Local History

The mission of Piscataway Public Library’s Local History Collection is to be a primary resource for information on historical events, people, and locations related to the greater Piscataway area. We support this mission by:

• Welcoming local community members, as well as remote and visiting researchers, to explore our collections in person and online
• Ensuring that our collections grow to represent the rich diversity of our community
• Encouraging partnerships with local organizations and individuals who wish to contribute materials and/or funding, with the express wish of increasing the historical value of the collections and their accessibility to the widest possible number of researchers
• Employing specialists in the field to best serve the collections and researchers

Making research time available by appointment (please email ask@piscatawaylibrary.org to make an appointment).
 

Before donating any materials to the Piscataway Public Library, please contact Kennedy Library (732-463-1633) to discuss the donation. Please note that you will be required to complete and sign a Deed of Gift, which documents the chain of custody of the materials from you to the Library. Donations of historical materials to a public research facility may be tax-deductible. However, the Library cannot appraise donations for tax purposes. For the protection of the donor, it is recommended that such appraisals be done by an independent third party and before title to the material is conveyed to the Library.

If your materials are in good condition, unique, and document the history of the Library or the greater Piscataway area, we may consider their addition to the Local History Collection. We cannot accept any materials exhibiting mold or other pests because they could endanger the rest of the collection.

Here are the types of materials we accept, if they pertain to the Library or Piscataway:

• Genealogies of Piscataway’s founding families
• Select Piscataway newspapers
• Maps
• Photographs and other film-based materials
• Architectural drawings/blueprints
• Select books and pamphlets
• Correspondence (letters and postcards)
• Diaries, journals, and ledgers
• Manuscripts
• Corporate records
• Ephemera (such as programs, election buttons, tickets)
• Scrapbooks

We will not accept materials pertaining to Rutgers University. Please contact the University’s Special Collections Department to donate those materials.

If you have a relative or ancestor who lived in Piscataway, you might want to check these resources first.

• First Settlers of Ye Plantations of Piscataway and Woodbridge, Olde East New Jersey, 1664-1714, by Orra Eugene Monnette. There are 7 volumes in this series, with the seventh holding an index to all the volumes. We have a copy in the Local History Room, available for research. Digital copies of the volumes (except Volume 3) are available online thanks to the Hathi Trust: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102006954. Volume 3 may be sourced from FamilySearch, however sign up is required to view the document.
  • Volume 1 contains: New Jersey, New York, and New England Sources; Surname Lists; First Settlers; Staten Island; Maps; and more.
  • Volume 2 contains: Vital Records of Piscataway and Woodbridge.
  • Volume 3 contains: Gleanings from Early New Jersey Records; Archives and Printed Sources; Surname Reference and Identification of the First Settlers by Date, Place, and Activities in Community Life for the Period.
  • Volume 4 contains: Miscellaneous Data Concerning the First Settlers, with Historical Connotations and Genealogical Interpretations as May Lend Interest and Historical Development.
  • Volume 5 contains: Articles by “Gerer,” First Appearing in the Department of “Jersey Genealogy,” Published by The Newark Evening News, of Newark, New Jersey, with Revisions, Corrections, and Amendments.
  • Volume 6 contains: Genealogies of the First Settlers, of the First Three or More Generations in America of Each Surname in New Jersey.
  • Volume 7 contains: Index and Conclusive Reactions by Orra E. Monnette.
• Middlesex County Division of Archives and Records Management — County records can be a variety of materials such as land records, building records, maps, and other materials that genealogists use to locate ancestors.
• New Jersey Hispanic Research and Information Center at Newark Public Library — The Center addresses the informational needs of the state’s diverse Hispanic and Latinx communities, from the newly arrived monolingual immigrant to the English dominant scholarly researcher. It consists of three components: the Sala Hispanoamericana, the Hispanic Reference Collection, and the Puerto Rican Community Archives.
• New Jersey State Archives — The state archives holds genealogical collections, searchable databases of documents and photographs, and much more. Looking for birth, marriage, and death records, or military service and pension documents, court cases, state censuses, tax lists, early land and probate records? Start your search here.
• New Jersey State Library — The state library’s genealogical materials include 6,000 family histories, 1,000 city directories, and many other materials related to local municipalities. The Genealogy Librarian is Regina Fitzpatrick, who developed a very handy Genealogy Research Guide. She may be contacted here.
• Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society — African-American genealogy research can be challenging, but this society provides useful tools and guidance for researchers. The society’s main site is here, and if you are interested in contacting the New Jersey Chapter, their web site is here.
• JewishGen — This site is the clearinghouse for Jewish genealogy research. There are more than 30 million searchable records, research tools and databases, family trees, and much more.
• HeritageQuest — Using your library card’s barcode number, sign in to search more than 4.4 billion records. These include census records, genealogies, city directories, military records, wills and probate records, Freedman’s Bank records, maps, and photos, among others.
• FamilySearch — While it’s a free genealogy service run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you still must create an account to search the genealogical and historical records. The company also has many tools that are worthwhile such as guides in many different languages.
• Find A Grave — This site provides photographs and descriptive information of memorials and cemeteries. Links to family members often can be found.