new tunnel and debauching into the city's labyrinthine nineteenth century streetscape, carved up by railroads like a Thanksgiving turkey. Once beyond the city, drivers encountered more traffic problems on the limited roads and archaic drawbridges spanning the rivers and marshes towards Newark, a journey that sometimes took as long as four hours. The New Jersey legislature authorized construction of a modern highway connecting the tunnel to Route 1 in Elizabeth as a remedy, and the state hired Fred Lavis, a self-taught consulting engineer, for the job. The science of highway planning was in its infancy, but Lavis had extensive experience designing railway routes over mountains and acros rivers through Latin American rain forests, and so it seemed, at first glance, it would be a simple matter for him to plot a route acros the Jersey meadows. Lavis certainly looked at the job as a rather straightforward task. Construction began on sections of the bypas as early as 1925 and segments in Jersey City and Newark were opened in 1929, but the central link acros the meadowlands remained unfinished at the close of the decade. Lavis designed that section as an elevated concrete-clad steel structure soaring above streets and meadowlands and crosing the Hackensack and Pasaic Rivers via drawbridges significantly higher than those existing on parallel routes. After submitting his final design in 1928, Lavis resigned and was succeeded by Sigvald Johanneson, a Danish engineer with experience designing London railroad tunnels. Johanneson modified the original Lavis plan, most notably by stripping concrete from the steel understructure to save money and raising bridge height to accommodate Navy Department battleship pasage requirements, which led to significantly steeper bridge approaches. When actual construction finally began it proved a far more troublesome task than it initially appeared, however – and brought Duh Mare directly into the proces. In the early 1920s, Hague befriended Theodore "Teddy" Brandle, a construction union leader with parallel careers as labor racketeer, banker and construction performance bond salesman. Conflicts of interest didn't trouble Brandle. At one time he was simultaneously a busines agent for an Iron Worker's Union local, president of the New Jersey State Building Trades Council and president of the Iron League, an employers' organization. The Hague/Brandle alliance was a two-way street, affording Hague the political organization and financial support of Brandle's union in exchange for steering public construction bonding busines Brandle's way and supplying Jersey City police to strong-arm strikebreakers. Their relationship, at one time so cozy that Brandle paid the mayor's income tax bill, went sour, however, during the construction of the Jersey City Medical Center, Hague's monument to his mother and himself. Contractor Leo Brennan used union labor to build the hospital's power house, but since his men were not participants in Brandle's payroll kickback scheme, Teddy asked Frank to remove Brennan from the job. Hague complied, but resulting fiscal problems caused the mayor, a master of the Irish art of the grudge, to turn on Brandle. His simmering anger would play out in a dramatic way as construction began on the final stages of the Route 1 Bypas. Construction contracts for the project were awarded to the American and Phoenix Bridge Companies, the McClintic-Marshal Company and the Taylor- Fichter Steel Construction Company, and work began in the spring of 1930. The contractors were all members the National Erectors' Asociation (NEA), an industry group which refused, as a matter of policy, to deal with unions. Brandle, his bonding busines and union bypased by the NEA, called his men out to picket the worksites, and they were soon in conflict with NEA hired private detectives. Frank Hague, unhappy with Brandle, stood aside. In November 1931 an NEA detective shot a union picketer and in February 1932 a group of Brandle's stalwarts pelted a carload of nonunion workers on their way to work with nuts and bolts, then beat them with iron bars, fatally injuring William T. Harrison. In response, Hague declared war on Brandle and his union. The Jersey City police arrested and indicted twenty-one union men for Harrison's death and beat a confesion out of ex-boxer and Brandle organizer William Campbell, who later recanted. Evidence against the men proved minimal and flimsy, and by the time the trial concluded, thirteen indictments had already been dismised. The remaining accused men were acquitted. The struggle against the NEA and Hague, coupled with his own dictatorial style and an income tax evasion conviction, ruined Teddy Brandle, however. The labor bos was expelled from the Iron Workers' Union and had to resign from the Building Trades Council in 1933. On the other side of the fence, Hague turned resolutely to the right, and for the rest of his career viewed labor leaders as potential "un-American" activists and "Reds." He used every legal and extra-legal weapon available to foil any organizing efforts within the boundaries of Hudson County. In the aftermath of the construction struggle Frank Hague was branded by many as a dictator not unlike those rising in Europe at the time; nevertheles he continued to thrive. The mayor helped place A. Harry Moore back in the governor's office in Trenton, then backed another, bigger, winner. On August 27, 1932 he convened a mammoth Sea Girt rally of well over a hundred thousand people for Democratic presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt. When Hague, along with twenty five hundred other dignitaries, attended the dedication of the completed elevated highway between Jersey City and Newark the day before Thanksgiving, 1932, the mayor did so in the knowledge that he had delivered New Jersey to an incoming president, and that the president- elect knew it. The following day traffic flowed back and forth high over the meadowlands. By October of 1933 the road had a new name. Now the Pulaski Skyway, after Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski, it was re- dedicated with great hoopla, with an army band playing before a host of dignitaries and Polish-American civic asociations. Although the Skyway dramatically reduced travel time between Jersey City and Newark, it rapidly gained a reputation, according to the __Newark Evening News__, as "a death trap and playground for speed demons," and a series of fatal accidents early on reinforced that perception (p. 161). It was a scary road to ride. And so it remains. To Lavis and Johanneson, both railroad design engineers, entry ramp merges from the left and the absence of a road shoulder were not a problem. Although that was the case where there were tracks, such features were far more problematic in a road designed for use by cars and trucks. The accident rate climbed and, even though a significant argument for building the Skyway was the removal of truck traffic from the streets of Jersey City, Mayor Hague petitioned succesfully for a truck ban on the road. Frank Hague is long gone, chased out of active political life by critical pres and the reformist state constitution of 1947. The Jersey City Medical Center, which he envisioned as his enduring monument, and where Teddy Brandle died bankrupt in 1949, has become a high-end art deco condo complex. Hague died in New York in 1956 and is buried in the city he made a synonym for old-time political bos rule. Although memories of Frank Hague still linger with a few, the names of Teddy Brandle and Fred Lavis are unrecognizable to the vast majority of modern New Jerseyans. But the roadway that defined their lives and work in the early 1930s remains, an iconic bit of Jerseyana stretching acros the horizon. Steven Hart, a journalist whose work has appeared in the _New York Times_ and _Salon_, has produced a first-rate piece of narrative history in _The Last Three Miles_ . In doing so, Hart availed himself of a full spectrum of primary and secondary sources, including histories of labor, politics and the construction industry of the era, memoir literature, newspaper accounts, court records and family papers. He also interviewed people who knew the characters in this true life drama, including the indispensible authority on Hudson County politics, Thomas Fleming, as well as the unrelated Robert Fleming, who provided details on what it was like to work high-iron in the days of Brandle, Hague and the NEA. Hart's story is splendidly written, with nary a wasted word. His account of a masive construction project and its travails, framed by the tale of one of its major players, Frank Hague, revives the story of New Jersey's original "bos" for a new generation. Hart also provides the reader with a gripping account of one of the state's violent Depresion era labor struggles and a noteworthy analysis of early highway engineering and construction, a science with one foot firmly planted in the nineteenth century and another tentatively feeling its way into the twentieth. Despite design misteps, the viaduct and bridge system crosing the Jersey meadows signaled, in a very fundamental way, the beginning of the superhighway era. To Hart, the Skyway is a symbol of the advent of modernity, with nineteenth century America finally giving way to the twentieth. The "Roaring Twenties" that preceded it was, in many ways, the nineteenth century with cars. He convincingly aserts that automobiles and the accommodations society was forced to make on their behalf led to fundamental changes throughout American society, including the decline of the cities and suburban sprawl. Although this view is certainly not unique to Hart, his belief that the proces began with the building of the Pulaski Skyway provides an interesting and valuable insight into New Jersey's role in the development of modern America. Les certain is his conclusion that the ugly events surrounding the building of the road signaled the beginning of Frank Hague's downfall. In fact, unflattering national media attention would not begin to focus on Duh Mare until near the end of the decade. There is no doubt, however, that the labor troubles generated by the Skyway provoked Hague's vigorous anti-union activity, which in turn brought him that negative attention. Like the old road network, Frank Hague, Teddy Brandle and Fred Lavis were products of the nineteenth century. Although they did not