Tag Archives: Jersey City Library

History Detective: Author and Historian Cynthia T. Harris Sees the Beauty – and Importance – of Dusty Old Pictures and Faded Yearbooks

   By Sally Deering

History Detective Cynthia Harris
Cynthia T. Harris

Imagine a collection of written documents that date back to 1629 before America was even a country, or a series of photos chronicling Jersey City life in the 40s and 50s? Then there’s the “Douglass Map of 1841” the first of a genre of maps of Jersey City depicting property owners and their land lots.  Cynthia T. Harris manages these treasures housed in the New Jersey Room of the Jersey City Free Public Library on Jersey Avenue in Jersey City. The New Jersey Room holds some of the most important documents in the history of New Jersey and specifically Hudson County and Harris its very own history detective.

As Manager of the New Jersey Room, Harris oversees the cataloguing – and deciphering – of documents and photographs housed in the archives on the top floor. There, Harris and her staff of librarians – John Beekman and Daniel Klein, library assistants and volunteers assist visitors, especially those researching  their family trees and searching for clues to events that are extremely personal to their lives. Continue reading History Detective: Author and Historian Cynthia T. Harris Sees the Beauty – and Importance – of Dusty Old Pictures and Faded Yearbooks

Jersey City Public Library Community Listings and Special Programs

Library logo jcApril 2013 – Community Listings

Jersey City Free Public Library

Special Programs:

* Five Corners, 678 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07306, 201-547-4543 – For Children:  Musical Program –A Tale of Two Cities. / Featuring: Bob Albrecht, a singer/songwriter in the tradition of the troubadour of old, who combines music and poetry to tell tales of the world within and around us. / Musical Guest: Sam Oliver, a guitarist/ percussionist/songwriter, who will perform a few of his own original compositions. / Presented by: Five Corners Branch Library & Community Awareness Series, a department of the Jersey City Free Public Library. / Saturday, April 20 /  

2 – 3 p.m.

* Five Corners, 678 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07306, 201-547-4543 – For Children & Families: Acoustic Guitars, featuring Bob Albrecht & Sam Oliver. Come & enjoy a variety of children’s songs! / Presented by: Five Corners Branch Library & the Community Awareness Series, a department of the Jersey City Free Public Library. / Tuesday, April 16 @ 10:30 a.m.

* Miller, 489 Bergen Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07304, 201-547-4551 – For Young Adults (Grades 7 – 12): Teen Poetry Slam. / * Talent * Refreshments * Prizes! * / Sign up begins April 1st. Audience open to all ages. / Wednesdays, April 24 & May 1 / 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Earth Day:

Bonetti Children’s Room, Main Library, 1st Floor, 472 Jersey Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07302, 201-547-4519 – For Children: Earth Day Craft. / Monday, April 22 @ 3 p.m.

Bonetti Children’s Room, Main Library, 1st Floor, 472 Jersey Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07302, 201-547-4519 – For Children: Earth Day Movie. / Monday, April 22 @ 3 p.m. Hoot. / When a boy and his classmates realize that a population of endangered, burrowing owls is threatened by new construction, the kids decide to take on crooked politicians and bumbling cops in the hope of savings their new friends.

* NJ Room, Main Library, 3rd Floor, 472 Jersey Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07302, 201-547-4503 – For Jersey City History-Lovers – Meet the Authors: Mark W. Falzini & James Davidson, who will speak on their book, New Jersey’s Lindbergh Kidnapping and Trial, an account of the real-life kidnapping that gripped the nation. / Saturday, April 27 /

  Continue reading Jersey City Public Library Community Listings and Special Programs

Five Corners Branch Library to Close Thursday, August 9 due to Water Shut-Off by United Water

JERSEY CITY, N.J.   August 7, 2012 – The Jersey City Free Public Library announces the closing of the Five Corners Branch Library, 678 Newark Avenue, on Thursday, August 9, since United Water needs to work in the area. Water will be shut off from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

            Five Corners will re-open on Friday, August 10, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., barring any further need for water shut-off by United Water.

For the latest on programs, events, and special announcements please follow the Library on Facebook or Twitter at Jersey City Free Public Library. Visit us on the web at www.jclibrary.org for all information on the Library, including all press releases in The Press Room. As of today, August 7, 2012, the Jersey City Free Public Library has 216,932 valid card members.

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‘Thelma’ of TV’s “Good Times” Proudly Supports The Jersey City Library

Bern Nadette Stanis who played Thelma on Good Times proudly holds a Jersey City Library Card

JERSEY CITY, N.J.   May 23, 2012 – Bern Nadette Stanis – the character Thelma on TV’s comedy program, Good Times – thought she was in Jersey City on May 22nd just for signings of her two books, Situations 101: Relationships, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and Situations 101: Finances, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, at the MacDonald’s on Martin Luther King Drive.

