|
NEW
JERSEY’S COLONIAL HISTORY REDISCOVERED
Historic Documents Unveiled in State Archives’
Exhibition at Morven Museum & Garden
Statewide – Secretary of State Regena L. Thomas
and the New Jersey State Archives today unveiled rare treasures
of New Jersey's colonial past purchased by the State at Christie's
in June. Acting Governor Richard J. Codey joined Secretary Thomas
at Princeton’s historic Morven Museum and Garden to open the
State Archives’ new exhibition, “Proprietors & Adventurers:
A Rediscovery of Colonial New Jersey,” featuring all eleven
original manuscripts, maps and books recently acquired by the State.
In June, the State acted to secure ownership of
a priceless piece of New Jersey’s heritage by purchasing a
cache of rare colonial manuscripts, maps and imprints auctioned
at Christie’s in New York City. The collection includes unique
17th-century documents and maps originally belonging to Robert Barclay,
proprietary governor of the Province of East New Jersey from 1682
to 1690.
Thomas and Codey welcomed classes from Lawrence
Township Intermediate School and more than 100 historians, genealogists,
archaeologists, and state officials to the ribbon-cutting for first-ever
public display of the original documents in two second-floor galleries
at the historic mansion. “East Jersey Governor Barclay’s
archives were privately held and closed to research for over 300
years,” said Thomas, “and now they belong to the people
of New Jersey.”
Thomas hailed the State’s success in acquiring
the treasured documents. “Securing these documents is an investment
not only in our history, but more importantly in our future,”
she said. “More than just a part of a collection, these records
are a part of our heritage,” Thomas continued. “They
are a vital and invaluable resource that will provide new insight
and understanding of our past as a colony, state and nation.”
Historian Dr.
Richard P. McCormick, a retired professor of history at Rutgers
University, and a
keynote speaker at the ceremony, congratulated the State for arranging
the acquisition of what he called “an outstanding collection
of maps and documents, many unavailable to scholars or the public
for over three centuries.”
McCormick expressed special interest in Barclay’s
records, which include previously unknown minutes of the East Jersey
Board of Proprietors—New Jersey’s first owners by royal
patent. “We have always known of the existence of the [proprietors],
but now we may learn about their precise activities.” Decades
ago, McCormick combed archives and manuscript collections in England
to research the earliest period of British settlement in “Nova
Caesarea,” the Latin name for New Jersey found in many ancient
documents. Then in private hands, he never saw the Barclay documents.
Karl J. Niederer, director of the State Archives
Division, said the acquisition of the unique Barclay documents may
mean to New Jersey history research what the 1947 discovery of the
Dead Sea Scrolls represented to scholars of the Bible. “That
so many valuable documents from New Jersey’s proprietary period
surfaced at the same time at the Christie’s auction was unprecedented,”
Niederer said. “The State Archives acquired the records of
the Board of East Jersey Proprietors when the ancient corporation
disbanded in 1998,” he said, “but Governor Barclay’s
records appear to be new and unique material. This is a victory
for New Jersey history.”
Joseph R. Klett, Archives chief of operations, planned
and curated the exhibition, “Proprietors & Adventurers:
A Rediscovery of Colonial New Jersey,” personally researching
and writing most of the display’s narrative and captions.
Klett credited the vigilance, cooperative spirit, and quick action
of New Jersey’s historical community as essential in the State’s
successful bid to acquire the colonial documents at Christie’s.
“We are sincerely grateful for the outpouring of timely support
that resulted in the purchase of these rare treasures,” Klett
said.
Klett recognized Princeton rare book dealer Joseph
J. Felcone for notifying the State Archives immediately when the
auction of the documents by Philadelphia collector Jay T. Snider
was announced by Christie’s in the spring. Klett said, “The
Archives, David Cowell of the Advocates for New Jersey History,
Ronald Becker of Rutgers University, Chad Leinaweaver of New Jersey
Historical Society, and other prominent New Jersey archives and
research institutions quickly recognized an unprecedented opportunity
to rescue New Jersey’s documentary heritage from private hands.
Fast-spreading news of the auction led to a dynamic public campaign
to encourage the State to acquire the documents.”
Acting Governor Codey and Secretary Thomas authorized
the Archives to bid for the documents at Christie’s. To pay
for them, Codey allowed the Archives to draw from the State’s
Public Records Preservation Fund, established in 2003 by the legislature
and dedicated to improve the preservation, management and storage
of New Jersey public archives and records. The New Jersey Hall of
Fame contributed $15,000 to the State to assist with the acquisition
of the documents and their public display.
On June 21,
the State prevailed over vigorous competition in the bidding for
all eleven lots of New Jersey documents at Christie’s, bringing
into public possession many rare and previously unknown records
of the colonization, settlement, government, and mapping of seventeenth
and eighteenth century New Jersey.
Niederer acknowledged the New Jersey State Museum
for providing staff support and guidance in preparing the exhibition
of the documents. “The museum’s assistance was vital
in making ‘Proprietors & Adventurers’ a reality,”
he said. “Led by Beth Beitel, the exhibit bureau staff literally
made the impossible possible.” Jack Koeppel of Queenstown
Gallery helped secure the donation of several display cases to the
Archives for the exhibition from Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Following today’s opening, the exhibition
will remain open to the public at Morven in facsimile form during
October. The State Archives plans to open an expanded version of
the facsimile display in its own gallery in Trenton in November.
The Archives expects to unveil an online version of the exhibition
in its web site in 2006.
Most of the original documents will undergo conservation
treatment during 2006 for cleaning, de-acidfication, mending of
torn or separated paper fragments, photography and digitization.
The State Archives’ dual goal is to ensure the permanent preservation
of the documents, and provide the public convenient access to the
information in them for research and educational purposes.
The State Archives is part of the Division of Archives
and Records Management in the New Jersey Department of State, located
at 225 West State Street in Trenton. The Archives’ second
floor research center is open to the public Monday through Friday,
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For general information on the Archives services
and programs, contact (609) 292-6260.
For more information
on the exhibition and updates on the status of the colonial documents,
visit http://archives.nj.gov/adventurers.html.
|
