Anyone who tried visiting the History Center in late January noticed we were closed following a significant leak that occurred on January 22^nd and impacted several floors of the Library. Fortunately, our librarians and archivists acted quickly to move the historical collections out of harm’s way and evaluate nearby materials for water damage while first responders dealt with the emergency upstairs. Library staff assisted Department Head James Lewis, Digital Librarian Chris Larlee, and Library Assistant Cynthia Muszala to vacate the affected storage room.

Of the thousands of rare books, photographs, and maps that were at risk, damage was limited to a few dozen items which are now offsite for conservation. The Library remained closed for several days as disaster recovery professionals dried flooded areas of the building, and History staff were onsite through the weekend checking for damage, stabilizing affected items, and assisting other departments of the Library with their cleanup efforts. Archivist Jeffrey Moy led the disaster response team over the following three weeks while coordinating with recovery workers to ensure storage areas were repaired, as well as overseeing conservation efforts.

As the main building reopened and resumed operations a week later, History Center staff continued performing collection recovery work while contactors completed repairs to our storage areas. Unfortunately for our visitors, the only available space to temporarily keep the displaced materials was the reading room where they occupied every flat surface including rolling book carts.

Department Head James Lewis responded to questions from researchers eager to resume their work and coordinated day to day logistics. Library Assistant Leigh Whitworth conducted the time-consuming task of checking each book as Assistant Archivist Katelyn Leffler inspected the condition of the glass plates. Digital Librarian Chris Larlee provided crucial collections management support throughout the recovery effort.

With storage room repairs completed in early February, staff returned collections as quickly and carefully as possible and reopened the reading room to a steady stream of researchers beginning February 11^th. We appreciate everyone’s patience throughout the disaster recovery process and look forward to helping you explore history soon. For additional information on the History Center and its collections, as well as where to follow us on social media, please visit our About Us page.

Constructed in 1937, the Community Theatre served as Morristown’s single-screen movie theater exclusively presenting first runs of films. It opened on December 23, 1937 with a screening of Nothing Sacred, starring Carole Lombard and Fredric March. The theater briefly showed live performances such as vaudeville shows in the 1940s, although the building primarily spent its first few decades as a thriving movie theater.

While the theater did well in its early years, it experienced a decline of revenue and attendance during the 1970s amidst competition from television and newly emerging multiplexes. Amid these financial difficulties, the Community Theatre was sold by the Walter Reade Organization to Maurice Macabian in 1973 who also struggled to return the business to profitability as a movie house. In 1977 it reopened as The Morris Stage, a live performance venue that featured ballet performers, rock bands, and jazz musicians. Despite strong ticket sales, the theater eventually closed in 1987.

1994 ushered in a new era with the assistance of hundred of volunteers who worked to restore the building’s interior, culminating in the Kirov Orchestra’s September performance while on an international tour. By 1995, the venue was reborn as a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting live musical, theatrical, and comedy shows. Major renovations followed and in 2007, the structure was renamed the Community Theatre at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts; shortened to the Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC) in 2011. Notable performers have include Aretha Franklin, Liza Minelli, Joan Rivers, Bob Newhart, Kenny G., Judy Collins, and Tony Bennett.

The materials in this collection include documents relating to its history as a movie theater, a large volume of records related to renovations in 1994 and 2001, behind-the-scenes work done by the performing arts center staff, and the performances held at the theater. Document types include programs, brochures, administrative papers, posters, audiovisual materials, and photographs. Those interested in viewing the records may consult the finding aid for a fuller description, and contact the History Center for an appointment.

The working papers of one of New Jersey’s notable landscape architects, Joan Shapiro Greentree, are now open to researchers in the History Center’s reading room. Born in Brooklyn, Joan Shapiro (1929-2012) graduated high school at sixteen years old and briefly attended Alfred University before dropping out due to the lack of courses in her preferred field of study. Instead, she pursued independent study in landscape architecture at the State University of New York, Fairleigh Dickinson University, New York University, and the New York and Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.

As a self-taught landscape architect, Joan adopted the professional name “Greentree” and developed an architectural philosophy that centered around environmentalism and was reflected in her practice of working with the ecology specific to each site. This design aesthetic stressed the use of native plants in a manner consistent with a property’s topology, a practice that gained wider acceptance through the late 20th century.

Greentree became an award-winning landscape architect whose work featured prominently in private homes and businesses in New York, New Jersey, and Colorado. During her long career she oversaw projects for the San Francisco firm Lawrence Halperin and Associates, a number of public parks, and numerous private gardens. Joan became one of the first women accepted by the American Society of Landscape Architects. During the 1960s, she founded one of New Jersey’s first recycling centers.

Included with the Joan Shapiro Greentree papers are a significant collection of research notes and photographs related to Claude and Helen Habberstad that she collected with a neighbor and wildlife artist, Mary Pratt Champenois. The Habberstads were journalists and artists who built a series of arts and crafts style cottages in the 1930s, mostly in the Boonton and Parsippany area. Wanting to create affordable homes set in natural surroundings, Claude and Helen selected large parcels of land in Morris County where property was inexpensive. Each cottage was unique and included design features intended to maximize space while blending into the surrounding landscape.

Greentree and Champenois both owned Habberstad homes and, during the 1990s they pursued extensive research on their history, construction, and place within American architecture history. Their work resulted in numerous photographs documenting the homes, a series of oral histories taken by those who knew and worked with the Habberstads, as well as a number of speaking engagements and exhibits about the cottages. The finding aid to the Joan Shapiro Greentree Collection is available online, and the papers may be requested for use in the reading room.