survive beyond the middle years of the twentieth century, the Pulaski Skyway, a memorial to their story, remains intact. It is a stark and compelling sight, with a bizarre beauty all its own, whether viewed from the window of a New York City bound New Jersey Transit train or in the opening scenes of __The Sopranos__. Its tale has been told in bits and pieces before, but never as completely and well. Notes [1] _Newark Sunday Call_, August 26, 1928. [2] Thomas Fleming, _New Jersey: A History_ (New York: Norton: 1977): 181-182. Copyright 2008 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For any other proposed use, contact the Reviews editorial staff at hbooks@mail.h-net.msu.edu.Top Organize Your Family History - Jul 10 "Gather & Organize Your Family History the Library Way!" with Wendy Sanford, MLS, Local History Librarian, Mt. Olive Library on Thurs., July 10, at 7 pm. If anyone would like to attend they can call 973 835 7460 to reserve a place. Thanks Rose Garwood, Pequannock Library Peg Shultz History Program Coordinator Morris County Heritage Commision Phone: 973.829.8117 Fax: 973.631.5137 PShultz@co.morris.nj.usTop Great Historic Houses As I'm sure many of you know from your own work, attendance at historic house museums is declining, in some cases precipitously, so much so that many, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation, feel it's a time of real crisis. For some interesting reading, take a look at the Trust's Forum Journal, available partially online at http://www.preservationnation.org/forum/ Spring-2008/, for a summary of a forum held last year addresing the isue. So, although sometimes I do find historic house tours boring, the larger question for me is to further explore why our visitors (and our non- visitors) find tours boring and which historic sites have succesfully engaged visitors of all types. For a visitor perspective, check out Connecticut Museum Quest, where Steve (who I don't know, except from reading his blog) is visiting all the museums and historic sites in Connecticut: ctmuseumquest.com. Some trends have emerged: some historic sites (the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, for instance) have succesfully become places of civic engagement, where real isues are revealed and discused by visitors. At other sites, such as the Anne Frank House, a powerful narrative becomes the primary way to engage visitors (through a carefully designed self-guided tour). At still other sites, the chance to fully be immersed in a historic interior or a landscape, unmediated by guides, ropes or other interpretive material is what seems to attract visitors. Kettles Yard, in England is one place that's been mentioned in this context; Great Camp Sagamore, in the Adirondacks, where you can actually stay in the historic buildings, is another. At still other places, the experience may be primarily an aesthetic one. At still other places, I think visitors greatly appreciate the chance to find the similarities and differences between the people of the house and their own lives--and care considerably les, I think, than many museum profesionals, about the differences between types of furnishings. Many historic sites have undertaken interesting projects to reveal that sense of universal human stories at a particular place. At the Davenport House in Savannah, special tours focus on a bout of yellow fever in the community; at Chateau de Mores State Park in North Dakota young people to give award-winning tours to young people. At Historic Cherry Hill, in Albany, NY, a tour brings to life a family struggling with the los of their place in the community. And of course, many sites have done serious, thoughtful work about interpreting slavery and connecting contemporary visitors with those stories of a particular place. All those exciting examples aside, I think we all know of a historic house, in a community, that was saved because it was given to the historical society, or it was the richest man in town's house, or it was about to be torn down. I think it's a great challenge for those smaller historic sites, not connected to great men, women or events, to find the element--whether it's narrative, or programming, or contemporary artists reflecting on the house's history--that can really resonate with visitors and draw new visitors to those sites. And so in this project, my colleague Kristin Herron and I are looking to find those exemplary historic houses that do a great job at connecting with all types of visitors. So please continue to share your stories of great historic house visits. I'll continue to blog about them, and other museum isues, at http://uncatalogedmuseum.blogspot.com Linda Norris norris@stny.rr.com http://www.riverhillpartners.com 7 Jul 2008 Reposted with permision from http://www.nj.com/ and the NJ Historical Commision's H-New Jersey listserver http://www.h-net.org/~njersey/.Top House Creates Historic March To Yorktown Trail Washington (AP) - The 600-mile route taken by the armies of Gen. George Washington and his French partner in the climactic campaign of the Revolutionary War would become a national historic trail under legislation pased by the House Thursday. The trail, along existing roads and waterways in eight states from Rhode Island to Virginia, commemorates the 1781 march of Washington's Continental Army and the Expedition Particuliere of French Count Rochambeau that culminated in the surrender of British Gen. Charles Lord Cornwallis to Washington at Yorktown, Va., on October 19 of that year. The designation gives the Interior Secretary authority over historical markers and educational signs along the route running through Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the future Washington, D.C., Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. It will "help spur a greater understanding of our shared history and will help illuminate the important battle of a young country and its French allies against the rule of King George," said Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., sponsor of the bill. It pased 345-69. A companion bill is pending in the Senate. Rochambeau, leading an army of 450 officers and 5,300 men, marched through Rhode Island and Connecticut in June and July, 1781, joining Washington's 4,000-man army in Philipsburg, N.Y. The two armies reached Williamsburg, Va., in late September. With a French fleet blocking the Chesapeake to keep out British reinforcements, the armies laid siege to Cornwallis' forces in Yorktown that led to his surrender after three weeks. Democratic sponsors, anticipating past Republican objections to federal parks and conservation bills, stresed that private property rights will not be affected by the trails designation. The National Park Service, in a study of the proposed trail concluded that no federal acquisition of lands or interests was anticipated. Democrats also inserted a measure in the bill making clear that nothing in the act would limit acces for hunting, fishing, trapping or recreational shooting. The bill is H.R. 1286 http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/legislative/house/2008-07-10- washington-trail_N.htm?csp=34 Copyright 2008 The Asociated Pres. All rights reserved.Top Organize Your Family History - Jul 10 "Gather & Organize Your Family History the Library Way!" with Wendy Sanford, MLS, Local History Librarian, Mt. Olive Library on Thurs., July 10, at 7 pm. If anyone would like to attend they can call 973 835 7460 to reserve a place. Thanks Rose Garwood, Pequannock Library Peg Shultz History Program Coordinator Morris County Heritage Commision Phone: 973.829.8117 Fax: 973.631.5137 PShultz@co.morris.nj.usTop New York Hebrew Orphanage Collections Hebrew orphanages now available through the New York Documentary Heritage Program The American Jewish Historical Society is pleased to announce improved acces to three New York Hebrew Orphanage collections. The records of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of the City of New York, the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society in Pleasantville, NY, and the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum are now arranged and described in finding aids that are available on The Center for Jewish History's website: http://www.cjh.org/collections/findingaids.php This project was made posible through a generous grant from the New York State Archives, State Education Department, Documentary Heritage Program. The orphanage records provide unique insight into the life of Eastern European immigrants in New York from the late 1800s to early 1900s, as well as the progresion of child welfare, foster care, social work, psychology, pediatrics and social pensions as reflected in the orphanages' programs and Federal and State laws. The records include personal histories of children, and are frequently used by genealogists and alumni. The Society hopes that with improved acces, academic researchers, teachers, and other patrons will discover the collections' rich resources. Adina Anflick aanflick@ajhs.cjh.org 6 Jun 2008 Reposted with permision from http://www.nj.com/ and the NJ Historical Commision's H-New Jersey listserver http://www.h-net.org/~njersey/.Top Chester Step Into The Past At Historic Site Tours of historic Cooper Gristmill are available in July and August, Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Persons will be able to see the Black River harnesed and how it powers the masive millstones that grind grain into flour and meal. In the Visitors Center, exhibits bring to life the social, industrial and cultural facets of Milltown. Visitors can also note the marked trails along the river and the remains of industries that once flourished. Suggested donation to tour the Cooper Gristmill is $3 for adults, $2 for seniors 65 and over and $1 for children ages 4 to 16. Children under age 4 are free. Cooper Mill is located on Route 513, 1.3 miles west of the Route 206 intersection. To learn more, please call (908) 879-5463. http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID= /20080611/COMMUNITIES/806110391/1005/NEWS01 Copyright © 2007 Daily Record. All rights reserved.Top Summer History Camp at the Museum of Early Trades & Crafts The Museum of Early Trades & Crafts is once again planning two sesions of Summer History Camp held on site at the Museum. Sesions will be held Monday-Friday, July 7th- 11th & July 14th - 18th at 9 AM - 2 PM. This popular