What Exit? – Page 11 – Archival collections and New Jerseyana at Rutgers University

Summer on the Shore

April 28, 2016October 13, 2016 Christie Lutz

By Catherine Babikian

The Jersey shore is known for beaches and boardwalks, but what’s for dinner?

Cover, Leland's Ocean Hotel menu, 1880s. — Cover, Leland’s Ocean Hotel menu, 1880s. Sinclair New Jersey Restaurant Menu Collection.

At the turn of the century, wealthy vacationers enjoyed elegant meals at oceanfront hotels. Guests at Lelands’ Ocean Hotel in Long Branch could choose from beef ribs, lobster, and halibut for dinner, and peach pie, chocolate eclairs, and tutti frutti ice cream for dessert.

010 — Leland’s Ocean Hotel wine list. Sinclair New Jersey Restaurant Menu Collection.

In Atlantic City, guests at the famous Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel sat down for afternoon tea, then tucked into roast goose with apple sauce for dinner. Camembert cheese and pineapple pie finished off the meal.

Marlborough Blenheim Hotel, 1931. Sinclair New Jersey Restaurant Menu Collection.

But fancy hotels weren’t the only places to get a good dinner. In the 1960s, Taborn’s Restaurant in Asbury Park served up fried shrimp, scallops, clams, and oysters, along with a wide variety of ice cream sodas, milkshakes, and fresh parfaits for a sweet finish. The lunch menu included grilled frankfurters and blueberry griddle cakes.

Taborn's Restaurant, 1960s. Sinclair New Jersey Restaurant Collection. — Taborn’s Restaurant, 1960s. Sinclair New Jersey Restaurant Menu Collection.

Looking for more shore delicacies? The new Sinclair New Jersey Restaurant Menu collection contains these menus and many more– down the shore and around the state.

March 2016 Acquisitions

April 5, 2016November 2, 2016 Christie Lutz

the-montclair_inside — Promotional brochure for The Montclair, a hotel that operated between 1907 and 1938. It was located on First Mountain, on the border of Montclair and Verona.

Acoli, Sundiata. A Brief History of the New Afrikan Prison Struggle. New York: Sundiata Acoli Freedom Campaign, 1992.

Alvarez, Alfonso. Alfonso Alvarez, Architect. 1964.

American Civil Liberties Union. The Bill of Rights 150 Years After: The Story of Civil Liberty, 1938-1939. New York: American Civil Liberties Union, 1939.

Attractive Homes of New Jersey. Baltimore: F. Heath Coggins and Co., ca. 1930.

Blanchard, Fessenden S. A Cruising Guide to the Chesapeake, Including the Passages from Long Island Sound Along the New Jersey Coast and Inland Waterway. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1951.

Hungry in the Hub City

March 10, 2016October 12, 2016 Christie Lutz

By Catherine Babikian

When it comes to eating, Rutgers students have always had plenty of options, from pubs and taverns to diners and ice cream parlors. Today, we’ve dug into our archives to get a glimpse of what Rutgers students in the 1980s had to eat.

Shelly’s Ice Cream on Easton Avenue served sandwiches, subs, and most importantly, ice cream sundaes and milkshakes. Students really craving ice cream could order the “Heavy Chevy”: four scoops of ice cream, two sundae toppings, whipped cream, nuts, and sprinkles!

012 — Shelley’s Ice Cream, 1980s. Sinclair NJ Restaurant Menu Collection.

And students looking for Sunday brunch only needed to look to Stuff Yer Face for egg, bacon, or mushroom stromboli–or perhaps a frittata?

017 — Stuff Yer Face, 1980s. Sinclair NJ Restaurant Menu Collection.

The Rusty Screw Tavern offered standard pub fare along with live music and film screenings. In 1984, the restaurant welcomed the Rutgers class of 1988 to campus with a free concert, featuring the new wave band The Resistorz.

016 — The Rusty Screw Tavern, 1984. Sinclair NJ Restaurant Menu Collection.

Later in the semester, students could stop by the Rusty Screw for a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show or The Big Chill.

Late 2015~Early 2016

March 10, 2016March 23, 2023 Christie Lutz

An Address of the Representatives of the Religious Society of Friends, for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, to their Fellow-Citizens, on Behalf of the Indians. Philadelphia: Friends’ Book Store, 1891.

