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| Berkeley Heights Public Library 1978 |
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| Governor Livingston Rifle Corp circa 1978 |
Showing posts with label New Jersey history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Jersey history. Show all posts
Monday, April 21, 2014
Berkeley Heights 1978: from the library archives
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Killing the Poormaster
New Jersey author Holly Metz gave a slide show and talk about her 2012 book Killing the Poormaster, a saga of poverty, corruption, and murder in the Great Depression on Wednesday night, April 10 at the Berkeley Heights Public Library.
From the library press release in the Patch:
'Based on a true crime and murder trial in Hoboken, N.J. during the Depression, ‘Killing the Poormaster’ chronicles the true story of the murder of Harry Barck, a poormaster who controlled public aid in Hoboken, New Jersey. Unemployed mason Joe Scutellaro was said to have stabbed Barck in the heart with a paper spike after the poormaster denied aid to his starving family.'
The book describes the dire circumstances of many poor families in Hoboken during the last years of the Depression and the harsh tactics used by Harry Barck to deny starving families even a meager amount of public aid money to buy stale bread. The word that comes to mind of this reader and many reviewers about the bleakness of the situation is 'Dickensian.'
Ms. Metz's slide show of sepia and black and white photos of the principles and of old newspaper and family scrapbook clippings are very evocative of the misery of the times. The author spoke not only about the socio-economic and political setting of the book, but also the murder trial itself. Famed attorney Samuel Leibowitz led the defense of the accused Joe Scutellaro.
The audience which came out on a nasty night of hail and thunder asked probing questions at the end of the presentation and some purchased signed copies of the book. Many readers were very interested in the author's research techniques. The process, as Holly put it to me before her talk, of writing a non-fiction, historical book, interests people and they often ask about that. The research for this book is extensive and fascinating.
Because not everyone had read the book yet, one attendee asked what the verdict was. The library copy of the book has been out six times since January and has three holds on it. Add yourself to the holds list to find the answer to that question. I will say that the library does have the New York Times back to 1857 online which you can access with your library barcode number. You could look it up, as the saying used to go. Or you could read the book. For fans of American history, social issues, non-fiction, true crime and legal stories.
From the library press release in the Patch:
'Based on a true crime and murder trial in Hoboken, N.J. during the Depression, ‘Killing the Poormaster’ chronicles the true story of the murder of Harry Barck, a poormaster who controlled public aid in Hoboken, New Jersey. Unemployed mason Joe Scutellaro was said to have stabbed Barck in the heart with a paper spike after the poormaster denied aid to his starving family.'
The book describes the dire circumstances of many poor families in Hoboken during the last years of the Depression and the harsh tactics used by Harry Barck to deny starving families even a meager amount of public aid money to buy stale bread. The word that comes to mind of this reader and many reviewers about the bleakness of the situation is 'Dickensian.'
Ms. Metz's slide show of sepia and black and white photos of the principles and of old newspaper and family scrapbook clippings are very evocative of the misery of the times. The author spoke not only about the socio-economic and political setting of the book, but also the murder trial itself. Famed attorney Samuel Leibowitz led the defense of the accused Joe Scutellaro.
The audience which came out on a nasty night of hail and thunder asked probing questions at the end of the presentation and some purchased signed copies of the book. Many readers were very interested in the author's research techniques. The process, as Holly put it to me before her talk, of writing a non-fiction, historical book, interests people and they often ask about that. The research for this book is extensive and fascinating.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
The Berkeley Heights Train Station
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| Berkeley Heights NJ Train Station ca 1920's |
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| Painting of the Berkeley Heights Train Station |
The Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, train station was built in 1888. The photograph at top was taken sometime in the 1920's according to the local history book, From the Passaiack to the Wach Unks (130). *
Last week, Sharon Perine came into the library and donated the framed watercolor of the Berkeley Heights train station seen above. The information on the back of the frame says:
'Watercolour (sic) by Jan Dee [or Gee?]