program for children aged 7-11 provides a creative learning environment that includes crafts and games, as well as, a glimpse into the history of Colonial times. Summer History Camp combines learning and fun in a beautiful historic setting. Children will have a unique opportunity, unlike a typical summer camp, to learn about history while being creative. With a full day of activities campers will have a hands-on experience with the past. Sesion 1, Medicinal Herbs & Plants, running July 7th - 11th, focuses on METC's current exhibit, Crafting Cures. Plants were a vital part of the medical field during Colonial times. Discover how these plants were used then and now. Campers will enjoy a number of hands-on activities using various herbs and plants. Starting July 14th - 18th, Sesion 2, Buttoning up History, explores the fascinating world of buttons. Campers will learn all about the history of the button, while working on a number of interesting button related projects. Enroll now! Children may take part in one or both sesions. Early registration is recommended as space is limited. Registration for camp will close one week prior to the start of each sesion. Pre-registration is required. Members are $160 for one week & $300 for two, Non-members are $175 for one week & $325 for two. For a brochure or to enroll call 973-377-2982 x12 or visit our website at http://www.metc.org. Regular Museum admision is $5.00 for adults, $3.00 for seniors & children 6 and older, and free for members and children under 6. Family maximum admision $13.00. The Museum is open Tuesday - Saturday 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. and Sunday Noon to 5 P.M. Closed Monday. (SUMMER HOURS- July & August, Tuesday - Saturday 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. Closed Sunday & Monday) Housed in a 1900 Richardsonian-Romanesque Revival building listed on the National Register of Historic places, the Museum explores 18th- and 19th-century American history, with a focus on New Jersey. Drawing on its collection of over 8,000 hand tools and their products, METC uses material culture to interpret the lives and technologies of people who lived and worked before the rise of large-scale industrialization in this country. The Museum offers visitors of all ages a broad range of changing exhibits, and related programs that addres many facets of early American history, craftsmanship, and the diversity of trades performed by men and women. The Museum of Early Trades & Crafts is located at 9 Main Street in the heart of downtown Madison, just two blocks from the Madison train station. For information, please call 973-377-2982 x10 or visit our website at http://www.metc.org. April Lyzak (973) 377-2982 Ext. 14 coordinator@metc.org The Museum of Early Trades & Crafts 9 Main Street, Madison, NJ 07940 June 10, 2008 Reposted with permision from http://www.nj.com/ and the NJ Historical Commision's H-New Jersey listserver http://www.h-net.org/~njersey/.Top Ride The Mighty Hudson on the A.J. Meerwald You're invited to sail on New Jersey's official tall ship, the A.J. Meerwald The Bergen County Historical Society is co-sponsoring a series of cruises on the beautiful Hudson River! This is a great opportunity to view the majestic Palisades from the deck of a restored 1928 two-masted, 115-foot Delaware Bay oyster schooner, driven by over 3,500 square feet of sail - not your typical pleasure cruise! Each cruise features a program or guest speakers about New Jersey’s historic and natural heritage. This is an open deck vesel with hatch covers and wooden deck boxes for seating. Feel free to bring food and beverages (no liquor), but be prepared to take everything with you when you leave. Thursday, July 24, 10:00 AM, HUDSON 400 SAIL from Liberty State Park to Alpine ($65/ person) Dr. Angela Cristini, PhD, Ramapo College, NJ Meadowlands, Director of Environmental Education and Kevin Tremble, President, Crosroads of the American Revolution Asn. Be at Alpine Boat Basin by 9:30 AM for bus to Jersey City. Friday, July 25, 9:30 AM, BRITISH INVASION sail from Alpine ($45/person): Eric Nelson, PIP Historian, Kearney House Curator and Historian Kevin Wright 1:30 PM, CHILDREN'S SAIL from Alpine ($25/child $50/adult) with Tenafly Nature Center’s Executive Director and marine biologist, Jennifer Kleinbaum 5:30 PM, FOLK MUSIC sail from Alpine ($60/person) Folk Music and Sea Shanties with Thad MacGregor, Performer at the Kearney House Saturday, July 26, 9:30 AM, GEOLOGY SAIL from Alpine ($45/person) Dr. George Harlow, Ch, Dept of Earth & Planetary Sciences, American Museum of Natural History 1:30 PM, CHILDREN'S SAIL from Alpine ($25/child $50/adult) with Tenafly Nature Center’s Executive Director and marine biologist, Jennifer Kleinbaum 5:30 PM, BLUEGRAs SAIL from Alpine ($70/person) with Rich Rainey & Loretta Myers Sunday, July 27, 12:00 PM, NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY sail from Alpine ($45/person) with Peter Craig, ANJEC trustee and photographer 3:30 PM BERGEN BEGINNINGS: HUDSON 400 sail from Alpine to Liberty State Park ($75/person) Kevin Wright, historian, past BCHS President Two of the sails will pas Manhattan as we go to and from Liberty State Park in Jersey City, located at NJ Turnpike Exit 14B. The other sails will be from the Alpine Boat Basin, located near Exit 2 of the Palisades Interstate Parkway. Sails are about three hours, except the Thursday (11am) and Sunday (3:30 pm) cruises, which are about four to five hours and sail between Liberty State Park and Alpine Boat Basin, with a bus to return the participants to their departure point. Ticket price does not cover parking fee at Alpine Boat Basin. Each trip is limited to 45 people [to the Coast Guard, everyone from infants to seniors are “people”, so there are no discounts.] Reservations must be paid in advance and only the Captain can/will cancel the sail in case of inclement weather. Although there are no refunds, a voucher will be isued to be used at a future date (their website has the schedule). A portion of the fee is a donation to the sponsoring organization through which you register, and is tax- deductible to the extent provided by law. The Tenafly Nature Center and the Asociation of New Jersey Environmental Commisions are co- sponsoring the event with BCHS. Send sail choice, payment (checks to BCHS) and contact information to BCHS, PO Box 55, River Edge, NJ 07661 “Meerwald” or http://www.bergencountyhistory.org PAYPAL available. Call (201) 343-9492 for ticket information. Kevin Wright wright@cybernex.net June 10, 2008 Reposted with permision from http://www.nj.com/ and the NJ Historical Commision's H-New Jersey listserver http://www.h-net.org/~njersey/.Top Morristown NHP 75th Anniversary Programs Morristown National Historical Park 75th Anniversary Programs Announced The 75th anniversary of the establishment of Morristown National Historical Park (NHP) will be observed on July 4, 5 and 6, 2008 with a series of free programs and events. Honorary Chairmen of the celebrations are Congresman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th) and noted New Jersey historian, Mr. John T. Cunningham. In 1933, Morristown NHP was the first national historical park added to the National Park System. The park's original dedication ceremony was held on July 4, 1933. Friday, July 4th – Free Independence Day Events Washington's Headquarters, 30 Washington Place, Morristown, NJ Program begins at 2:00 p.m. A short rededication program will be held in front of the newly renovated Washington's Headquarters Museum and will be followed by a reading of the Declaration of Independence. Both the Museum and the adjacent Ford Mansion will be open for self-guiding tours from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Visitors are asked to bring blankets or folding chairs for the outdoor events. Saturday, July 5th – Free Fireworks Lewis Morris County Park, 270 Mendham Road (Routes 510 and 24), Morris Township, NJ Afternoon picnics with fireworks at dusk Visitors are welcome to enjoy pre-fireworks picnics in Lewis Morris County Park, adjacent to the Jockey Hollow Unit of Morristown NHP. The fireworks program will begin at dusk in the area next to Sunrise Lake. Information about visiting Lewis Morris County Park, including directions, list of facilities and regulations may be found at: http://parks.morris.nj.us/aspparks/lmmain.asp. The fireworks program is sponsored by the Washington Asociation of New Jersey. Sunday, July 6th – Free Concert Morristown Green, Downtown Morristown, NJ Concert begins at 1:30 p.m. The sextet Solid Bras will perform music ranging from Sousa to Ragtime as well as other music from the early 20th century. Visitors are encouraged to picnic on the grounds of the Green before and during the hour-long concert. The concert is sponsored by the Trustees of the Morristown Green. *** For more information about Morristown National Historical Park's 75th anniversary events on July 4th, 5th, and 6th, call the park at 973-539-2016, x 232 or x 210. *** Ongoing Programs For general park information, call 973-539-2016 x 210 (Washington's Headquarters) or 973-543-4030 (Jockey Hollow). Washington's Headquarters Museum: The 1930s Washington's Headquarters Museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during its renovation project. The museum offers a gift shop/ sales area and restrooms, and serves as a visitor contact point to begin Ford Mansion tours. Two galleries of new exhibits featuring items from the museum collection will open on July 4th. The National Park Service continues to work with the park's private partner, the Washington Asociation of New Jersey, to raise funds for and plan for all of the museum's exhibits. Tours of Washington's Headquarters at the Ford Mansion: Daily at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m. & 4 p.m.. The Wick House at Jockey Hollow: Daily, approximately 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. (Except when school programs conducted; call 973-543-4030 for availability.) Fees: Washington's Headquarters: $4 per person age 16 and older. Federal Recreation Pasports honored. No admision fee at Jockey Hollow. Anne DeGraaf Chief of Interpretation Morristown National Historical Park 973-285-0126 Anne_DeGraaf@nps.gov Jun 9, 2008Top Morristown Victorian Games Exhibit Runs Into July The Morris County Historical Society's Acorn Hall exhibit, "Games Victorians Played," has