• April 2016

    Christie Lutz
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    Adams, Betty Livingston. Black Women’s Christian Activism: Seeking Social Justice in a Northern Suburb. New York: New York University Press, 2016.

    Agreement between Perth Amboy Plant Cheesebrough Manufacturing Company and Chesebrough Employees Association. Perth Amboy: 1950.

    Attractive Homes of New Jersey. Baltimore, MD: F. Heath Coggins and Company, c. 1928.

    Bay, Mia, and Ann Fabian, eds. Race and Retail: Consumption Across the Color Line. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2015.

    Daigle, Michael Stephen. The Swamps of Jersey. Imzadi Publishing, 2014.

    Directory of Princeton Area Chemical Research Laboratories and University Chemistry Faculty. Princeton, NJ: 1972. (more…)

  • Summer on the Shore

    Christie Lutz
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    By Catherine Babikian

    The Jersey shore is known for beaches and boardwalks, but what’s for dinner?

    Cover, Leland's Ocean Hotel menu, 1880s.
    Cover, Leland’s Ocean Hotel menu, 1880s. Sinclair New Jersey Restaurant Menu Collection.

    At the turn of the century, wealthy vacationers enjoyed elegant meals at oceanfront hotels. Guests at Lelands’ Ocean Hotel in Long Branch could choose from beef ribs, lobster, and halibut for dinner, and peach pie, chocolate eclairs, and tutti frutti ice cream for dessert.

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    Leland’s Ocean Hotel wine list. Sinclair New Jersey Restaurant Menu Collection.

     

    In Atlantic City, guests at the famous Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel sat down for afternoon tea, then tucked into roast goose with apple sauce for dinner. Camembert cheese and pineapple pie finished off the meal.

    Marlborough Blenheim Hotel, 1931. Sinclair New Jersey Restaurant Menu Collection.

    But fancy hotels weren’t the only places to get a good dinner. In the 1960s, Taborn’s Restaurant in Asbury Park served up fried shrimp, scallops, clams, and oysters, along with a wide variety of ice cream sodas, milkshakes, and fresh parfaits for a sweet finish. The lunch menu included grilled frankfurters and blueberry griddle cakes.

    Taborn's Restaurant, 1960s. Sinclair New Jersey Restaurant Collection.
    Taborn’s Restaurant, 1960s. Sinclair New Jersey Restaurant Menu Collection.

    Looking for more shore delicacies? The new Sinclair New Jersey Restaurant Menu collection contains these menus and many more– down the shore and around the state.

  • March 2016 Acquisitions

    Christie Lutz
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    the-montclair_inside
    Promotional brochure for The Montclair, a hotel that operated between 1907 and 1938. It was located on First Mountain, on the border of Montclair and Verona.

     

    Acoli, Sundiata. A Brief History of the New Afrikan Prison Struggle. New York: Sundiata Acoli Freedom Campaign, 1992.

    Alvarez, Alfonso. Alfonso Alvarez, Architect. 1964.

    American Civil Liberties Union. The Bill of Rights 150 Years After: The Story of Civil Liberty, 1938-1939. New York: American Civil Liberties Union, 1939.

    Attractive Homes of New Jersey. Baltimore: F. Heath Coggins and Co., ca. 1930.

    Blanchard, Fessenden S. A Cruising Guide to the Chesapeake, Including the Passages from Long Island Sound Along the New Jersey Coast and Inland Waterway. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1951.

    (more…)

  • Hungry in the Hub City

    Christie Lutz
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    By Catherine Babikian

    When it comes to eating, Rutgers students have always had plenty of options, from pubs and taverns to diners and ice cream parlors. Today, we’ve dug into our archives to get a glimpse of what Rutgers students in the 1980s had to eat.

    Shelly’s Ice Cream on Easton Avenue served sandwiches, subs, and most importantly, ice cream sundaes and milkshakes. Students really craving ice cream could order the “Heavy Chevy”: four scoops of ice cream, two sundae toppings, whipped cream, nuts, and sprinkles!

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    Shelley’s Ice Cream, 1980s. Sinclair NJ Restaurant Menu Collection.

    And students looking for Sunday brunch only needed to look to Stuff Yer Face for egg, bacon, or mushroom stromboli–or perhaps a frittata?

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    Stuff Yer Face, 1980s. Sinclair NJ Restaurant Menu Collection.

    The Rusty Screw Tavern offered standard pub fare along with live music and film screenings. In 1984, the restaurant welcomed the Rutgers class of 1988 to campus with a free concert, featuring the new wave band The Resistorz.

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    The Rusty Screw Tavern, 1984. Sinclair NJ Restaurant Menu Collection.

    Later in the semester, students could stop by the Rusty Screw for a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show or The Big Chill.

  • Late 2015~Early 2016

    Christie Lutz
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    An Address of the Representatives of the Religious Society of Friends, for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, to their Fellow-Citizens, on Behalf of the Indians. Philadelphia: Friends’ Book Store, 1891.

    The Chin Strap: Official Program, 29th Division Association, 1930 Reunion.  Asbury Park, NJ .

    Fourth Report of the Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Education Society. 1822.

    Glynn, Harry A., ed. Red Pepper: A Peppy Periodical for Peppy People, vol.1, no. 3. Newark, NJ: Red Pepper Publishing Company, 1924.

    Goddard, Henry Herbert. The Kallikak Family. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1912.

    High School Life, Vol. 1 no. 1. Orange, NJ: Literary Board of the Orange High School, December 1890. (more…)

  • New Brunswick Music Scene Archive Featured on NJTV

    Christie Lutz
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    By Christie Lutz

    We’re thrilled to have appeared on NJTV News on Friday, February 12th. View the segment or read the transcript here.