Due to construction in the History Center during the week of November 11, 2024, the reading room will offer limited services. Some collections will be inaccessible and excessive noise is to be expected; therefore, researchers are advised to plan around these dates.

If you must visit between 11/11 and 11/15, please contact the History Center by Friday 11/8 with a list of any materials you need to refer to and we will endeavor to retrieve them prior to your visit.

One aspect of preserving New Jersey history involves identifying weaknesses in our collections. While reviewing materials related to the state’s military history, Archivist Jeff Moy noted a lack of detailed information on Picatinny Arsenal, which is one of Morris County’s most active and consequential installations. He contacted the base’s Engineering Historian, Jeff Ranu who graciously agreed to share copies of their newspapers, The Picatinny News and The Barrage that date from 1947 to 1958.

Published for the benefit of active duty military and civilian personnel, the bi-weekly newspaper reported on various aspects of work life at Picatinny. It is a good source of information for genealogists with family who once worked at the facility, as well as those studying American military history. The digitized issues of the Picatinny News and the Barrage are available online, and we will include additional years as they are made available to us.

Several of the History Center’s manuscript collections originate from active organizations who periodically transfer recently created records. Assistant Archivist, Katelyn Leffler processed a group of new additions to the Morris School District collection. The records contain nearly two centuries of information on education in Morris Township and Morristown including  documentation on the Board of Education, district schools, Morristown High School, as well as photographs and audiovisual material.

The Morris School District Records date from 1817 to 2013 and comprise 33.5 linear feet in over 60 boxes; the finding aid to the collection may be found here. Those interested in reviewing the collection should contact History Center staff in advance to make an appointment.

A portion of the History Center’s Vertical Files are currently in offsite storage and inaccessible while we await the installation of new shelving. Our most frequently used files — Family Surnames, Morris County, Morris Township, and Morristown — remain available to researchers.

Please contact a member of our staff with any questions regarding this collection, and to ensure that requested materials will be accessible on the day of your visit.

The Ford Family’s history in North America dates back to Andrew Ford’s emigration from England to Weymouth, Massachusetts in the 1640s, a community that he helped found before acquiring property in Plymouth colony with his wife, Ellinor Lovell. The first Fords to live in Morris County, New Jersey were Andrew’s grandson, John Ford, and his wife Elizabeth Freeman, who owned a large parcel of land two miles east of Morristown. John Ford built one of Morris County’s first iron forges with John Budd.

Jacob Ford, Jr. is perhaps best known to local residents for serving in the Revolutionary War and having built Ford Mansion in 1774, which his widow Theodosia Johnes Ford later offered to General George Washington for use as his headquarters during the winters of 1779 and 1780. Prior to his early death in 1777, Jacob was an iron forger, like his father, and he served as Eastern Battalion Commander of the Morris County Militia where in 1777 he successfully fought the British at the Battle of Princeton.

Various members of the Ford family owned large tracts of land in Morris County where they operated farms, iron forges, served as members of the clergy, fought in colonial and Revolutionary wars, and worked as land surveyors, school administrators and teachers, medical missionaries, nurses, and bankers. The Fords maintained connections to the Garden State for three centuries.

The Ford Family Papers may be viewed in the History Center Reading Room. Interested researchers should consult the online finding aid prior to contacting staff to schedule an appointment.

This iconic 1878 Second Empire-style structure located at 87 E. Main St in Chester, NJ, was originally built as a pharmacy for Dr. Smith English Hedges. Following his death in 1892, it passed to Alonzo Green who took over operation of the drugstore and leased the empty space to longtime business associate George E. Conover (1826-1875). Mr. Conover established the Conover Press here in 1898, and he would later operate a painting and wallpaper business from the same building, and ultimately a general store. For many years, George lived in the apartment above the business with his wife, Harriet “Hattie” Chapman Conover, and their son Herbert T. Conover.

In addition to operating the printing press, George partnered with Alonzo P. Green to organize the Chester Local Telephone Company, which connected two lines from the drug store to the train station at Muskrat. From 1901 to 1905 Green and Conover built this system out to the neighboring towns of Parker, German Valley, Middle Valley, Crestmoor, Vernoy, and Califon, before selling the business to Lebanon Telephone Company in 1910.

In Mr. Conover’s spare time, he played in the Chester Cornet Band, which appeared in parades at Chester, Newark, and Newton from 1915-1918. He also served on several civic boards, including Washington Camp No.8 and on the Chester Carnival Committee. George E. Conover died on October 8, 1942 at age 78, and was buried at Chester Congregational Cemetery; his wife Hattie Chapman Conover died in 1946. Both the general store and drug store closed after George Conover and Lon Green’s deaths in the 1940s; however, Hattie and George’s son Herbert took over operation of the Conover Press, which he ran until 1970.

Mr. Conover began publishing Conover’s Cash Store News in 1918 to promote his new general store, Conover’s Cash Store. During an era when many residents bought groceries on credit, the monthly news sheet heavily promoted “cash and carry” as a means of spending more of one’s money on products and less on interest payments. The News also featured  columns dedicated to local news, household hints, trivia and jokes, and a healthy amount of advertising for his grocery and printing businesses. One long-running series was Herbert T. Conover’s, “The Story of Chester” that recounted the town’s history from European settlement through the early 20th century, and it ran from the January 1920 through the July-August 1921 editions.

While it only ran for a few years, the news sheet offers insight into one successful early 20th c. Morris County business. The finding aid to Conover’s Cash Store News is available here, and researchers interested in viewing the collection may contact the History Center to request an appointment.