New Jersey Archives and Libraries
The following archives, libraries, and societies have collections or services helpful to genealogical researchers:
New Jersey State Library
History and Genealogy Unit
185 West State Street, CN 520
Trenton, NJ 08625-0520
Telephone: 609-292-6200
Fax: 609-292-2746
Internet: http://www.njstatelib.org/
The state library collects published sources, including printed genealogies, maps, church records, local histories, city directories, legislative reports, legal digests, and periodicals. It also has microfilm copies of federal censuses of the eastern states and New Jersey state censuses. The library staff will do limited checking of indexes and directories in response to written requests. They will make photocopies for a fee.
Division of Archives and Records Management
Bureau of Archives and Records Preservation
185 West State Street, (P.O. Box 307)
Trenton, NJ 08625-0307
Telephone: 609-292-6260
Internet: http://www.njarchives.org/index.html
The Bureau of Archives and Records Preservation, usually referred to as the state archives, is the official repository for all colonial and state government records. Its collections include manuscripts and microfilms of pre-1900 county and town records. Most of these records are also on microfilm at the Family History Library.
The state archives will make photocopies, answer reference letters, and search some indexed records for an hourly fee. For a useful guide to the collection, refer to:
Barker, Bette Marie, Daniel P. Jones, and Karl J. Niederer. Guide to Family History Sources in the New Jersey State Archives. Second Edition. Trenton, New Jersey: Division of Archives and Records Management, 1990. (FHL book 974.9 A1 no. 123.)
National Archives—Northeast Region
201 Varick Street, Corner Varick and West Houston Streets
New York, NY 10014
Telephone: 212-337-1300
Fax: 212-337-1306
Internet: http://www.archives.gov/northeast/
The National Archives—Northeast Region has records created by federal agencies in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The archive has naturalization records, Internal Revenue Service records, customs lists, and records of the U.S. District Court of Appeals. The archive also has microfilms of all available federal census records, many federal naturalization records, court records, passenger lists for New York City and other ports, Revolutionary War military records, and some Civil War service indexes. The staff will make photocopies for a fee. The National Archives has announced the records of this branch will be moved to Kansas City, Missouri, by the summer of 1998.
New Jersey Historical Society Library
230 Broadway
Newark, NJ 07104
Telephone: 201-483-3939
Fax: 201-483-1988
Internet: http://www.jerseyhistory.org/librarymain.html
The historical society has extensive collections of New Jersey books, pamphlets, manuscripts, maps, card files, vertical files, census microfilms, indexed genealogy manuscript collections, and many other records. The library staff will do a limited amount of research for a fee.
Two pamphlets, available from the historical society upon request, describe the collections: The Collections of the Library of the New Jersey Historical Society and A Guide to Family History and Genealogy Resources in the New Jersey Historical Society Library.
For a valuable guide to other manuscript materials, see:
Skemer, Don C. and Robert C. Morris. Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the New Jersey Historical Society. Newark, New Jersey: New Jersey Historical Society, 1979. (FHL book 974.9 A3s.)
The Genealogical Society of New Jersey
P.O. Box 1291
New Brunswick, NJ 08903-1291
Telephone: 732-932-7510
Internet: http://www.gsnj.org/
Department of Special Collections and Archives
Archibald Stevens Alexander Library
Rutgers University
169 College Avenue
New Brunswick, NJ 08903
Telephone: 732-932-7509
Internet: http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/libs/scua/scua.shtml
A guide to the manuscripts at this library is:
Rutgers University Library. A Guide to the Manuscript Collection of the Rutgers University Library. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Library, 1964. (FHL book 974.942 A3s.)
Diaries and journals are inventoried in:
Sinclair, Donald A., Compiler. A Guide to Manuscript Diaries and Journals in the Special Collections Department, Rutgers University. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Library, 1980. (Not available at the Family History Library.)
Gloucester County Historical Society Library
17 Hunter Street
P.O. Box 409
Woodbury, NJ 08096
Telephone: 609-845-4771
Internet: http://www.history.navy.mil/sources/nj/gch.htm
New Jersey Reference Division
Newark Public Library
5 Washington Street
P.O. Box 630
Newark, NJ 07101-0630
Telephone: 201-733-7800
Email: reference@npl.org
Internet: http://www.npl.org/pages/Collections/specialcollections1.html
The library has newspapers and city directories for Newark and microfilm copies of all existing New Jersey federal and state censuses. The staff will search and copy obituaries and other records for a fee.
The following books provide additional information about New Jersey archives and libraries:
Hoelle, Edith. Genealogical Resources in Southern New Jersey. Third Edition. Woodbury, New Jersey: Gloucester County Historical Society, 1989. (Second edition is FHL book 974.9 D23h 1989.) This book is a guide to libraries and collections in the seven southern counties of New Jersey.
Murrin, Mary R., Complier. New Jersey Historical Manuscripts: A Guide to Collections in the State. Trenton, New Jersey: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1987. (FHL book 974.9 A3m.) This book contains addresses and collection descriptions of 263 public libraries, historical societies, archives, and museums.
Quigley, Mary Alice, Judith A. Fullerton, and Diane E. Kauffman, Compliers. Historical Organizations in New Jersey: A Directory. Revised Edition. Trenton, New Jersey: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1983. (FHL book 974.9 H24q.) This book contains the addresses to over 450 historical societies, county historians, museums, and lineage societies.
Addresses of county courthouses, surrogate courts, and county records centers are found in:
Eichholtz, Alice, ed. Ancestry's Red Book: American State, County and Town Sources, Revised Edition. Salt Lake City, Utah: Ancestry, 1992. (FHL book Ref 973 D27rb 1992.)
Computer Networks and Bulletin Boards
Computers with modems are important tools for obtaining information from selected archives and libraries. In a way, computer networks themselves serve as a library. The Internet, certain computer bulletin boards, and commercial on-line services help family history researchers:
- Locate other researchers
- Post queries
- Send and receive E-mail
- Search large databases
- Search computer libraries
- Join in computer chat and lecture sessions
You can find computerized research tips and information about ancestors from New Jersey in a variety of sources at local, state, national, and international levels. The list of sources is growing rapidly. Most of the information is available at no cost. Addresses on the Internet are subject to frequent changes. The following sites are important gateways linking you to many more network and bulletin board sites:
USGenWeb
A cooperative effort by many volunteers to list genealogical databases, libraries, bulletin boards, and other resources available on the Internet for each county, state, and country.
Roots-L
http://www.rootsweb.com/roots-l/usa
A useful list of sites and resources. Includes a large, regularly-updated research coordination list.
To get started with computer network research regarding New Jersey, contact the following:
New Jersey Genealogical and Historical Organizations
http://www.npl.org/Pages/Collections/njiclist.html
Town, county, state, ethnic, and religious list of addresses, telephones, and links to Internet sites.
New Jersey Local Names
http://www.state.nj.us/infobank/locality.htm
Alphabetical list of local place names with their municipality and county.
For further details about using computer networks, bulletin boards, and news groups for family history research, see the United States Research Outline (30972), Second Edition, "Archives and Libraries" section.
FamilySearch™
The Family History Library and some Family History Centers have computers with FamilySearch™. FamilySearch is a collection of computer files containing several million names. FamilySearch is a good place to begin your research. Some of the records come from compiled sources; some have been automated from original sources.