New Jersey's rich history includes the stories of the lives of extraordinary women from Annis Boudinot Stockton, Clara Barton, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, to Alice Paul, Anne Morrow Lindbergh and Millicent Fenwick. It is important to identify sites associated with these and other extraordinary women as well as those that tell the collective story of women who contributed to the agricultural, industrial, labor and domestic history of the state. Although women have comprised over half of the state's population, historic places associated with women have been understudied and underrepresented.

The Historic Preservation Office (HPO) and the Alice Paul Institute worked with The Women's Project of New Jersey to develop a broad cultural and historical context study. Based on the 1990 publication Past and Promise: Lives of New Jersey Women, the study provided an overview of New Jersey women's history as it relates to United States history, identified a number of themes related to that history, and suggested the types of sites that best represent those themes.

The preservation consulting firm Preservation Partners compiled a Comprehensive Inventory of 300 women's historic sites that met the following criteria: ·

• The site has an association with an historical event or activity that reflects the broad patterns of women's lives in New Jersey before 1960; or ·
• The site has an association with a particular woman who had an impact on New Jersey, or the state had an impact on her life, during her residency or period of noteworthy accomplishment, which occurred before 1960.

This Comprehensive Inventory includes sites where the resource no longer exists, sites that have been altered significantly, archaeological sites, and sites that have already been listed in the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places for significance other than women's history.

After this inventory was completed, a list of 150 of these resources was further investigated in an Intensive Level Architectural Survey of women's sites to determine those that met the National Register Criteria for Evaluation. This list will serve as a guide for future nominations to the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places.

Women's Heritage Trail

Finally, a number of sites from both the Comprehensive Inventory and the Intensive Level Survey were compiled in the New Jersey Women's Heritage Trail book. The selected sites are meant to offer a broad sampling of women's history sites with a wider geographic distribution by county, and a distribution of historical trends and themes related to women's roles in New Jersey's past. Inclusion on the trail was often based on public accessibility, either for a visitor to a historic house museum, or someone driving by. If a site is not included on the trail, it doesn't necessarily mean that the site is insignificant (sometimes the site is publicly or visually inaccessible, the owners' privacy is being protected, or its significance is post-1960-the cutoff date for the book).

In the end, we published a book that serves teachers and students, historic site managers, historic preservation administrators and commissioners, government agencies and other members of the general public. For example, it provides a rich body of content-specific background specifically for social studies teachers developing curriculum to meet the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards for Social Studies. Most importantly, it can broaden everyone's understanding and awareness of this long neglected aspect of our State and nation's history.

Women's Heritage Trail Book Wins Award!
The New Jersey Women's Heritage Trail book was named the "Best Official New Jersey Publication" for 2005 by the Documents Association of New Jersey (DANJ).

We Need Your Input!

Download Inventory Nomination Form
(MS Word Document)

The HPO will continue to collect and add information to the comprehensive inventory. If you would like to add a site for inclusion in the ongoing Women's Historic Sites Survey, download the inventory nomination form, complete, and return the form and any attachments to the Historic Preservation Office / Natural & Historic Resources / PO Box 404 / Trenton, NJ 08625-0404. Include any documentation regarding the history and significance of the resource. If you have any questions, please call the office at 609-984-0176.

Useful Links:

1. The Women's Project of New Jersey (Rutgers University)
2. New Jersey Historical Commission
3. National Historic Landmark sites in New Jersey (PDF Format)
4. New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places
5. The League of Historical Societies of New Jersey
6. Alice Paul Institute
7. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Papers
8. National Archives Library Information Center pathfinder for Women's History Research
9. National Women's History Project
10. National Collaborative for Women's History Sites
11. Places Where Women Made History, National Park Service Guide
12. Other Links

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