been extended through Sunday, July 27, the date of Acorn Hall's annual Old Fashioned Fun Day. The exhibit is open to the public on Mondays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. and is included in the price of a tour of Acorn Hall. The exhibit features antique sporting clothes and equipment, local sport and game clubs founded in the 19th century and sports that had their roots in the Victorian era, such as tennis, baseball, and croquet. The Morris County Historical Society, founded in 1946, is a volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging and developing an appreciation for and an understanding of the history of Morris County and the State of New Jersey. Its headquarters, Acorn Hall, 68 Morris Ave., is an 1853 Italianate Villa Victorian mansion open to the public on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays. For directions or additional information, call 973-267-3465 or visit http://www.acornhall.org. http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID= /20080611/COMMUNITIES/806110391/1005/NEWS01 Copyright © 2007 Daily Record. All rights reserved.Top Upcoming Events At Boonton Historical Society - Jul 12 July 12 10:00 a.m. Historic Main Street Led by Lloyd Charlton Meet at Canalside Park overlook Suggested donation of $5 for non-members; free for members. Stay for Lunch / Stop to Shop ---receive a 10% off coupon to use at participating restaurants and merchants on the day of the tour. HERB GOLDENBERG HONORED AS CITIZEN OF THE YEAR BY YMCA Our trustee and volunteer coordinator was recently honored as Citizen of the Year for Boonton at a dinner for honorees held at the Sheraton, Parsippany. Family, friends and trustees joined Herb as he accepted his award for his many contributions to the Town of Boonton. SOCIETY ACCEPTS PUBLICATION AWARD FROM LEAGUE OF HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF N.J. The League of Historical Societies of New Jersey presented its 2007 publication awards at the Holcombe-Jimison Farmstead Museum in Lambertville. Vice President Jennifer Coultas accepted a first place award on behalf of the Boonton Historical Society for our 2007 Biennial House Tour Brochure. JUNE WALKING TOUR OF THE PARK by Contributing Editor Pamela Hance On Saturday, June 14th, the Boonton Historical Society presented a walking tour of The Park section of Boonton. Several participants gathered at the gazebo in Grace Lord Park, a lovely setting gifted by the Lord family in the late 1800's in loving memory of Grace Lord Nicoll. Although no documentation has been found, it is said the park was planned by Vaux & Olmsted, also the planners of Central Park. Gail Yorkston welcomed the group at about 10:30 AM and prefaced the tour with a brief outline of the route which she traced on an old map of the town. She pointed out the various sections of the park to be toured, from the corner of Esex, along Rockaway Street, up Morris and down Reserve Streets. Mrs. Yorkston furnished rich pieces of information about the history and ownership for most houses, providing an interesting depth throughout the tour. Melvin S. Condit purchased a double lot for $1200 dollars. A home, once a school, provided education for privileged young women around 1900. A few doors up stands the house that served as the dormitory. Other prominent owners included the Seabury family known for their work with plastics that resulted in the Boonton Molding Company, as well as Othmar Amman, a highly skilled engineer who emigrated from Switzerland and became the designer of such bridges as the George Washington and Verrazano-Narrows. At each stop, Mrs. Yorkston pointed out architectural details: the rambling Shingle-style Condit house with its tall chimneys, variety of windows and balustrade topped by a 2nd story balcony; the Yankee gutters, Corinthian-style porch columns, and decorative friezes of a gracious Victorian Shingle-style home; the characteristic concave Mansard roof of the Second Empire-style influenced by both French and Italianate architecture; the spindle work and the fish tail shingles of the Queen Anne Gothic, typified by the sunburst panels of the upper gable, turned columns and bay windows. Fortunately, all these houses are protected by the efforts of residents who established the Rockaway Street Historic District in 2002 designating the section an official Historic District. Along Reserve Street the group pased representative work of the Sterling Construction Company. Valerio Bucco who immigrated to Boonton in the mid-1800s formed this family enterprise. Mrs. Yorkston pointed out the three styles of construction clad in brick, stucco, half-timber and clapboard. This was a lovely event in every way...fair weather, friendly company, a variety of houses, and a well prepared tour guide. The walk was comfortably paced along a route rich in Boonton's history and 19th and early architecture. UPCOMING EVENTS - NEW JERSEY July 16 7:30 pm Atlantic Highlands Historical Society Local historian John King will tell the shocking story of a murder in Atlantic Highlands. 732-291-1861 July 25 - 27 11:00 - 4:00pm Christmas in July Extravaganza DAR, Chinkchewunska Chapter. Guests include Lost Art Lacers, the NJ Frontier Guard and the 27th Regiment Nj Volunteers. 1097 Rte 23 North, Wantage. wmwyman@hotmail.com VOLUNTEER QUESTIONNAIRE Our thanks to those of you who responded to our volunteer questionnaire. Plans are now underway for our 2009 season and we know that we will be able to utilize the many offers we have received. Please expect to hear from us shortly about how you can specifically contribute to our growing group of talented volunteer members Boonton Historical Society & Museum at the Dr. John Taylor House 210 Main Street Boonton, N.J. 07005 973-402-8840 Boontonhistory@Boonton.org July, 2008Top Come Into a New World: Linnaeus & America Let me invite you to a gallery tour of the exhibition, "Come into A New World: Linnaeus and America," at NJ State Museum, Trenton. The tour itself will start around 2:30 pm, Saturday July 12, in the museum's 225 West State St gallery. That is in the NJ State Archives building, at the corner of West State St and Calhoun. It's free, and kids are welcome. Free parking on weekends behind the building. Museum closes on Saturdays at 4 pm. Go early and see the newly renovated main building and other exhibitions. For directions http://www.newjerseystatemuseum.org/ I had a lot of help from H-NJ colleagues in putting the exhibition together. Thank you! American Swedish Historical Museum, Philadelphia, Feb 15-July 1, 2007 Now showing at New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ , May-Dec, 2008 http://www.americanswedish.org/ http://www.americanswedish.org/linnaeus.htm Karen Reeds, PhD, FLS Guest Curator 609-279-9420 karen.reeds@verizon.net July 7, 2008Top Celebrate Local Heritage With Ride Down Canal - Jul 12 Byram - The Canal Society of New Jersey is inviting the public to celebrate the heritage of the Morris Canal and Waterloo's Canal Town from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 12. The event is held in conjunction with the state Division of Parks and Forestry. Admision is free, and the event will take place rain or shine. There will be boat rides on the Morris Canal and guided tours of Morris Canal sites. Also, an experienced Waterloo Village historical interpreter will lead tours of the homes and historic buildings that line the ancient stagecoach road. Only the Canal Museum will be open for visits. There is no fee. Waterloo Village is located at 525 Waterloo Road and is accesible from Routes 80, 46 and 206. The village will be open only on Canal Heritage Day. For details, call (908) 722-9556. http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID= /20080705/COMMUNITIES/807050313/1005/NEWS01 Copyright © 2007 Daily Record. All rights reserved.Top Madison Museum Patrons Can Enjoy Annual Tradition - Jul 12 The Museum of Early Trades and Crafts will host its annual Ice Cream Social on Saturday, July 12 from 1 to 3 p.m. Visitors can cool off from the hot summer sun by making their own sundaes with ice cream from McCool's Ice Cream Parlour. Children will have the opportunity to play old fashioned games, participate in a number of ice cream themed activities, work on a hands-on craft project and have their faces painted. In addition, attendees can watch museum educator Kati Brower as she demonstrates the art of jewelry making, and visitors are encouraged to tour the museum's latest exhibit, "Crafting Cures." Drop by any time between the hours of 1 and 3 p.m. to participate. The event will be held rain or shine. Admision is $5 for all participants and $3 for members. Pre-registration is recommended. For more information, call at (973) 377-2982, ext. 14 or go to the Web site at http://www.metc.org. http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID= /20080704/COMMUNITIES/807040310/1005/NEWS01 Copyright © 2007 Daily Record. All rights reserved.Top Fosterfields Exhibit Drives Home Historic Wheels Discover how local transportation has changed over the past century in the transportation exhibit at Fosterfields Living Historical Farm. Visitors will learn how people traveled to their destinations and how advances in transportation improved their quality of life. Use hands-on activities to learn about former Fosterfields' resident Caroline Foster and her personal interests and travels. Enjoy interactive displays to experience what it was like to "drive" a simulated horse-drawn carriage and to "start up" a Model T Ford. Also featured in the exhibit are Foster's Rockaway carriage, her 1922 Model T Ford and her 1929 Hupmobile. Fosterfields Living Historical Farm, located at 73 Kahdena Road, is open April through October, Wednesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Admision to the site is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors 65 and over and $4 for children ages 4 to 16. Children under age 4 are free. For more information, call (973) 326-7645. http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID= /20080612/COMMUNITIES/806120310/1005/NEWS01 Copyright © 2007 Daily Record. All rights reserved.Top Dover Area Historical Society: Townwide Yard Sale - Jul 13 The Dover Flea Market will be the site of the 6th Annual Townwide Yard Sale sponsored by the Dover Area Historical Society. This annual fundraiser will be held on Sunday, July 13 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Crescent