The Chin Strap: Official Program, 29th Division Association, 1930 Reunion. Asbury Park, NJ .

Fourth Report of the Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Education Society. 1822.

Glynn, Harry A., ed. Red Pepper: A Peppy Periodical for Peppy People, vol.1, no. 3. Newark, NJ: Red Pepper Publishing Company, 1924.

Goddard, Henry Herbert. The Kallikak Family. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1912.

High School Life, Vol. 1 no. 1. Orange, NJ: Literary Board of the Orange High School, December 1890. Read More

New Brunswick Music Scene Archive Featured on NJTV

February 15, 2016October 12, 2016 Christie Lutz

By Christie Lutz

We’re thrilled to have appeared on NJTV News on Friday, February 12th. View the segment or read the transcript here.

The piece features some recent additions to the New Brunswick Music Scene Archive (NBMSA) and a bit of documentary footage of the Court Tavern by friend of the NBMSA Fritch Clark. The segment was filmed here in Special Collections and University Archives’ preservation lab and processing room–where the magic happens.

Snow in the City

January 20, 2016October 12, 2016 Christie Lutz

By Christie Lutz

With the first snowstorm of the season approaching, we reflect on the Great Blizzard of 1888, also known as the Great White Hurricane. The storm buried the East coast from Maryland to Maine as well as the Eastern provinces of Canada. The following images of New Brunswick during the storm are from our New Brunswick Views photograph collection.

George Street, looking north towards Albany Street.

Northwest corner of George and Bayard Streets, south of Church Street.

November

December 12, 2015November 2, 2016 Christie Lutz

Blume, Judy. In the Unlikely Event. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2015.

Cooper, Anna D. The Star-Spangled Banner Pantomime. Belmar, NJ: Edgar S. Werner Co., 1903.

Cramer, Deborah. The Narrow Edge: A Tiny Bird, an Ancient Crab & an Epic Journey. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015.

Doty, Mark. Deep Lane: poems. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2015.

Howard, Tim with Ali Benjamin. The Keeper: A Life of Saving Goals and Achieving Them. New York: Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2014.

Julia Child Sampled Our New Jersey Cookbooks. Why Don’t You?

November 25, 2015March 23, 2023 Christie Lutz

By Tara Maharjan

When I started my Library Science program at Simmons College in Boston, I came across an opportunity to become a Cookbook Librarian at America’s Test Kitchen. The collection is comprised of over 4,000 books ranging from local cookbooks to The Modernist Cuisine. I held the position as a very well fed volunteer for two years. I loved my position but graduate school ended, cookbook librarians are rare, and my passion is archiving. I moved back to my home state of New Jersey and strung together part-time, and sometimes full-time, temporary archiving work until I became a full-time Processing Archivist in Special Collections and University Archives at Rutgers University.

The Sinclair Jerseyana Cookbook collection came to my attention: forty boxes of cookbooks that needed a finding aid. Finally my interest in cookbooks and my passion for archiving came together! The collection is made up of cookbooks from New Jersey towns, local churches, schools, and organizations, and companies that operated in the great Garden State. Every book is unique. Some have homemade covers, others are professionally bound; some focus on ethnic cuisine, while a few focus specifically on and promote products to be used. Two of my favorite cookbooks with homemade covers are this wood burned cover from the 1976 cookbook by The Christian Community Shrine of St. Joseph, entitled Our Community Cookbook,

and this screen-printed 1973 cookbook entitled Look Who’s Cookin’, by the Somerville Neighborhood Troop 12 from Rolling Hills Girl Scout Council.

Some cookbooks were for a cause.

(Muhlenberg Hospital Auxiliary. Cook Book. Plainfield, NJ: The Auxiliary, 1907.)

Other cookbooks were produced to promote products, such as the 1962 Fun-To-Do Party Book, by the Ballantine Beer Company from Newark, or the Gem Chopper Cook Book (seen below) from Flemington, 1902.

This collection is filled with so many wonderful and unique cookbooks, with dates ranging from 1902-2006, that you just need to check out the collection yourself. Julia Child did in 1992 when she came and received an honorary degree at Rutgers. More information about the collection can be found here.