1971 "Berkeley Heights Train Station"
Ms. Perine said the painting hung in the home of her parents, Joseph and Michelina Pecca of Berkeley Heights for nearly 40 years. It's a lovely painting and we thank our donor for this addition to our local history collection. If anyone knows anything about the painting or the painter or has any comments at all, please click on 'comment' below this post and tell us about it. Or email the Reference Department reference@bhplnj.org
*Files of local history clippings and binders of photographs and newspaper clippings can be found in the Reference Department. Ask at the desk.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Littel-Lord Farmhouse Museum
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| Flyer for the Berkeley Heights Historical Society |
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| Verso of the Berkeley Heights Historical Society flyer |
'A pastoral site that includes a 19th century Gothic cottage, stone springhouse, summer kitchen, Osage orange trees and a pond... The charming rural complex is a rare reminder of Union County's agricultural past. Built about 1760 by Andrew Littell, a farmer and weaver, the house was owned and lived in for more than 100 years by the Lord family, who purchased the site in 1867. The first floor features an Empire-Victorian parlor and a 19th century kitchen. A staircase leads to an enlarged second floor, once a small loft. Upstairs is a child's room containing antique toys and a Victorian bedroom with cottage furniture.'
The brochure goes on to state that the Farmhouse is open on the third Sunday of the month, April - December from 2 - 4 and is operated by the Historical Society of Berkeley Heights.
The phone number listed is (908) 219-4715 which is the number of Mr. Merrill Main of Berkeley Heights, President of the Historical Society of Berkeley Heights.
For more information, address mail to the Township Building
The Berkeley Heights Historical Society
c/o Town Hall
29 Park Avenue,
Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922
If you are interested in volunteering for the Historical Society of Berkeley Heights, call former Berkeley Heights mayor and co-president of the Historical Society, Dan Palladino, at (908) 771-8875
Wikipedia's Berkeley Heights article mentions the Littell-Lord Farmhouse Museum
Four Centuries in a Weekend 2012 brochure has a description of the Littel-Lord Farmhouse Museum and other historical properties in Union County, N.J.
Map to the museum
Union County, New Jersey Genealogy
From the Passaiack to the Wach Unks, a history of the Township of
Berkeley Heights, The Historical Society of Berkeley Heights, 1977, can be found at the Berkeley Heights Public Library in the N.J. Collection along with other local histories.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Joseph Ishill, Berkeley Heights, NJ: Printer & Anarchist
Joseph Ishill (1888 - 1966), printer, anarchist, and Berkeley Heights resident, may be experiencing a renaissance of interest. The Berkeley Heights Public Library has a small Ishill Archive which includes engraved copper printing blocks, a collection of pamphlets, and other related publications and ephemera printed by Joseph Ishill. In the last few months, several people have inquired about the library's collection of Ishill's works and correspondence. Is there a revival of interest in hand printing and/or anarchism? We don't know why Joseph Ishill is now on people's minds, but for anyone interested in the topic, below are pictures of two Ishill publications in the BHPL archive and a link to more images from the archive. BHPL's Ishill Archives can be seen by appointment only. Here is the link to the Ishill publications we have scanned into Google Documents so far.
Below are two original flyers made by Joseph Ishill to advertise a 10th library anniversary program and an exhibit of his wife's poetry at the Berkeley Heights Public Library.
Related resources:
Area resident Chris R. Morgan's article about Free Acres, the utopian community founded in Berkeley Heights and Ishill's connection to it, can be found here:
Free Acres Is the Place to Be
BHPL's Google Documents folder contains the index to the Ishill Archives and some other scanned contents of the collection. This is a work in progress. More of the contents of the Ishill Archive will be scanned and added over time.
