Contact the NJ State Archives
Mailing Address:
NJ State Archives
P.O. Box 307
Trenton, NJ 08625-0307

Office Address:
225 West State Street - 2nd Floor
Trenton, NJ

Contact Information

Email: Feedback@sos.nj.gov

Department of Law & Public Safety and related agencies


The Office of the Attorney General dates back to the establishment of New Jersey as a royal colony in 1704. It is one of three cabinet posts specifically mentioned in the state constitution of 1776.

By 1901, the state's legal office was referred to as the Law Department. In 1948, the Department of Law and Public Safety was created by merging the formerly separate departments of Law, State Police, Weights & Measures and Alcoholic Beverage Control.


Series:
Department of Law
Docket #9, 1947-1949
Control #:
SLB00001
Format:
0.2 c.f. (1 vol.)
Notes:
Primarily lists removals of patients from psychiatric institutions.
Restrictions:
Confidential per NJSA 30:4-24.3

Series:
Department of Law
Attorney General's Office
Notebook relating to Southern Governors' Railroad Rate Case before the Interstate Commerce Commission, 1935-1938
Control #:
SLBAG001
Format:
0.2 c.f. (1 vol.)
Arrangement:
Various

Series:
Department of Law
Attorney General's Office
Cash Books, 1911-1944
Control #:
SLBAG002
Format:
1 c.f. (4 vols.)
Arrangement:
Chronological

Series:
Department of Law
Attorney General Walter D. Van Riper
Records relating to the 1947 Constitutional Convention, ca. 1941-1948
Control #:
SLBAG003
Format:
1 c.f. (2 boxes)
Notes:
Includes copies of opinions, etc.

Series:
Department of Law
Attorney General's Office
Annual Reports, Published Opinions and Miscellaneous Publications, 1867-ca. 1956
Control #:
SLBAG004
Format:
0.25 c.f. (1 box)

Series:
Department of Law and Public Safety
Miscellaneous Publications, 1922-1982
Control #:
SLC00001
Format:
0.25 c.f. (1 box)
Notes:
Includes State Police publications.

Series:
Department of Law and Public Safety
Attorney General's Office
Closed Case Files [sample], 1920s-1960s
Control #:
SLCAG001
Format:
9 c.f. (9 boxes)
Notes:
See partial contents list in accession file #1997.034.

Series:
Department of Law and Public Safety
Attorney General's Office
Records of Eugene A. Sullivan, Assistant Attorney General, 1982
Control #:
SLCAG002
Format:
6 c.f. (6 boxes)
Notes:
Includes files on Anna Hauptmann v. David T. Wilentz, et al., and the Musto & Errichetti cases.

Series:
Department of Law and Public Safety
Attorney General's Office
Opinions, 1897-1975
Control #:
SLCAG003
Format:
9.75 c.f. (20 boxes)
Arrangement:
Chronological
Notes:
There are no opinions for 1899, 1952, 1968, 1971-1973

Series:
Department of Law and Public Safety
Division of Consumer Affairs
Office of Weights and Measures
Regular Files (Correspondence) Files, 1920s-1940s
Control #:
SLCCN001
Format:
8 c.f. (8 boxes)
Arrangement:
Alphabetical

Series:
Department of Law and Public Safety
Division of Consumer Affairs
Office of Weights and Measures
State Type Approval Files, 1920s-1940s
Control #:
SLCCN002
Format:
5 c.f. (5 boxes)
Arrangement:
Alphabetical

Series:
Department of Law and Public Safety
Division of Consumer Affairs
Office of Weights and Measures
Correspondence, Scrapbooks and Photographs, ca. 1911-1970
Control #:
SLCCN003
Format:
15.75 c.f. (17 boxes)

Series:
Department of Law and Public Safety
Division of Consumer Affairs
Office of Weights and Measures
Annual Reports and Miscellaneous Publications, 1876-1965 [with gaps]
Control #:
SLCCN004
Format:
0.2 c.f. (1 portfolio)
Notes:
Includes annual reports for 1876, 1880, 1929-1930, 1965.

Series:
Department of Law and Public Safety
Division of Elections
Election Returns, 1998-2003
Control #:
SLCEL001
Format:
12.5 c.f. (25 boxes, part of 1 box)
Notes:
For pre-1998 election returns, see Department of State/ Division of Elections/ Election Returns.

Series:
Department of Law and Public Safety
Division of Law
Escheat File of William J. Walsh, Deputy Attorney General, 1968-1973
Control #:
SLCLA001
Format:
0.2 c.f. (1 folder)

Series:
Department of Law and Public Safety
New Jersey State Police
Copies of Evidence Photographs, Trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann for Kidnapping of Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., 1935
Control #:
SLCSP001
Format:
0.1 c.f. (24 B&W photographs, 8"x10")
Arrangement:
Numbered
Finding Aid:
Click here!

Series:
Department of Law and Public Safety
New Jersey State Police
Card Index to Lindbergh Case Files, no date
Control #:
SLCSP002
Format:
5 reels (16-mm)

Series:
Department of Law and Public Safety
New Jersey State Police
Operational Planning Bureau
Disaster Plans, Annual Reports, Legal Subject and Opinion Files, 1943-1979
Control #:
SLCSP003
Format:
1 c.f. (1 box)
Notes:
Includes records from the Dept. of Defense/ Div. of Civil Defense (Disaster Control) and the NJSP Emergency Management Section

Series:
Department of Law and Public Safety
New Jersey State Police
Annual Reports, 1922-1956
Control #:
SLCSP004
Format:
0.5 c.f. (1 box)

Series:
Department of Law and Public Safety
Bureau of Traffic Safety
Annual Report, 1952
Control #:
SLCTR001
Format:
0.2 c.f. (1 vol.)


Related records:


Series:
Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
Reports and Correspondence, 1934-1938
Control #:
SAL00001
Format:
0.2 c.f. (4 reports)

Series:
Department of Motor Vehicles
Annual Reports, 1915-1958 [with gaps]
Control #:
SMO00001
Format:
0.75 c.f. (3 boxes)
Notes:
Includes 1915-1916, 1927-1929, 1933, 1935-1958.

Series:
Governor's Advisory Commission on Gambling
Proceedings, 1987-1988
Control #:
SZGAM001
Format:
2 c.f. (4 boxes)
Arrangement:
Chronological

Series:
New Jersey Law Enforcement Council
Records, 1953-1958 & 1967-1968
Control #:
SZLAW001
Format:
30 c.f. (30 boxes)

Series:
Commission on Narcotic Control
Records, 1953-1960
Control #:
SZNAR001
Format:
2.6 c.f. (6 boxes and 1 envelope)

Series:
New Jersey Racing Commission
Annual Reports, 1975-1979
Control #:
SZRAC001
Format:
0.1 c.f. (5 reports)


~ The collections listed on this page represent 106.75 c.f. of paper records and 5 reels of microfilm ~



To contact the New Jersey State Archives about research, reference services, records transfers or donations, please email us at njarchives@sos.nj.gov


For additional and/or more recent records relating to this topic, contact:


Department of Law and Public Safety, Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex, 25 Market Street, PO Box 80, Trenton, NJ 08625-0080, tel. 609-292-4925, website: www.state.nj.us/lps

New Jersey State Police, River Road, PO Box 7068, West Trenton, NJ 08628, tel. 609-882-2000, website: www.njsp.org


This page last updated 04/04/2007