Field Parking Lot just off of South Morris St. This event helps the historical society raise money for repairs and renovations and operating expenses for its museum house which is located at 55 W. Blackwell St. in downtown Dover. Persons wanting to join the event and set up tables to sell yard sale and garage sales items can call (973) 361-3525 to reserve a space. Cost is $20 per space all day or $15 for returning vendors from previous years. Each vendor should bring his or her own tables, lawn chairs, canopies for shade and lots of water. Set up time is between 8 and 9 a.m. with the flea market opening for busines at 9 am. A representative from the historical society will be contacting each vendor to confirm a spot at the flea market. In the event of rain, the yard sale will be held the following Sunday or the next clear Sunday. For more information, call (973) 361-3525 or (973) 361-6205. http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID= /20080710/COMMUNITIES/807100301/1005/NEWS01#pluckcomments Copyright © 2007 Daily Record. All rights reserved.Top Four Legs And Flies: Harnes Racing In NJ - Jul 16 Please join us on Wednesday, July 16 at 4:30pm in Alexander Library's Pane Room, 169 College Avenue, New Brunswick for a program on harnes racing in the Garden State. Catherine Stearns Medich, an archivist at the New Jersey State Archives and New Jersey Sire Stakes trustee, Christopher Castens, executive director of the NJs and Anthony Perretti, NJs trustee and manager of Perretti Farm, will discus Standardbred racing, the Sire Stakes and the equine industry. RSVP by telephone or email before July 14 to Nancy Martin (732+932-7006, ext. 360; ngmartin@rci.rutgers.edu). If requested, Nancy will mail or email a parking permit for the College Avenue deck. This is the final lecture in our series on New Jersey's agricultural heritage. The exhibit ends on July 18, 2008. Contact Bonita Craft Grant for additional information (732+932-7006, ext. 369; craftg@rci.rutgers.edu). Bonita Craft Grant, New Jersey Bibliographer Special Collections and University Archives Rutgers University Libraries 169 College Ave. New Brunswick, NJ 08901 Phone: (732) 932-7006 ext. 369 Fax: (732) 932-7012 June 25, 2008 Reposted with permision from http://www.nj.com/ and the NJ Historical Commision's H-New Jersey listserver http://www.h-net.org/~njersey/.Top Morristown Historic Speedwell Industrial Tour - Jul 16 Speedwell Ironworks depended almost completely on the power of water to run turbines and operate machinery. On Wednesday, July 16, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Joe Macasek, an industrial historian, will conduct a walking tour through Morris County's nearby sites, showing participants how important water was to businesmen such as Steven Vail and how the Whippany River contributed to the operation of all local mills and factories during the 1800s. Historic Speedwell is located at 333 Speedwell Ave. Visitor parking is located at the corner of Speedwell Avenue and Cory Road, one mile north of the Green in Morristown on Route 202. The site is open to the public April through October, Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Last admision is one hour prior to closing. This National Landmark Site preserves the restored Homestead Estate of Stephen Vail, proprietor of the Speedwell Ironworks from the early to mid-1800s. The most significant building is the factory, where Stephen's son Alfred worked with Samuel F.B. Morse to conduct the first succesful public demonstration of the electromagnetic telegraph in January 1838. For more information on the tour or upcoming events, call Historic Speedwell at (973) 285-6550. Site general admision is $4 for adults, $3 for seniors, $2 for children ages 4 to 16 and free for infants to age 3. http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID= /20080705/COMMUNITIES/807050303/1005/NEWS01 Copyright © 2007 Daily Record. All rights reserved.Top Mt Arlington: Discover the History of Breslin Park - Jul 19 On July 19, "A Summer Evening in Breslin Park" will be offered at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 50 Edgemere Ave., at 7 p.m. Martin Kane, president of the Lake Hopatcong Historical Museum, will present an informative program about the historic section of Mount Arlington known as Breslin Park. The area is listed on both the National and State Register of Historic Places. The donation of $15 includes refreshments. For reservations or more information, please call (973) 398-1890 or (973) 663-3040. St. Peter's, located in Beslin Park, has served the Lakeland area for more than 100 years. http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID= /20080702/COMMUNITIES/807020394/1005/NEWS01 Copyright © 2007 Daily Record. All rights reserved.Top Morristown: Tour Local Historic Churches - Jul 19 The Historic Churches of Morristown Tour will be held on Saturday at 10 a.m. Morristown is a town filled with towers and spires, churches and many schools. This upcoming tour will include Morristown's six historic churches -- the First Baptist Church, St. Peter's Episcopal Church, the Church of the Asumption, the First Presbyterian Church, the Church of the Redeemer and the United Methodist Church. Many of the churches will be open so participants can view the interiors. Attendees will explore the churches' significance to Morristown's history and learn about several historical figures buried in two of the church cemeteries. Peg Shultz, a historian and profesor of history who is on staff at the Morris County Heritage Commision, will lead the tour. Tour starts at 6 Court St. in Morristown. Group size is limited to 30. The tour lasts for approximately 1 1/2 hours. Tickets are $10 and are available at the Morris County Visitors Center. Required reservations can be made by calling (973) 631-5151. For additional information, visit http://www.morristourism.org. http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID= /20080714/COMMUNITIES/807140336/1005/NEWS01 Copyright © 2007 Daily Record. All rights reserved.Top Morristown National Historical Park Summer 2008 Morristown National Historical Park Summer 2008 Special Programs Public Information Contact: 973-539-2016, ext. 210 (Washington's Headquarters) 973-543-4030 (Jockey Hollow) July 4th to 6th, Park 75th Anniversary Events Celebrate Morristown National Historical Park's 75th anniversary as part of the National Park Service through these special events on July 4th, 5th and 6th. Washington's Headquarters Museum Rededication and Reading of the Declaration of Independence Friday, July 4th 2 p.m. Washington's Headquarters Museum Free Fireworks Saturday, July 5th Fireworks begin at dusk; public welcome to enjoy picnics in the park before the fireworks Lewis Morris County Park Free Concert on the Green Sunday, July 6th 1:30 p.m. Morristown Green, Downtown Morristown Performance by Solid Bras ONE-TIME PROGRAMS Plant Propagation Workshop Saturday, June 21st 9 to 11 a.m. Cros Estate Gardens The members of the New Jersey Historical Garden Foundation, who maintain the Cros Estate Gardens, will conduct a plant propagation workshop. La Giuditta Sunday, June 22nd 3 p.m. At the College of Saint Elizabeth, Dolan Performance Hall, Annunciation Center The Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey, under the direction of Maestro Robert Butts presents the modern day premiere of Alesandro Scarlatti's oratorio La Giuditta. Edited from the original manuscript in the collection of Morristown National Historical Park. Tickets available through the Orchestra's website http://www.baroqueorchestra.org , or by calling 973-366-8922. $25 adults; $20 seniors; $10 students. Games from the Past Sunday, June 29th 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Wick House in Jockey Hollow Bring a friend to the Wick Farm to learn and play the 18th century style games Nine Men Morris, Quoits and Fox & Geese. What and How Did the Colonists Eat? Saturday, July 5th 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wick House in Jockey Hollow What do a spit, Dutch oven, toaster and churn have in common? Visit the Wick House for a cooking demonstration and learn how these and other 18th-century utensils were used. Family Appearance Saturday, August 2nd 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Wick House in Jockey Hollow Visit the Wick House to see spinning from a drop spindle and a Saxony wheel, and learn how each member of the family was involved in making his or her clothes. Weaving Wick Style Saturday, September 6th 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Wick House in Jockey Hollow Learn about the type of looms that Henry Wick's daughters Mary, Phoebe and Tempe Wick used through your own hands-on experience of putting a shuttle thru a shed. REPEATED PROGRAMS Monthly Trail Work Days Saturday, July 12th Saturday, August 9th Saturday, September 13th 9 a.m. to noon Jockey Hollow Visitor Center Become one of the park's dedicated volunteers and help maintain its over 25 miles of hiking trails. Tools provided. Wear work clothes including gloves and boots. Please bring your own drinking water. For more information, call Ranger Christopher Sullivan at 908-766-6841. Tuesdays in the Wick Garden Tuesdays, June 24th through September 23rd 9 a.m. to noon Wick Garden in Jockey Hollow Meet volunteers from the Herb Society of America, Northern New Jersey Unit, who maintain the reproduction 18th-century Wick Garden, and learn about 18th-centry gardening and the use of herbs as food and medicine. Saturdays at the Huts Saturdays, June 21st through August 16th 1:30 to 4 p.m. Pennsylvania Line Soldier Huts in Jockey Hollow Meet a park ranger at the reconstructed soldier huts to learn about soldier life during the Continental Army's 1779-1780 winter encampment in Jockey Hollow. Colonial Nature Hike Saturday, July 12th and Sunday, August 10th 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Jockey Hollow Visitor Center During this two-mile hike you will learn how people viewed natural history in the 1700's. The park ranger will help you understand why deer hunting was banned in this area of New Jersey, which animals interested people, and why there are now more trees in the state than in the 1700's. Please wear proper attire for the weather conditions and bring water. Was it Really Nonsense? Saturday, July 12th and Saturday, August 9th 