The Labadie Collection at the University of Michigan is one of the foremost collections of Ishill works
Works by and about Joseph Ishill
http://www.lib.umich.edu/joseph-ishill-authors-artists-oriole-press/works.html
Joseph Ishill and the Authors and Artists of the Oriole Press
http://www.lib.umich.edu/joseph-ishill-authors-artists-oriole-press/
List of other Ishill resources at the University of Michigan
http://www.lib.umich.edu/search/website/ishill
The University of Florida has a collection of Ishill works, see
A Guide to the Joseph Ishill Collection
http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/ishill.htm
The Houghton Library at Harvard University has a guide to its collection of works by and about Joseph Ishill
http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hou00674
Alan Runfeldt's Excelsior Press, Frenchtown, NJ
http://excelsiorpress.org/index.html
Mr. Runfeldt grew up in Berkeley Heights, knew Mr. Ishill and has one of his presses as he shows in this blog post
http://excelsiorpress.org/blog/blog.2009.html#2009.04
Update 7/21/2017
From the Passaick to the Wach Unks by The Historical Society of Berkeley Heights, 1977 (call #974.936 FRO) pp 211-212 describes Joseph Ishill's time as a resident of Berkeley Heights from 1919 until his death in 1966.
Below are two original flyers made by Joseph Ishill to advertise a 10th library anniversary program and an exhibit of his wife's poetry at the Berkeley Heights Public Library.
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| Ishill's flyer for the 10th anniversary of the library |
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| Ishill made the flyer for his wife's poetry exhibit |
Related resources:
Area resident Chris R. Morgan's article about Free Acres, the utopian community founded in Berkeley Heights and Ishill's connection to it, can be found here:
Free Acres Is the Place to Be
BHPL's Google Documents folder contains the index to the Ishill Archives and some other scanned contents of the collection. This is a work in progress. More of the contents of the Ishill Archive will be scanned and added over time.
The Labadie Collection at the University of Michigan is one of the foremost collections of Ishill works
Works by and about Joseph Ishill
http://www.lib.umich.edu/joseph-ishill-authors-artists-oriole-press/works.html
Joseph Ishill and the Authors and Artists of the Oriole Press
http://www.lib.umich.edu/joseph-ishill-authors-artists-oriole-press/
List of other Ishill resources at the University of Michigan
http://www.lib.umich.edu/search/website/ishill
The University of Florida has a collection of Ishill works, see
A Guide to the Joseph Ishill Collection
http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/ishill.htm
The Houghton Library at Harvard University has a guide to its collection of works by and about Joseph Ishill
http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hou00674
Alan Runfeldt's Excelsior Press, Frenchtown, NJ
http://excelsiorpress.org/index.html
Mr. Runfeldt grew up in Berkeley Heights, knew Mr. Ishill and has one of his presses as he shows in this blog post
http://excelsiorpress.org/blog/blog.2009.html#2009.04
Update 7/21/2017
From the Passaick to the Wach Unks by The Historical Society of Berkeley Heights, 1977 (call #974.936 FRO) pp 211-212 describes Joseph Ishill's time as a resident of Berkeley Heights from 1919 until his death in 1966.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Roberta Isleib on Berkeley Heights and Asking for Murder
Roberta Isleib, a Berkeley Heights native and the author of the Golf Lover’s mystery series and the Advice Column mystery series, has stopped by the blog today for questioning! Her latest book, Asking for Murder, is the third to feature Rebecca Butterman, a divorced 30-something psychologist and advice columnist.
Can you tell us about your experience growing up in Berkeley Heights? Did you ever suspect that you would become an author back then?
Berkeley Heights was a wonderful place to grow up! I moved there just before first grade and my family stayed until I was in my early twenties (minus a few years outside Detroit, which we hardly count!) I lived on Sutton Drive, a brand-new neighborhood packed with kids. The parents threw block parties and Halloween parties and coffee klatches and bridge sessions, and the kids tore around the streets on bikes and built forts in the woods. As a fanatic reader, I also spent a lot of time in the library. My sister and I would come home from school and go directly to our rooms with books. Of course I read every Nancy Drew installment, along with Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames, the Bobbsey Twins, and lots of mainstream novels. But I never imagined I'd grow up to be a writer, especially not fiction. The only fiction I ever wrote during those years was a saccharine short story involving a romance with Mickey Dolenz (one of the Monkees.) Let's just say I'm glad that's been permanently lost:)
I was always picking up interesting snippets of psychology as I read your books (one tip from Deadly Advice: don’t sit between your patient and the door!). Your background as a psychologist is perfect for writing mysteries, isn’t it?
