RESOURCES for NEWARK HISTORY
The Newark History Society (NHS), founded in 2002, is a co-sponsor, and major supporter of the Newark Archives Project. It presents public programs and encourages research on all aspects of Newark history. The site includes membership information, announcements, and the texts of selected presentations given at NHS meetings. The Society usually presents five public programs (both panel discussions and individual lectures) each year, accessible in-person or via Zoom. NHS programs since January 2008 have been recorded and are posted on the Society’s YouTube channel. Another list of web resources of value in the study of Newark history, including valuable digitized materials provided by the Newark Public Library (e.g., city directories and high school yearbooks), is available on the NHS web site’s “Resources” page.
By far the most comprehensive research guide to books, articles, published reports, and digitized material on Newark, past and present. Created by Natalie Borisovets of the Reference Department of Rutgers-Newark's Dana Library, the site includes sections on Newark history, geography and maps, architecture and landmarks, newspapers, politics and government, immigration and ethnic groups, arts, transportation, housing, schools, and other subjects. In many cases links to digital versions of books, articles, documents, blog posts and audio-visual materials are provided. Access to some materials is limited to the Rutgers community.
The New Jersey Digital Newspaper Project
The New Jersey State Library has compiled this online guide to New Jersey newspapers that have been digitized. New titles are added as they become available. Titles are grouped by county and then by town or city. Click on Essex County and scroll down to see 36 titles, ranging from Newark’s earliest newspapers (18th century), to major titles such as the Newark Evening News and the Star-Ledger, ethnic newspapers, and short-lived newsletters. Some titles are only available commercially, but many are can be viewed online at no charge, including those included in the Library of Congress’s “Chronicling America” project and titles digitized by the Newark Public Library.
This site, hosted by the Old Newark Group and its Webmaster, Glenn Geisheimer, presents both original source material and links to other sources of data on Newark history. The site contains a "Memories" section, with several hundred original essays and recollections by Newark residents; more than 7,000 historic photographs and graphics, reproduced from many sources; and a bibliography. Other pages provide locations of census data, vital records, directories, military records, and immigration records, and links to digital versions, where available.
Knowing Newark
The late Charles Cummings’ "Knowing Newark" columns, which appeared in the Newark Star-Ledger from March 7, 1996 to December 29, 2005, offer a wealth of information on the history, people, events, institutions, customs, and physical environment of Newark. These have now been digitized by the Newark Public Library and are available as a searchable database.
The New Jersey Digital Highway
A "one-stop-shop" for New Jersey History and culture, this collaborative project of Rutgers University Libraries, the New Jersey State Library, the New Jersey Division of Archives and Records Management, the New Jersey Historical Society, and the American Labor Museum/Botto House presents a wide range of information and resources for teachers, students, and the general public. The heart of the site, its digital collections contributed by cultural institutions, large and small, across the state, includes more than 1,000 photographs and documents relating to Newark. Among them are items from the Newark Public Library's 2002 exhibit, "Remembering Newark's Greeks: An American Odyssey," selected images from the New Jersey Historical Society's William F. Cone Photograph Collection, and material from exhibits at Rutgers-New Brunswick’s Alexander Library.
Rutgers University-Newark's Research Guide to sources of statistical information on Newark. Data, mostly from recent federal government sources, on age, births, business establishments, construction, crime, deaths, earnings, education, elections, employment, finance, government, health, households, housing, income, labor force, manufactures, population, poverty, race and Hispanic origin, social services, etc.
Rutgers University-New Brunswick Digital Collections
This fully searchable database contains digitized documents, including many government reports, from the holdings of Rutgers libraries and other repositories in New Jersey. A search produces several thousand references to Newark.
Guy Sterling’s “Remembering Newark” Web Site
Veteran Newark journalist Guy Sterling, who wrote for the Newark Star-Ledger from 1980 to 2009, presents a host of brief articles on topics in Newark history – ranging from the Civil War era, to ethnic history, sports, jazz, presidential visits, labor and industrial history, notable Newarkers, and much more. Sterling himself was a participant in or witness to many of the events he describes, and his writing often reveals little-known dimensions of Newark history.
This site was created by J. Bennett, who offers history and architectural tours of Newark. The site includes many “virtual tours,” brief well-illustrated essays and on notable Newark neighborhoods, buildings, cemeteries, parks, public statuary, and related topics.
Finding Information on Newark Architecture
Created by Maya Gervits of the Littman Architectural Library at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) this research guide provides step-by-step instruction in the basics of doing architectural research. It also links to NJIT's "Digital Archive of Newark Architecture," offering detailed illustrated entries on individual historic buildings in Newark and a wealth of bibliographic and related material. The "Articles" sub-page, for example, includes the voluminous nomination forms for Newark buildings on the National Register of Historic Places; the forms were digitized from copies in the Newark Public Library's Donald Dust Collection. Note: some illustrations and full-text articles on the site are password protected.