Contact:
Shawn Crisafulli
Acting Public Information Officer
609-777-4413
Trenton, NJ - At its end-of-year meeting, the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State, announced project and special grants totaling $514,964 to 39 organizations and individuals to support history-related projects.
“We received over $1.2 million in requests from 72 applicants, which indicates the keen level of competition for these grants,” said Larry Greene, Chair of the Historical Commission.
Among the projects funded are the preparation of a podcast tour of a Revolutionary War site in Gloucester County, an archeological investigation of an 18th century forge in Morris County, a research project on Native American pottery, an internship program for historic sites in New Jersey, and an exhibit on the New Jersey side of Ellis Island.
“The activities funded by these grants will help residents and tourists alike experience the wonderful history of our state,” noted Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells.
Below is a list of the approved grants:
Burlington County
Alice Paul Institute, Mt. Laurel. $8,019 to support creation of a media presentation, Alice Paul: New Jersey’s Heroine for Equality.
Preservation Partners, Crosswicks. $11,880 to write a context study of historic women’s club sites in New Jersey.
Cape MayCounty
Cape May County Historical & Genealogical Society, Cape May Courthouse. $15,048 to publish The Early Architecture of Cape May County.
CumberlandCounty
WheatonArts and Cultural Center, Millville. $5,940 to support an exhibition of American glass masterpieces.
Essex County
NewarkMuseum Association, Newark. $19,800 to conserve 19 pieces of historic furniture from the Museum’s decorative arts collection.
Friends of Anderson Park, Montclair. $12,573 to prepare a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places for Anderson Park.
NewarkPublic Library, Newark. $15,840 to continue converting the New Jersey Illustration Index to digital format.
GloucesterCounty
Gloucester County Department of Parks - Red Bank Battlefield, Sewell. $12,870 to develop a podcast tour for the Whitall House.
HudsonCounty
HobokenHistorical Museum, Hoboken. $14,850 to support a new exhibition, “Greetings from Hoboken, a Postcard History, 1898-1930.”
Jersey CityMuseum, Jersey City. $13,860 to conserve selected works from the museum’s August Will painting collection.
Holly Metz, Hoboken. $13,563 to publish a book about early 20th Century Hoboken Poormaster Harry L. Barck.
MercerCounty
PrincetonUniversity Library, Department of Rare Books, Princeton. $13,860 to digitize the University’s collection of Sanborn Fire Insurance maps and place them online for free public access.
TrentonHistorical Society, Trenton. $5,940 to develop cell phone tours of the Battle of Trenton.
Janet Gardner, Rocky Hill. $17,820 to develop a documentary film on the life of 19th-century New Jersey industrialist Peter Cooper.
Historic Morven, Princeton. $13,860 for an exhibition entitled, “Picturing Princeton, 1783: The Nation’s Capital.”
Historical Society of Princeton, Princeton. $11,880 for an exhibition entitled, “Stand Up, Speak Out: Princeton’s Citizens Find Their Voice.”
Karen Reeds, Princeton. $17,820 to research a book on the history of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
TrentonDowntown Association, Trenton. $11,583 to support the annual “Patriots’ Week” commemorations of the Battles of Princeton and Trenton.
Crossroads of the American Revolution Association, Princeton. $15,840 to produce a “Guide to New Jersey’s American Revolutionary War Sites.”
Preservation New Jersey, Inc., Trenton. $19,305 to fund a continuing study of the history of school construction in New Jersey.
MiddlesexCounty
Department of History, Rutgers University, New Brunswick. $4,455 to continue the University’s undergraduate public history internship program.
Special Collections, Rutgers University Libraries, New Brunswick. $13,860 to catalog approximately 900 historic maps in the Library’s New Jersey collection.
RutgersSchool of Communication, Information and Library Studies, New Brunswick. $6,435 to underwrite scholarships for the School’s Preservation Management Institute.
MonmouthCounty
Asbury ParkPublic Library, Asbury Park. $11,880 to microfilm three weekly newspapers that historically served the Asbury Park region.
Historical Society of Ocean Grove, Ocean Grove. $13,662 to digitize microfilm of the Ocean Times/Record and the Asbury Park Journal/Press.
MonmouthCountyHistorical Association, Freehold. $14,553 to conserve several portraits by 19th-century New Jersey folk artist Micah Williams.
MonmouthUniversity, West Long Branch. $13,860 to microfilm the University’s student newspaper, The Outlook.
MorrisCounty
Jewish Historical Society of Metrowest, Whippany. $7,920 to research a biography of Newark merchant and philanthropist Louis Bamberger.
MadisonHistorical Society, Madison. $10,197 to fund an archaeological investigation of the forge at the 18th-century Luke Miller House.
Save Ellis Island, Inc., Mt. Olive. $17,820 to develop exhibitions at the site’s Laundry and Hospital outbuilding.
StickleyMuseum at Craftsman Farms, Morris Plains. $9,430 to publish an updated edition of Gustav Stickley’s Craftsman Farms: A Pictorial History.
PassaicCounty
WilliamPaterson University, Wayne. $15,840 to support the conservation of the papers of New Jersey Congressman Robert Roe.
WilliamPaterson University, Wayne. $15,840 to support the annual New Jersey History Day competition for middle and high school students.
SalemCounty
Timothy Hack, Pittsgrove. $5,346 to support dissertation research comparing slavery in East and West Jersey from 1613 to 1860.
SalemCounty Historical Society, Salem. $15,840 to hire a project archivist to organize and catalog the Ayars Machine Company and Ayars Family Collection.
SomersetCounty
Friends of the Jacobus Vanderveer House, Bedminster. $17,820 to design permanent exhibitions for the site.
UnionCounty
Old First Historic Trust, Elizabeth. $13,504 to organize the archives of the Old First Presbyterian Church.
Out of state
Skylar Harris, Holland, Pennsylvania. $11,583 to support dissertation research on perceptions of health and the human body in 19th-century Delaware Valley villages.
George Pevarnik, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. $11,088 to support dissertation research on pottery produced in New Jersey by Native Americans.
University of Illinois Press, Champaign, Illinois. $11,880 to publish a book about Woody Guthrie’s hospitalization at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Morristown.
The New Jersey Historical Commission is a division of the Department of State. Its mission is to preserve, promote and disseminate the history of the state through grants, publications, media projects and public programs. For information on the New Jersey Historical Commission’s grant program, contact Sara Cureton, Director, Grants Program, New Jersey Historical Commission, PO Box 305, Trenton, NJ 08625; (609) 292-6062;
fax (609) 633-8168; email sara.cureton@sos.state.nj.us