    The piece features some recent additions to the New Brunswick Music Scene Archive (NBMSA) and a bit of documentary footage of the Court Tavern by friend of the NBMSA Fritch Clark.  The segment was filmed here in Special Collections and University Archives’ preservation lab and processing room–where the magic happens.

  • Snow in the City

    Christie Lutz
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    By Christie Lutz

    With the first snowstorm of the season approaching, we reflect on the Great Blizzard of 1888, also known as the Great White Hurricane. The storm buried the East coast from Maryland to Maine as well as the Eastern provinces of Canada.  The following images of New Brunswick during the storm are from our New Brunswick Views photograph collection.

    George Street
    George Street

     

    George Street, looking north towards Albany Street.
    George Street, looking north towards Albany Street.

     

    Northwest corner of George and Bayard Streets, south of Church Street.
    Northwest corner of George and Bayard Streets, south of Church Street.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • November

    Christie Lutz
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    Star-Spangled Banner Pantomime [SCNLY PN6120 (3)

    Blume, Judy. In the Unlikely Event. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2015.

    Cooper, Anna D. The Star-Spangled Banner Pantomime. Belmar, NJ: Edgar S. Werner Co., 1903.

    Cramer, Deborah. The Narrow Edge: A Tiny Bird, an Ancient Crab & an Epic Journey. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015.

    Doty, Mark. Deep Lane: poems. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2015.

    Howard, Tim with Ali Benjamin. The Keeper: A Life of Saving Goals and Achieving Them. New York: Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2014. 

    (more…)

  • Julia Child Sampled Our New Jersey Cookbooks. Why Don’t You?

    Christie Lutz
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    Black cover of a cookbook that simply treads "Cook Book"

    By Tara Maharjan

    When I started my Library Science program at Simmons College in Boston, I came across an opportunity to become a Cookbook Librarian at America’s Test Kitchen. The collection is comprised of over 4,000 books ranging from local cookbooks to The Modernist Cuisine. I held the position as a very well fed volunteer for two years. I loved my position but graduate school ended, cookbook librarians are rare, and my passion is archiving. I moved back to my home state of New Jersey and strung together part-time, and sometimes full-time, temporary archiving work until I became  a full-time Processing Archivist in Special Collections and University Archives at Rutgers University.

    The Sinclair Jerseyana Cookbook collection came to my attention: forty boxes of cookbooks that needed a finding aid. Finally my interest in cookbooks and my passion for archiving came together! The collection is made up of cookbooks from New Jersey towns,  local churches, schools, and organizations, and companies that operated in the great Garden State. Every book is unique. Some have homemade covers, others are professionally bound; some focus on ethnic cuisine, while a few focus specifically on and promote products to be used. Two of my favorite cookbooks with homemade covers are this wood burned cover from the 1976 cookbook by The Christian Community Shrine of St. Joseph, entitled Our Community Cookbook,

     

    Wood burned cover of a cookbook with a tree and an church represented.

    and this screen-printed 1973 cookbook entitled Look Who’s Cookin’, by the Somerville Neighborhood Troop 12 from Rolling Hills Girl Scout Council.

     

    Screen printed cover of a 1973 Rolling Hills Girl Scout Council cookbook entitled "Look Who's Cooking"

    Some cookbooks were for a cause.

    Cover of a 1907 cookbook with a red cross on the front.

    (Muhlenberg Hospital Auxiliary. Cook Book. Plainfield, NJ: The Auxiliary, 1907.)

    Other cookbooks were produced to promote products, such as the 1962 Fun-To-Do Party Book, by the Ballantine Beer Company from Newark, or the Gem Chopper Cook Book (seen below) from Flemington, 1902.

    1962 Fun-To-Do Party Book, by the Ballantine Beer Company from Newark

    Cover to the Gem Chopper Cook Book.

     

    This collection is filled with so many wonderful and unique cookbooks, with dates ranging from 1902-2006, that you just need to check out the collection yourself. Julia Child did in 1992 when she came and received an honorary degree at Rutgers. More information about the collection can be found here.

     

  • Congregation Poile Zedek, New Brunswick

    Christie Lutz
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    Sketch of Poile Zedek
    Sketch of Poile Zedek

     

    By Ron Becker

    We at Rutgers University Libraries were saddened when on October 23rd, we learned that Congregation Poile Zedek suffered a terrible loss when fire ravaged their beautiful historic synagogue building damaging the structure and its contents including the loss of most of their sacred Torahs. Founded in 1901, Poile Zedek was part of a once thriving New Brunswick, NJ Jewish community centered in the downtown Hiram Market area. Poile Zedek was one of four synagogues in the neighborhood which included Ahavas Achim, Etz Ahaim, and Ohav Emeth. In their early years, each had a predominance of members who hailed from different parts of Europe. Poile Zedek was Polish, Ahavas Achim was Russian, Ohav Emeth was Hungarian, and Etz Ahaim was Sephardic (Spain and Portugal).   The other three congregations are now centered in Highland Park where the majority of the New Brunswick Jewish community migrated. Ahvas Achim suffered a similar tragic fire and rebuilt in 1987 in Highland Park.

    Poile Zedek minutes written in Yiddish
    Poile Zedek minutes written in Yiddish

    We at the Rutgers University Libraries extend our best wishes to the members of Poile Zedek in their desire to rebuild in the wake of this tragedy. One very small consolation is that they had the foresight to donate their congregational records to Special Collections and University Archives in 1987.   Consisting of the Constitution, minutes of meetings, financial documents, building committee files and other memorabilia, the materials date from 1917. All the early records are in the Yiddish language. The public is invited to visit our repository to examine this material which is described in detail through the finding aid which can be accessed at

    http://www2.scc.rutgers.edu/ead/manuscripts/poilezedekf.html