            But that wasn’t the only reason…

            When Library Director Priscilla Gardner found out that Ms. Stanis would be appearing that evening, she made sure to be there with a Jersey City library card in tow. Continue reading ‘Thelma’ of TV’s “Good Times” Proudly Supports The Jersey City Library

2 Performance Artists Request & Receive Weeded Books from Library for Art Installation Honoring The Book

THE PAUSE THAT REFRESHES – Performance Artists Antonia Wright (L) and Ruben Millares (R) of Miami, Florida, recently came to the Jersey City Free Public Library in search of books for the latest incarnation of their art installation – a wall of books. With 14 boxes of weeded books to spare at the Main Library shown packed into their vehicle, Antonia and Ruben built a small wall, checking out a couple of titles. Notice Ruben is reading Ray Bradbury’s seminal work, Fahrenheit 451, a book after his own heart, for this wall is an homage to books!

JERSEY CITY, NJ   April 4, 2012 – Performance artists Ruben Millares and Antonia Wright recently came to the Main Library in Jersey City to abscond with 14 boxes of books that were weeded from the library branches’ collections. The use for the books can raise an educated eyebrow…

            They came in search of books for their art installation at the Fountain Art Fair, which was held in mid-March in New York City. From Miami, both artists have been doing this installation of books as a “homage to the book, a celebration” and a commentary on how reading in libraries has gone digital. Continue reading 2 Performance Artists Request & Receive Weeded Books from Library for Art Installation Honoring The Book

Genealogy Searches for Hudson County Immigrants Just Got Easier:

NJ Room Receives NARA Files!

 JERSEY CITY, NJ   December 29, 2011 – Instead of traipsing over to New York City to research the buried files of one’s ancestry, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)  has agreed to house its microfilm files on all Hudson County immigrants to the Jersey City Free Public Library, storing the files within the New Jersey Room, where all genealogy searches are conducted, on the Third Floor of the Main Library, which is located at 472 Jersey Avenue in Jersey City, NJ. Continue reading Genealogy Searches for Hudson County Immigrants Just Got Easier:

Jersey City Public Library’s Dennis J Hayes Retires from Library After 56 Years of Service


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Dennis J. Hayes
Dennis J. Hayes

With over a half century of librarianship under his belt, Assistant Library Director Dennis J. Hayes, MLS, 77, has decided to shelve his decades-long career amongst the book stacks for the relatively calm existence of retirement on Saturday, October 1st.

            A Jersey City-native, Dennis J. Hayes earned his B.A. degree from St. Peter’s College in 1956 and his Masters in Library Science from Rutgers University in 1958, taking additional coursework in 1960 at then-Jersey City State College and in NJ Civil Service policies and procedures in 1976. Continue reading Jersey City Public Library’s Dennis J Hayes Retires from Library After 56 Years of Service

TALES OF OUR CITY: Jersey City becomes the Main Character at Upcoming Book Fair

By Sally Deering

Alina  Oswald's Infinite Lights
Alina Oswald's Infinite Lights

 Like a femme fatale in a “dime novel” Jersey City has had its share of bumpy roads, raw deals and men that done her wrong. But the past is the past and take a look at her now, bustling with new construction and waterfront with a skyline of skyscrapers that have given the old girl a much-needed facelift and a shot at the brass ring.  

At the 4th annual Book Fair hosted by Jersey City’s Free Public Library on Sat, Sept. 10th in Jersey City’s beautiful Van Vorst Park, twenty local and no-so-local writers will exhibit their newly published books – all with some connection to Jersey City.  Many of these writers have taken their experiences and/or fascination with Jersey City’s past and placed them on the pages of their new books, not just as a backdrop to the action, but as one of the characters that grabs your attention like a cold-blooded blonde with a pearl-handled Derringer. Continue reading TALES OF OUR CITY: Jersey City becomes the Main Character at Upcoming Book Fair

Saving the Stacks with a Stacked Hollywood Blonde

Marilyn Monroe Memorabilia to Help Fund Library Capital Improvements

 by Sally Deering

another-marilyn-copyHollywood legend Marilyn Monroe lit up the silver screen with her simmering sexuality, bootyliscious bod and a killer smile that warmed film-lovers hearts.  Playing the bubble-headed blonde roles producers cast her in, Monroe delivered sex-appeal by the D-cupful with an added twist of vulnerability, like her character Sugar Kane in “Some Like it Hot.”  When Sugar tells “girl musicians” Josephine and Daphne, (played Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon,)  “I’m tired of getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop,” the chord strikes like an arrow threw the heart and although the line belongs to writer/director Billy Wilder and his co-writer I.A.L. Diamond, the delivery is all Marilyn.


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Continue reading Saving the Stacks with a Stacked Hollywood Blonde

JERSEY CITY SETS UP COOLING STATIONS AND OPENS POOLS FOR RESIDENTS TO BEAT THE HEAT

IMPORTANT NOTICE-

Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, the Jersey City Office of Emergency Management (OEM), and the Jersey City Department of Senior Affairs have put in place various measures to help combat a heat wave that is expected to last through the weekend by setting up cooling stations throughout the city. Continue reading JERSEY CITY SETS UP COOLING STATIONS AND OPENS POOLS FOR RESIDENTS TO BEAT THE HEAT