ELIZABETH PUBLIC LIBRARY
LOCAL HISTORY COLLECTION
The local history collection is part of the Reference and Periodicals area located on the third floor of the Main Library. The collection is available to researchers and genealogists who wish to discover Elizabeth and Union County facts, legend, and lore. Some collection highlights are featured below.
Compiled
by Lisa De Palo, Reference Librarian
ElizR
974.9 B23
Barber, John W. Historical
Collections of the State of New Jersey.
S. Tuttle. New York.
1846.
A collection of major events, famous people, and general
history of New Jersey. It covers
Native American social life, customs and interaction with settlers.
ElizR 974.9
C57
Clayton, Woodford (Ed.). History
of Union and Middlesex Counties. Everts and Peck.
Philadelphia. 1882.
An historical volume indexed by county and by subject with a biographical listing of
famous persons.
ElizR
974.936 H75 Honeyman,
A. Van Doren. History of Union
County New Jersey: 1664-1923.
Lewis Historical Publishing Company.
New York. 1923.
History of Union County covering the early settlement of the area and the growth of
major
cities. Lists Union County soldiers
by company in the Civil War.
ElizR
974.937 T338a Thayer, Theodore.
As We Were: The Story of Old Elizabethtown.
Grassman Publishing Company. Elizabeth, New Jersey. 1964.
An historical account of the development of Elizabethtown. Early conflicts and agreements with
local Native American tribes are documented.
NJR 970.3 K855L Kraft, Herbert C. The Lenape. New Jersey Historical Society.
Newark. 1986.
A well-documented study of the Lenape tribe, complete with illustrations of tools,
housing and styles of dress. Information is given on social customs, medicine, food
gathering
and relationships with other tribes.
NJR
970.3 B615d
Bleeker, Sonia. The Delaware Indians. William Morrow &
Company. New York.
1953.
A good book for young children with many illustrations of the lifestyle, manner of dress
and villages of the Delaware Indians.
NJR 970.3 H85 Hrdlicka, Ales. Physical Anthropology of the Lenape or
Delawares, and of the Eastern Indians in General. Washington,
D.C. Government Printing Office. 1916
A physical description of the body of the Lenape and Delaware tribe. Very specific
subject matter, with comparisons of other physical types throughout the United States.
NJR 970.3 W51d Weslager, C.A. The Delaware Indians: A History. Rutgers University Press. New Brunswick, New Jersey. 1972.
An analysis of the Delaware Indians and their participation in United States history.
ElizR
974.937 E148 Elizabeth
Daily Journal. The City of
Elizabeth, New Jersey, Illustrated. Elizabeth,
New Jersey. Board of Trade.
1899.
A charming description of Elizabeth in the late Nineteenth Century, this book offers rare
glimpses of Elizabeth as a Victorian city. Hundreds of photographs bring to life an era in
this
city’s history that has long since vanished.
ElizR
974.937 H28 Hatfield,
Rev. Edwin F., D.D. History of
Elizabeth, N.J. Including
the Early History of Union County.
New York. Carlton and
Lanahan. 1868.
For a long time, the standard history of Elizabeth. Loaded with important and interesting facts
and arranged in strict chronology with a solid historical account of the city.
ElizR
974.936 H67 Hoffman,
Robert V. The
OldeTowne1700-1984: A Brochure of
Westfield, New Jersey.
A rich collection of stories and illustrations, rare and historical, about Westfield and other
communities in olden times. A veritable storehouse of lore and legend. Good for light
reading or browsing. This book is supplemented by the even more engaging Olde Town
Scrapbook
(1945) and Another Olde Towne Scrapbook (1947) by the same author, ElizR
947.936 H67o and ElizR
974,936 H67a respectively.
ElizR
974.936 H75 Honeyman,
A. Van Doren, ed. History of
Union County, New Jersey, 1664-1923, 3 vols.
New York. Lewis Historical
Publishing Company, Inc. 1923.
A good serious study written by a team of historians, these volumes are a standard
reference work on the history of Elizabeth and Union County. The work has portraits
and
illustrations, and vol. 3 includes both a subject index and biographical index.
ElizR 974.937 K28 Kelley, Frank Bergen et. al. Historical Elizabeth 1664-1914.
Elizabeth, NJ. Elizabeth Daily Journal. 1914.
and
ElizR 974.937 K28h2 Dix, Warren R. et al. Historical Elizabeth 1664-1932. George
Washington Bicentennial Edition. Elizabeth, NJ. Elizabeth
Daily Journal. 1932.
Concise historical account and description of Elizabeth. Illustrations, maps, diagrams
and photographs add more interest.
ElizR
974.938 Sh64r Shipley, R.
Alexander. Rediscovery of
Rahway. Rahway, NJ. 1976.
Lavishly illustrated, this volume offers a full account of the community of Rahway’s
beginnings and its social history. This is just one of the many books in the collection
devoted exclusively to one of the individual communities in Union County.
ElizR 974.937 T338a Thayer, Theodore. As We Were: The Story of Old Elizabethtown. The New Jersey Historical Society. Elizabeth, NJ. The Grassman
Publishing Company, Inc. 1964.
This is a standard history of Elizabeth that can serve as an introduction for a researcher
and can be enjoyed equally for its engaging narrative. Its index also makes it ideal for
quick reference. Black-and-white and color illustrations, including photos of the interior
of Belcher House, help to enliven further the history of our city.
ElizR
929 W56
Wheeler, William Ogden. Inscriptions
on Tombstones and Monuments in the Burying Grounds of the First Presbyterian
Church and St. John’s Church at Elizabeth, New Jersey,
1664-1892. New Haven, Conn. Press of Tuttle Morehouse and
Taylor. 1892.
This is a complete collection of inscriptions from this
city’s two most famous churchyards. You
can read history as inscribed in store. Many
tombstones include poems and vital accounts, and the names of Elizabeth’s most
prominent families appear here. You can even visit the actual churchyards and see these
headstones just a short walk from the Library up Broad Street.
NJR 974.937
W58 Whitehead,
W. A. A Review of Some of the Circumstances Connected with the Settlement of
Elizabeth, New Jersey. Newark,
NJ. Daily Advertiser Office.
1869.
Short scholarly paper - autographed by the author - treating this city’s settlement.
Interesting as a novelty and for its historical matter. This is just one of the many short
studies on a particular topic in Elizabeth’s history that we have in the collection.
1868-1971
Please Note: 1940-1971 Directories were published odd years only.
Battin High School
1929, 1934, 1938(2), 1939(2), 1940(2), 1941(2), 1942(2), 1943(2), 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950(2), 1951, 1952(2), 1953, 1954(2), 1955, 1956, 1958(2), 1959(2), 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967(2), 1968(2), 1969(2), 1970(2), 1971(2), 1974
Two sources of interest to people who would like to
research twentieth century Elizabeth History are the Vertical Files and the
Daily Journal Index. The Vertical
Files consist of newspaper clippings, brochures and pamphlets that have been
filed by subject and stored in a series of file cabinets.
From 1915 to 1991 when the Elizabeth Daily Journal ceased publication, Librarians indexed the newspaper by subject on 3x5 cards and stored them in a card catalog available to the public.