From the very beginning, I wanted to use my training in clinical psychology by including reasonable psychologists in my novels. The challenge was to dream up characters who could use the principles of psychology to help solve mysteries without imploding with self-importance, stumbling over personal issues, or crossing ethical boundaries. Most of the time, shrinks in the media end up looking very foolish! It's been a lot of fun to write about Rebecca Butterman's world--her psychotherapy practice is very similar to the one I had (though of course I wouldn't use my own clients in the mysteries.)
A psychologist has to think like a detective in many ways: start with the patient's problem (the so-called "crime"), look for clues in their history, and follow these trails to find a solution.
Do you ever get to do any real-life research for any of your books? I hope you tasted all of the meals in Asking for Murder to make sure you described them properly!
When I was writing the golf mystery series, the research was a huge bonus! Who else but a writer gets to play on amazing golf courses and write it off on her taxes? Rebecca Butterman's books are set close to home--the town next to mine--but I've still had some fascinating experiences. ASKING FOR MURDER features a sandplay therapist, which I knew nothing about when I started. Based on the principles of Carl Jung, this kind of therapy invites the patient to choose from shelves and shelves of figurines and place them in a large sand box. After the arrangement is "complete," the patient and therapist look it over together and try to understand the meaning--or make the unconscious meaning conscious.
As for food, my character loves to cook and eat (as do I--though she's a more dedicated cook.) I watch my most talented friends for recipe ideas. Rebecca throws a dinner party in ASKING FOR MURDER that includes spaghetti carbonara and red velvet cake. Yum, yum. My previous character, Cassie Burdette, was a junk food addict, so I enjoy trying Rebecca's concoctions. One friend asked if she was on a diet in this book--no, never!
Do you have any favorite advice columnists or one that inspired the character of Rebecca?
I am an advice column junkie. Probably my favorite of all time is "Can This Marriage Be Saved?" published monthly in the Ladies Home Journal. This column is deeper than most because each month it features a real therapist working with a troubled couple. And marriage therapy is hard--the magazine articles make it seem so easy. I also loved Ann Landers, and her daughter Margo Howard, who wrote Dear Prudence. Margo agreed to read and comment on DEADLY ADVICE before it was published. I was so nervous! But she loved it and was very gracious with a quote for the cover.
Cassie the pro golfer and Joe the sports psychologist from your first series have been mentioned in Rebecca's books and vice versa. Do you think Cassie and Rebecca could ever team up to solve a crime?
Rebecca made cameo appearances in the second and third golf mysteries, A BURIED LIE and PUTT TO DEATH. I added the cameo about Cassie to DEADLY ADVICE because I got the news about the series ending before I had the chance to wrap it up in a way that would satisfy her fans.
Unfortunately, both Rebecca and Cassie were interested in Joe the golf psychologist, which got them off on a bad foot. Cassie thought Rebecca was a prig, and Rebecca thought Cassie was reckless. It would be great fun to get them all together, because I'm sure the tension would still be there--but they'd have to work together somehow...
Thank you so much for hosting my return visit to the Berkeley Heights library! Please stop by and visit me at my website and blogs--if your book group is interested in discussion questions--or recipes--you'll find them there! Roberta
Can you tell us about your experience growing up in Berkeley Heights? Did you ever suspect that you would become an author back then?