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fort Nonsense Why would General Washington order his soldiers to build a fort high atop Mount Kemble? Come to Fort Nonsense to learn about this important site, see displays about the fort, and discovery the meaning of its unusual name. Hike to the Huts Saturdays & Sundays June 28th and 29th July 26th and 27th August 23rd & 24th August 30th & 31st September 6th & 7th September 13th & 14th September 20th & 21st 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Meet at the Jockey Hollow Visitor Center It's exercise and education all in one trip as you join a park ranger on a guided hike from the Visitor Center to the Soldiers Huts and back again along the yellow trail. The hike is approximately 2 ¼ miles long. Please wear proper attire for the weather conditions and bring water. Bird Spotting Saturdays & Sundays June 28th and 29th July 26th and 27th August 23rd & 24th August 30th & 31st September 6th & 7th September 13th & 14th September 20th & 21st 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Wick Orchard in Jockey Hollow Meet a park ranger in the Wick Orchard to help you identify birds. Please wear proper attire for the weather conditions and bring water. *** ONGOING PROGRAMS For general park information, call 973-539-2016 x 210 (Washington's Headquarters) or 973-543-4030 (Jockey Hollow). Washington's Headquarters Museum: The 1930s Washington's Headquarters Museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during its renovation project. The museum offers a gift shop/ sales area and restrooms, and serves as a visitor contact point to begin Ford Mansion tours. Two galleries of new exhibits featuring items from the museum collection will open on July 4th. The National Park Service continues to work with the park's private partner, the Washington Asociation of New Jersey, to raise funds for and plan for all of the museum's exhibits. Tours of Washington's Headquarters at the Ford Mansion: Daily at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m. & 4 p.m.. The Wick House at Jockey Hollow: Daily, approximately 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. (Except when school programs conducted; call 973-543-4030 for availability.) Fees: Washington's Headquarters: $4 per person age 16 and older. Federal Recreation Pasports honored. No admision fee at Jockey Hollow. -NPS- Anne DeGraaf Chief of Interpretation Morristown National Historical Park 973-285-0126 Anne_DeGraaf@nps.gov June 18, 2008Top Podcasts - Key Ingredients: America by Food As part of the travelling Smithsonian exhibition Key Ingredients: America by Food, currently at Historic Walnford in Allentown, NJ, the New Jersey Council for the Humanities in partnership with NJN has produced 3 podcasts on food, history and New Jersey. The podcasts can be listened to on or downloaded from our website: http://www.njch.org/keyingredients/home . What will you hear? In Hungering for America: A Conversation with Hasia Diner, Profesor Hasia Diner (History and Hebrew and Judaic Studies at NYU) explores what studying food tells us about history, the connection between immigration and food, and why NJ isn't known for a specific food product, but several. Historic Walnford: Milling, Milk and More takes listeners behind the scenes at Historic Walnford, an 18th century industrial village and estate farm, to find out what food was like and how it was produced in the 18th and 19th centuries, complete with descriptions of the working grist mill and dairy barn. Key Ingredients in New Jersey: A Taste of the Tour will whet your appetite with tidbits about each of the sites hosting Key Ingredients in New Jersey. http://www.njch.org/keyingredients/home/ More podcasts to come! Best, Mary Rizzo Mary Rizzo, Ph.D. Asociate Director New Jersey Council for the Humanities 28 W. State Street, 6th floor Trenton, NJ 08608 Ph: 609-695-4838 In NJ: 888-394-6524 Fax: 609-695-4929 mrizzo@njch.org http://www.njch.org June 16, 2008 Reposted with permision from http://www.nj.com/ and the NJ Historical Commision's H-New Jersey listserver http://www.h-net.org/~njersey/.Top Slide Show On Middletown, Monmouth County - Jul 21 The Middletown Township Historical Society invites you to their next meeting on July 21st. Randall Gabrielan will present a slide show on his book, "Middletown, Monmouth County," newly isued by Schiffer Publishers. The book marks a significant advance in local history publishing, having been printed in color in 128 large, 8.5 x 11 inch pages. The book embraces the entire township, has 330 illustrations and many extended texts. Copies will be available for purchase and autographing. The meeting will take place on Monday, July 21st at 7:30 p.m. at the MacLeod-Rice House at Croydon Hall, 900 Leonardville Road in the Leonardo section of Middletown Township, Monmouth County. It is free and open to the public and light refreshment will be available. For more information, please contact monmouthhistory@comcast.net or 732-291-2835. Laura M. Poll laurampoll@verizon.net July 5, 2008 Reposted with permision from http://www.nj.com/ and the NJ Historical Commision's H-New Jersey listserver http://www.h-net.org/~njersey/.Top Bernards Speaker Addreses Clan Genealogy - Jul 22 The Bernards Township Library's Family History Interest Group will meet on July 22 in the library's Program Room located on the lower level. Coffee will be served at 6:30 p.m., and the meeting will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Bruce MacGillivray, a local resident and representative of Clan MacGillivray Society U.S.A., will share his experiences over the past 20 years as Atlantic Northern Region convenor for the society. He will describe the genealogy and heraldry of the clan and explain how being an active participant in a clan makes sense even in the 21st century. Clan, which originally referred to the descendants of one man and his children, now describes a group of families of the same name, sprung from the same root, whose family tree intertwines and draws in those of common ancestry and traditions. The Family History Interest Group meets the fourth Tuesday of each month. All are welcome to attend these free programs. For more information, call the Reference Center at (908) 204-3031, ext. 4 or inquire in person at the library located at 32 South Maple Ave. in Basking Ridge. http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID= /20080707/COMMUNITIES/807070323/1005/NEWS01 Copyright © 2007 Daily Record. All rights reserved.Top Alice Paul Institute Tours of Paulsdale - Jul 23 Open house tours of Paulsdale, the Mt. Laurel birthplace of Quaker suffragist Alice Paul, 128 Hooton Rd., Mt. Laurel, take place Wednesday, July 23, at 1 and 2 p.m. Guided tours of the house and property focus on the life of Alice Paul, the Paul family, Quaker history and women’s history costs $5 for adults ($1 discount for members of the Alice Paul Institute) and $4 for children. For information about group tours or future open tour dates, contact the Alice Paul Institute at 856-231-1885 or info@alicepaul.org. The Alice Paul Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about the life and work of New Jersey’s most famous suffragist, Alice Stokes Paul (1885-1977), author of the Equal Rights Amendment, founder of the National Woman’s Party and a lifelong activist for women’s equality. API’s mision is to educate the public about her life, preserve historic Paulsdale, develop future leaders and work towards achieving women’s equality. Paulsdale, Alice Paul’s Mt. Laurel birthplace and family home, is a National Historic Landmark and serves as a center for celebrating women’s history and leadership. API was founded in 1985 and today has a membership of over 400 individuals and organizations Murray and Enid Rosenblatt murrayandenid@comcast.net July 2, 2008 Reposted with permision from http://www.nj.com/ and the NJ Historical Commision's H-New Jersey listserver http://www.h-net.org/~njersey/.Top Morris Museum: New Jersey, Then and Now The Morris Museum continues to present a comprehensive view of New Jersey art in the exhibition, "New Jersey: Then & Now," on view at the museum through Sept. 14. Works from the collections of ACA Galleries and from the Morris Museum date as far back as a Morristown grave rubbing done by a local high school student in 1780. It also includes to ontemporary paintings and sculptures by New Jersey native Chris Kappmeier, highlight the image of the state, its people and its impact on artists who were either born or lived and worked in the Garden State. The exhibition features work by prominent artists Grace Hartigan, Ben Shahn, Faith Ringgold, Leonard Baskin, Jacob Lawrence, Henry Gaser, Joseph Mora, as well as work by many other artists. The Morris Museum, located at 6 Normandy Heights Road at the corner of Columbia Turnpike is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. Admision to the museum is $8 for adults and $6 for children, students and senior citizens. Admision is always free for museum members and is free to the public every Thursday between 5 and 8 p.m. For more information, call (973) 971-3700 or visit http://www.morrismuseum.org. http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID= /20080623/COMMUNITIES/806230324/1005/NEWS01 Copyright © 2007 Daily Record. All rights reserved.Top Re-enactors: Could Government Take Aim Hobbyists worry about new regulations in wake of Wild West City shooting By Abbott Koloff, Daily Record, June 22, 2008 Two years after an accidental shooting left a cowboy actor paralyzed at the Wild West City theme park, gun charges filed recently in that case have historical re-enactors worried about the impact on their hobby. A Susex County grand jury indictment against Wild West City and its owners earlier this month included alleged violations of state gun laws, including carrying weapons without proper permits. Some re-enactors say those charges might have implications for them. "It puts us all in a gray area," said Phil Berg, a Civil War re-enactor from Washington Township. Berg and other re-enactors last week said they would like to see their legal status clarified - and would agree to legislation imposing safety regulations in order to get such clarification. Greg Mueller, a Susex County asistant prosecutor, said he plans to talk to local legislators about crafting such a law. That proposal is the result of a shooting that occurred after a 17-year- old cowboy