Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002

NEW JERSEY: A Guide to Its Present and Past is an attempt to present not only the background and development of old New Jersey, but also the rapidly changing scene of the State today. If the book achieves its purpose it will serve a contemporary need, and in addition it will preserve the flavor of present-day New Jersey for scholars of the future.

The guide is a cooperative product, the work of field workers and research workers, of writers and editors, and of competent authorities in every department of New Jersey life. Newspaper files, libraries, and many other sources have been searched for information; mechanics and farmers, scholars and policemen, artists and aviators have been interviewed. Most of the material, however, has been gathered first-hand: every major city in the State has been studied by reporters, and field workers have traveled every foot of the main highways from High Point Park to Cape May. Checking and rechecking of these thousands of items have produced, it is hoped, a minimum of error. We ask readers who find mistakes to write to the publisher, so that future editions may be corrected.

In order to keep this one-volume guide within practical book length, it has been necessary to abridge drastically the voluminous data assembled in the course of the project. Much of this material, however, will be made available in detailed studies or in encyclopedic form at a later time.

It would be an endless task to list all the consultants whose aid has made the book possible. Special thanks are due, however, to Miss Beatrice Winser for making available the facilities of the Newark Public Library and for her valuable assistance; and to Dr. Milton R. Konvitz, who acted as general consultant. Specialists in various fields have contributed materially in the preparation of several of the introductory essays. Professor John E. Bebout of the University of Newark directed the work on the History essay and, in collaboration with Professor Fred Killian, also of the University of Newark, contributed the section entitled Government. Professor Herbert Woodward of the University of Newark contributed the section on Geology, and together with Dr. Horace G. Richards of the State Museum provided the material on Paleontology. Professor Carl Woodward of Rutgers University wrote most of the essay on Agriculture. The chapter entitled Archeology and Indians is the work of Dr. Dorothy Cross of the Indian Sites Survey.

Among others who gave valuable criticism are: Sarah B. Askew, secretary and librarian of the State Public Library Commission; Professor Robert G. Albion of Princeton University; Theodosia Bates, director of the New Jersey Gallery of Kresge department store, Newark; Mary Boggan, Hackensack librarian; Henry Reed Brwen, general secretary of the New Jersey Council of Religious Education; Van Wyck Brooks; Professor J. Douglas Brown of Princeton University; Professor L. H. Buckingham of Newark University; the Reverend Ellis B. Burgess of the United Lutheran Synod of New York; Elizabeth V. Colville, editor of Musical New Jersey; J. Hallam Conover of Freehold; Royal Cortissoz, art editor of the New York Herald Tribune; Elbert Cox, superintendent of Morristown National Historical Park; Phoebe Crosby of Philadelphia; Kenneth W. Dalzell of the American Institute of Architects; George de Cou of Moorestown; Professor Frank de Vyver of Duke University; Professor Norman Foerster, director of the School of Letters at the University of Iowa; the Reverend William Hiram Foulkes, of Old First Presbyterian Church of Newark; Lewis Gannett of the New York Herald Tribune; the Reverend L. Hamilton Garner of Newark; Marguerite L. Gates, assistant librarian, Newark; C. A. George, Elizabeth librarian; Louis Ginsberg of Paterson; Nathan L. Goldberg, assistant editor of the Guild Reporter; Abe J. Greene, city editor of the Paterson Evening News; the Reverend R. D. Gribbon, Archdeacon of the New Jersey Diocese of the Protestant Episcopal Church; Stephen Haff Jr., of the Jersey City Museum Association; Edward Sothern Hipp, dramatic editor of the Newark Sunday Call; William S. Hunt, publisher of the Newark Sunday Call; Edward Alden Jewell, art editor of the New York Times; Laurence B. Johnson, managing editor of the New Jersey Educational Review; Professor Wheaton J. Lane of Princeton University; Frank Jewett Mather, director of the Princeton Museum of Historic Art; Nell L. Meyers, Freehold librarian; George Miller, regional director of the Historical Records Survey; William Milwitzky of Newark; Professor Sherley Morgan, director of Princeton University School of Architecture; Lewistrustee Mumford ; Grace D. McKinney, religion editor of the Newark Evening News; Howard D. McKinney, director of Rutgers University School of Music; Maurice F. Neufeld, acting secretary of the New Jersey State Planning Board; George A. Osborne, Rutgers University librarian; Frederick S. Osborne, director of public information at Princeton University; William J. Pickersgill of Perth Amboy; Charles A. Philhower, superintendent of Westfield Junior High School; Corliss Fitz Randolph, president and librarian of the Seventh Day Baptist Historical Society; Vergil D. Reed, assistant director of the Bureau of the Census; Leonard H. Bobbins of the New York Times; Grace D. Rose, Morristown librarian; Joseph S. Sickler, postmaster of Salem, New Jersey; Samuel Slaff of Passaic; Professor James G. Smith of Princeton University; Mary Cook Swartwout, director of the Montclair Art Museum; Cornelia B. Thompson, principal of Asbury Park High School; Professor Willard Thorp of Princeton University; Norman F. Titus, secretary of the State Chamber of Commerce; Lydia Weston, Burlington librarian; A. Edmund Williamson, executive secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of the Oranges and Maplewood; and Edmund Wilson.

This book was prepared under the supervision of Mrs. Irene Fuhlbruegge, State Director, and Alexander L. Crosby, State Editor, both of whom resigned before publication.

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