Volume 5 • Issue 2 fall 2007
prallsville mill
Thirteen members of the public testified at the first hearing sponsored by the New Jersey Heritage Tourism Task Force on October 9 at the State House in Trenton.  The Task Force heard from individuals representing counties and municipalities, heritage site stewards and private citizens as part of its process of collecting information about ways to strengthen the state’s heritage tourism industry.

Individuals providing testimony were asked to help the task force create a “wish list” of desirable scenarios to encourage heritage tourism in New Jersey:
 
statue of liberty
New Jersey has always been one of the most diverse places on planet earth.  Ever since its origins in the 1600s, the state has been the home to waves of newcomers from other nations. In the early 19th century came immigrants from Ireland, Germany, and Great Britain; late in the century came Italians and eastern Europeans; today the majority of immigrants come to New Jersey from Asia and Latin America. Immigrant

To explore our state’s proud history of welcoming newcomers, the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State, will devote its annual conference to the theme “New Jersey Diversity: Ethnicity and Immigration Past, Present, and Future.” The conference is cosponsored by the NJ Governor’s Ethnic Advisory Council.
 
william franklin
The State Archives has created a new website featuring New Jersey's last royal Governor, William Franklin. Now part of the Archives’ Documentary Treasures area, the site focuses on Franklin’s 1762 appointment by King George III. The exquisite, engrossed parchment was presented to New Jersey Governor Charles Olden in 1861 by the Crown of Great Britain after its discovery in a London bookseller’s shop. William Franklin, natural son of patriot Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia, remained loyal to the crown until he was deposed in 1776. He spent his last years in America in exile in Connecticut and in British-occupied New York. At the close of the war, he removed to England, where he died in 1813.
 
stockton new jersey
 

In 2005, the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs selected the Borough of Fanwood as one of six municipalities to participate in a Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) demonstration program. While TDRs have been used to foster preservation in other parts of the country, Fanwood is significant for using TDRs to focus on suburban residential resources – specifically, resources located in the Fanwood Park Historic District.
 
ASSLH
The New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the NJ Department of State has been selected as a recipient of a prestigious Leadership in History Award from the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) in Nashville, Tennessee. 

The award is given in recognition of the NJ Historical Commission’s overall organizational excellence, and in particular for the agency’s role in supporting historical interests in the Garden State. 
 
clevelands
New Jersey State Archives has added a number of new imaged collections to its website. Five of them are of particular note considering how they portray aspects of New Jersey history.
 
tom fleming
                                     

Hollywood has its Oscars, Broadway has its Tonys, the music industry has its Grammys, and for the past 33 years the field of Garden State history has its own awards, which are given out each year to individuals and organizations by the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State.

The 2007 awards will be presented at the Historical Commission's Annual Conference, which this year will be held on November 17 at the Trenton Marriott.