actor mistakenly loaded a gun to be used in a mock gunfight with real bullets instead of blanks two years ago. The bullets had been brought to the Byram theme park by another actor, allegedly against park rules. Scott Harris, a cowboy actor from Netcong, was struck in the forehead with a bullet and remains partially paralyzed. He now lives in a Harding group home and recently filed a lawsuit against Wild West City. Mueller said he doesn't expect gun charges to be used against other re- enactments, saying there should be some discretion in their application. He said he sought those charges in the Wild West City case partly because of safety violations allegedly committed there. He said the park didn't have a safety officer in charge of dispensing blank ammunition. Most re-enactments require safety officers to dispense ammunition or check gun barrels before guns are fired, he said. "Wild West City is a prime example of what can happen when there are no safety controls in place," Mueller said. Re-enactors say they are at least partly covered under the current law - which allows exhibitions using historic weapons as long as local police are notified. But they also acknowledge that the law is not completely clear. Civil War re-enactors sometimes carry sidearms. State law bars the posesion of all handguns without a permit to carry, according to Mueller. The law includes some exemptions, but not for re-enactors. "We all would feel better if it was listed as an exemption," said Greg Balcastro, a Civil War re-enactor and a Morristown police officer. "When I got into the hobby, I knew there was no legal definition of us," said Steve Santucci, of Rockaway Township, a Revolutionary War re- enactor. Santucci's group participates in the July 4th celebration at Washington's Headquarters in Morristown, firing muskets loaded only with powder. It was scheduled to participate in this weekend's re-enactment of the Battle of Monmouth. Santucci said publicity over the Wild West City case led re-enactors from other states to expres concerns about coming to New Jersey. "We have hundreds of re-enactors coming from 16 states for the Battle of Monmouth re-enactment," said Santucci. "Some of them are asking whether they are going to get arrested coming into New Jersey." Santucci said he was concerned that the gun charges in the Wild West City case could lead to similar charges against other re-enactors, regardles of their safety practices. "Once you open a door and establish a precedent like that, who's to say (other law enforcement agencies) won't use it?" he said. Mueller said those charges are partly based on past opinions provided to him by the state Attorney General's Office related to the use of weapons for theatrical productions and movie and TV sets. One of those opinions, in a letter sent to a re-enactment group in 1993, states that New Jersey law permits the posesion of antique rifles for exhibitions "if the event is approved in writing by the chief law enforcement officer of the municipality in which the event is to be conducted." It goes on to say that the law doesn't grant similar exemptions for handguns, whether or not they are considered antiques. The law does allow the use of handguns altered to fire only blanks, the letter states, as long as that gun can't be altered again to fire bullets. Mueller said he plans to talk to legislators about proposing a law to create a special exemption to allow historic re-enactors to legally carry weapons - but also requiring some safety regulations on a hobby that now is largely self-regulated. State Asemblywoman Alison McHose and state Sen. Steve Oroho, both R- Susex County, did not respond to mesages seeking comment. McHose previously said she would look into posible legislation regarding the safety of re-enactments, and Oroho said he would be open to suggestions from law enforcement authorities. Several local re-enactors said they would have no problem with such a law, as long as it doesn't go too far. Mueller said it might require all re-enactments to have safety officers. Re-enactors said most groups already do that, with safety officers checking the barrels of muskets before they are fired. "I think on the face of it, it's agreeable," Berg said. "They have to clear up the gray areas." In the Wild West City case, a grand jury handed up a 25-count indictment two weeks ago after plea negotiations broke down. Along with the gun charges, Wild West City's owner, Mike Stabile, was charged with aggravated asault and tampering with evidence. Stabile allegedly removed bullets brought to the park by an actor before police had a chance to examine them, according to the indictment. He handed them over to police several days after the shooting, Mueller said. Abbott Koloff can be reached at (973) 428-6636 or akoloff@gannett.com. http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID= /20080622/COMMUNITIES37/806220320/1203/COMMUNITIES&referrer= NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL Copyright © 2007 Daily Record. All rights reserved.Top 344th Birthday of New Jersey Today, June 24, is the 344th birthday of New Jersey. It was on this date in 1664 that, over in England, the Duke of York granted the land between the Delaware and Hudson River in a deed to Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. The deed specified that this tract of land "is hereafter to be called by the name or names of New Caeserea or New Jersey." The document marks the first appearance of the name New Jersey, and in my humble opinion is the birth certificate of our former colony and now state. Here, by the way, are the boundaries of this new entity as specified by the Duke: "...all that tract of land adjacent to New England, and lying and being to the westward of Long Island, and Manhitas Island and bounded on the east part by the main sea, and part by Hudson's river, and hath upon the west Delaware bay or river, and extendeth southward to the main ocean as far as Cape May at the mouth of the Delaware bay; and to the northward as far as the northermost branch of the said bay or river of Delaware, which is forty-one degrees and forty minutes of latitude, and crosseth over thence in a strait line to Hudson's river in forty-one degrees of latitude." - - Marc Mappen mmappen@gmail.com June 24, 2008 Reposted with permission from http://www.nj.com/ and the NJ Historical Commission's H-New Jersey listserver http://www.h-net.org/~njersey/.Top Boonton Historical Society Wins Prize For Brochure The Boonton Historical Society was recently honored with a publication award from the League of Historical Societies of New Jersey. The award, presented at the Holcombe-Jimison Museum in Lambertville, was accepted by Jennifer Coultas on behalf of the society. The award, presented by the League annually, recognizes outstanding publications prepared by historical societies to promote history in their communities. The Boonton Historical Society won first prize for its 2007 Biennial House Tour brochure. http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID= /20080625/COMMUNITIES/806250466/1005/NEWS01 Copyright © 2007 Daily Record. All rights reserved.Top Canal Heritage Day at Waterloo - Jul 26 The Canal Society of New Jersey invites the public to celebrate the heritage of the Morris Canal and Waterloo's Canal Town on Saturday, July 26, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This event is held in conjunction with the NJ DEP Division of Parks and Forestry. Admission is free, and the event will take place rain or shine. There will be boat rides on the peaceful Morris Canal. Children can play with historic wooden toys and darts in a play area overlooking the canal, as well. In addition, tours of Morris Canal sites will tell the story of this waterway that stretched from the Delaware to the Hudson. An experienced Waterloo Village historical interpreter will lead tours of the beautiful homes and historic buildings that line the ancient stagecoach road, as well. Only the Canal Museum will be open for visits. These activities are available at no cost. Waterloo Village is located at 525 Waterloo Road in Stanhope. It is easily accessible from Routes 80, 46, and 206. The village will be open on the Canal Heritage Day only. For more information, call (908) 722-9556. Joyce Hussa (973) 886-8393 joycehussa@yahoo.com July 17, 2008Top Borough of Rockaway Historical Committee Fund Raiser - Jul 29 Arrangements have been made for a "fund raiser" for the Borough of Rockaway Historical Committee. The event will be at Applebees Restaurant on Rt. 46 (in front of Shop Rite) on July 29, 2008 from 4 pm to 9 pm. How it works: If you present a copy of the flyer with your bill, 10% of that amount will be donated to the Historical Committee. You will find a copy of the flyer here: http://historic-rockaways.org/docs/Dining-Donate.jpg Download, print, and take it with you that day. Thank you, Ed Miller, President Borough of Rockaway Historical Committee 973-627-5575 echaneau@optonline.netTop Friends of the NJ Catholic Historical Commission Do you have an interest in the history of Catholicism in New Jersey? Are you active in the life of your local parish and want to learn more about its past? Are you involved in genealogical research and want to find out more about your family’s religious roots? Then become a friend of the New Jersey Catholic Historical Commission today. Established in 1976, the New Jersey Catholic Historical Commission (NJCHC) works to collect, preserve, and publish material related to the history of the Catholic Church and the Catholic community in the state. While formal membership in the NJCHC is limited to those scholars and professionals commissioned by their local dioceses, we invite all those who share an interest in our mission to join our growing circle of friends. All you have to do is sign up and join our mailing list. We will send you copies of the newsletter, share information about recent scholarship, and keep you informed of lectures, workshops, and other public programs. There is no cost for membership. To be added to our list, please send your name and e-mail address to executive director Alan De Lozier, delozial@shu.edu. To learn more about the Commission, please visit: http://library.shu.edu/sc-NJCHRC.htm . There you can find a guide introducing the work of the Commission and read the most recent edition of our newsletter, The Recorder. Alan B Delozier delozial@shu.edu