| In
early December 2005, the Council of Proprietors of West New Jersey
formally deposited its vast collection of land surveys, minute and
account books, and maps with the State Archives. The collection,
spanning three centuries of land distribution in the western half
of New Jersey, was previously maintained in the Surveyor General’s
Office on Broad Street in Burlington, NJ. However, without staff
and other resources, the Proprietors were able to make the archive
available to researchers only on a limited basis.
Under the depository
agreement, the State Archives will now care for the archive and
administer public access to it. The Council retains legal ownership
of the documents, though the deposit is intended to be long-term
(i.e., indefinite). The agreement authorizes the State Archives
staff to make professional determinations relating to the arrangement
and description (i.e., cataloging and indexing) of the records,
reformatting (i.e., microfilming and/or imaging) priorities, and
decisions as to whether to allow researchers to use original materials
depending upon the condition and level of inventory of specific
documents or groups of documents.
On December
14th, the Council of Proprietors and the State Archives celebrated
the deposit of the West Jersey archive with a press event and exhibition
unveiling selected manuscripts. For more information on the collection,
the State Archives’ access policy and the exhibition, please
click on the links below.
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