Berkeley Heights was a wonderful place to grow up! I moved there just before first grade and my family stayed until I was in my early twenties (minus a few years outside Detroit, which we hardly count!) I lived on Sutton Drive, a brand-new neighborhood packed with kids. The parents threw block parties and Halloween parties and coffee klatches and bridge sessions, and the kids tore around the streets on bikes and built forts in the woods. As a fanatic reader, I also spent a lot of time in the library. My sister and I would come home from school and go directly to our rooms with books. Of course I read every Nancy Drew installment, along with Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames, the Bobbsey Twins, and lots of mainstream novels. But I never imagined I'd grow up to be a writer, especially not fiction. The only fiction I ever wrote during those years was a saccharine short story involving a romance with Mickey Dolenz (one of the Monkees.) Let's just say I'm glad that's been permanently lost:)
I was always picking up interesting snippets of psychology as I read your books (one tip from Deadly Advice: don’t sit between your patient and the door!). Your background as a psychologist is perfect for writing mysteries, isn’t it?
From the very beginning, I wanted to use my training in clinical psychology by including reasonable psychologists in my novels. The challenge was to dream up characters who could use the principles of psychology to help solve mysteries without imploding with self-importance, stumbling over personal issues, or crossing ethical boundaries. Most of the time, shrinks in the media end up looking very foolish! It's been a lot of fun to write about Rebecca Butterman's world--her psychotherapy practice is very similar to the one I had (though of course I wouldn't use my own clients in the mysteries.)
A psychologist has to think like a detective in many ways: start with the patient's problem (the so-called "crime"), look for clues in their history, and follow these trails to find a solution.
Do you ever get to do any real-life research for any of your books? I hope you tasted all of the meals in Asking for Murder to make sure you described them properly!
When I was writing the golf mystery series, the research was a huge bonus! Who else but a writer gets to play on amazing golf courses and write it off on her taxes? Rebecca Butterman's books are set close to home--the town next to mine--but I've still had some fascinating experiences. ASKING FOR MURDER features a sandplay therapist, which I knew nothing about when I started. Based on the principles of Carl Jung, this kind of therapy invites the patient to choose from shelves and shelves of figurines and place them in a large sand box. After the arrangement is "complete," the patient and therapist look it over together and try to understand the meaning--or make the unconscious meaning conscious.
As for food, my character loves to cook and eat (as do I--though she's a more dedicated cook.) I watch my most talented friends for recipe ideas. Rebecca throws a dinner party in ASKING FOR MURDER that includes spaghetti carbonara and red velvet cake. Yum, yum. My previous character, Cassie Burdette, was a junk food addict, so I enjoy trying Rebecca's concoctions. One friend asked if she was on a diet in this book--no, never!
Do you have any favorite advice columnists or one that inspired the character of Rebecca?
I am an advice column junkie. Probably my favorite of all time is "Can This Marriage Be Saved?" published monthly in the Ladies Home Journal. This column is deeper than most because each month it features a real therapist working with a troubled couple. And marriage therapy is hard--the magazine articles make it seem so easy. I also loved Ann Landers, and her daughter Margo Howard, who wrote Dear Prudence. Margo agreed to read and comment on DEADLY ADVICE before it was published. I was so nervous! But she loved it and was very gracious with a quote for the cover.
Cassie the pro golfer and Joe the sports psychologist from your first series have been mentioned in Rebecca's books and vice versa. Do you think Cassie and Rebecca could ever team up to solve a crime?
Rebecca made cameo appearances in the second and third golf mysteries, A BURIED LIE and PUTT TO DEATH. I added the cameo about Cassie to DEADLY ADVICE because I got the news about the series ending before I had the chance to wrap it up in a way that would satisfy her fans.
Unfortunately, both Rebecca and Cassie were interested in Joe the golf psychologist, which got them off on a bad foot. Cassie thought Rebecca was a prig, and Rebecca thought Cassie was reckless. It would be great fun to get them all together, because I'm sure the tension would still be there--but they'd have to work together somehow...
Thank you so much for hosting my return visit to the Berkeley Heights library! Please stop by and visit me at my website and blogs--if your book group is interested in discussion questions--or recipes--you'll find them there! Roberta
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