June 24, 2008 Reposted with permission from http://www.nj.com/ and the NJ Historical Commission's H-New Jersey listserver http://www.h-net.org/~njersey/.Top Freeholders OK $2.1M to Preserve Historic Sites Morristown's Willow Hall to get $250K; 25 projects funded by trust program By Michael Daigle, Daily Record, June 26, 2008 The Morris County Board of Freeholders Wednesday approved spending $2.1 million from the county's Historic Preservation Trust Fund to help preserve 25 historic sites in 17 towns, including $250,000 toward the purchase of Willow Hall in Morristown. Willow Hall has been at the center of a dispute for about five years after a developer proposed to build up to 30 townhouses on the 6.8 acres above Speedwell Lake, while offering to preserve the 1848 home. A 2006 approval of a plan for 26 townhouses is the subject to a lawsuit filed by neighbors of the property and a local preservation group. The suit is pending. The freeholders agreed to give the Passaic River Coalition $250,000 toward the acquisition of the home, which the group hopes to use as a headquarters, said executive director Ella Filippone. She said the group was very pleased to get the county's support for the purchase, but acknowledged it is just a start. Until the legal action is complete nothing will happen with the property, she said. David Helmer, executive director of the Morris County Park Commission, which once offered to buy Willow Hall for $1.2 million, said the commission supports the river coalition's efforts. The park commission by resolution this week supported the coalition's request for a $50,000 grant for Willow Hall, he said. The Gothic Revival-style mansion, built by Morristown's famous Vail Family, is across Speedwell Avenue from Historic Speedwell, the cluster of buildings used by the Vails in their iron manufacturing business and the site where Alfred Vail and Samuel Morse perfected the telegraph. The park commission is restoring Historic Speedwell. Helmer said Willow Hall complements the Historic Speedwell village, but the park commission is not interested in its purchase because it is separated from the other buildings by Speedwell Avenue. The park commission now will support the efforts of a group, such as the Passaic River Coalition, to purchase the home. Filippone said the purchase of Willow Hall would give her group the chance to expand its education programs and hold events in its own building, which it can not now do. Willow Hall is owned by former Morristown teacher Frederick Stradtman, who once put the home on the market for $3.8 million. Willow Hall is considered one of the best examples of pattern-book architecture - building designs sold through the mail - in the state. The freeholders approved the 25 grants based upon the recommendation of the county's Historic Preservation Trust Fund Review Board. Of the grants approved, 16 were for construction or restoration projects and nine grants were non-construction projects, which include acquisition and the development of plans for preservation. Morris County voters approved the creation of the Historic Preservation Trust Fund in November 2002, allowing the freeholders to amend the county's Open Space and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund to include the acquisition and preservation of historic sites and facilities. Between 2003 and 2007, the trust approved 104 grants worth $6.7 million. http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID= /20080626/COMMUNITIES/806260345/1005/NEWS01&template=printart Copyright © 2007 Daily Record. All rights reserved.Top Followup: Freeholders Fund Historic Projects 6/27/2008 The Morris County Board of Freeholders has approved spending $2.1 million from the county's Historic Preservation Trust Fund to help preserve 25 historic sites in 17 towns. The freeholders approved the 25 grants based upon the recommendation of the county's Historic Preservation Trust Fund Review Board. Of the grants approved, 16 were for construction or restoration projects and 9 grants were non-construction projects, which may include acquisition and the development of plans for preservation. Morris County voters approved the creation of the Historic Preservation Trust Fund in November 2002, allowing the freeholders to amend the county's Open Space and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund to include the acquisition and preservation of historic sites and facilities. The funds come from trust fund monies that have been traditionally set aside for administrative costs and were not diverted from open space or farmland preservation. The largest construction grant, $188,600, was awarded to Historical Society of Boonton Township for interior restoration work to the Oscar A. Kincaid Home of History, a circa 1785 house on both the New Jersey and national registers that is planned as a museum. Madison received a $150,000 construction grant for interior restoration to the Hartley Dodge Memorial, the 1933 Neoclassical building that serves as the Madison Borough Hall, and which is a vital part of the Madison Civic Historic District. The project includes the restoration of the historic building's fabric. The largest non construction grant totaling $250,000 was awarded to the Passaic River Coalition to help the group acquire Willow Hall, a puddingstone structure in Morristown built in 1848 by George Vail, a noted New Jersey politician and the brother of Alfred Vail, a central figure with Samuel Morse in the development of the telegraph. The Coalition plans to use Willow Hall as its headquarters. Other historic preservation grants for construction went to the First Presbyterian Church & Congregation of Dover, $175,699; the First Presbyterian Church of Hanover in East Hanover, $69,273; the United Methodist Church in Madison, $81,384; the Presbyterian Church of Madison, $110,640; the Community of St. John Baptist in Mendham Township, $150,000; the Trustees of the Ralston Cider Mill in Mendham Township, $67,924; Montville Township for the Montville Schoolhouse, $125,000; the Macculloch Hall Historical Museum, $35,700; the Washington Association of New Jersey for the Morristown National Historic Park Museum Auditorium, $115,047; The Woman's Club of Morristown, Inc., $60,160; Mount Olive Township for the Former Baptist Church, $67,280; the Growing Stage Theatre for Young Audiences in Netcong, $126,914; Riverdale Borough for Glenburn House, $71,574; and the Roxbury Historic Trust, Inc. for the King Homestead, $80,000. Grants for non construction projects were awarded to Rockaway Township for Hibernia Church, $28,160; Butler Borough for the Butler Railroad Station, $29,440; the Community Presbyterian Church in Chester Borough, $15,280; Florham Park Borough for Little Red Schoolhouse, $12,680; All Saints' Episcopal Church in Long Hill Township, $27,000; the Flanders United Methodist Church in Mount Olive, $16,040; Long Hill Township for Millington Schoolhouse, $29,437; and the First Presbyterian Church of Rockaway, $15,000. Since the program began, 53 historic sites in 30 communities have received grants totaling nearly $8.7 million. More information about the Historic Preservation Trust Fund may be obtained by calling Ray Chang at the Morris County Department of Planning , Development and Technology at (973) 829-8120. http://www.co.morris.nj.us/asp/morris/press.asp?link=1175Top Happy 25th, NJ Division of Archives and Records Management June 24 was not only New Jersey's 344th birthday - it is also the 25th birthday of the New Jersey Division of Archives and Records Management (NJDARM). It was on this date in 1983 that Gov. Thomas H. Kean established NJDARM within the Department of State. The division holds in trust the public records of New Jersey: one of the oldest and most vital functions of government. The division has statutory authority to ensure the security, integrity, and efficiency of record-keeping by state and local public agencies, and to preserve the rich documentary heritage of New Jersey and its people. NJDARM's institutional precursors span more than three centuries of New Jersey history. During most of the British colonial era, the royal provincial secretary served as keeper of the government's official records. After independence in 1776, the Secretary of State performed this function. In 1920, growing historical consciousness in anticipation of the sesquicentennial of American independence induced the legislature to create New Jersey's first agency dedicated exclusively to the preservation and public use of government archives - the Public Record Office. Expanded and renamed the Bureau of Archives and History, the office became part of the State Library in 1945. Finally, in an executive reorganization in 1983, Gov. Thomas H. Kean elevated the bureau to full division status and reunited it with the Secretary of State - then Jane Burgio. Today, as records media and forms change, the division works to enhance the efficiency of government by employing technology to reduce the cost of records creation, maintenance, and storage, and to improve access to recorded information. The division operates the State Archives - the state's largest repository and public research center for the study of New Jersey history and genealogy - and the State Records Storage Center. Karl J. Niederer, Director Division of Archives and Records Management New Jersey State Archives 225 West State Street, P.O. Box 307 Trenton, NJ 08625-0307 USA Tel. (609) 984-3299 - Fax (609) 292-9105 E-mail: Karl.Niederer@sos.state.nj.us June 24, 2008 Reposted with permission from http://www.nj.com/ and the NJ Historical Commission's H-New Jersey listserver http://www.h-net.org/~njersey/.Top 1875 Monmouth Census The Monmouth County Archives is pleased to announce that the 1875 New Jersey Census for Monmouth County is now available online with a search capability at http://oprs.co.monmouth.nj.us/oprs/Archives/ASearch.aspx Some towns are missing and some of the extant pages have missing data. Nevertheless, we are glad to share what we have with others. A generous grant from the Monmouth County Genealogy Society was used for conservation of heavily damaged pages in the census. Gary D. Saretzky Archivist, County of Monmouth gsaretzk@co.monmouth.nj.us June 23, 2008 Reposted with permission from http://www.nj.com/ and the NJ Historical Commission's H-New Jersey listserver http://www.h-net.org/~njersey/.Top Disclaimer |