Hours
Contents
of the Frank H. Stewart Room
Contact Information
About the Stewart Collection
Hours
Monday through
Friday, 1pm to 4pm - valid id is required
Morning hours by appointment only
For other arrangements, call : (856) 256- 4967
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Contents
of the Frank H. Stewart Room
Early American History
New Jersey History
Glassboro/Rowan
Archives
Artifacts
and Memorabilia
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Contact
Information
MaryAnn Curtis Gonzales,
Curator
(856) 256 - 4967
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About
the Stewart Collection
The Stewart Collection
is a unique source of materials on New Jersey history. It is named
for Frank H. Stewart, who willed much of his collection to the college
on his death in 1948. When presented to the college, it was the
largest private collection of New Jersey history. It is the only
comprehensive research collection of New Jersey history in southern
New Jersey.
The collection was the result of Mr. Stewart's interest in American
and New Jersey history. A prominent Philadelphia businessman engaged
in the wholesale electrical industry and a long-time resident of
South Jersey, Frank Stewart spent a lifetime involved in the activities
of organizations concerned with history.
An example of Mr. Stewart's civic-historic efforts was the establishment
of a room and vault for county historic records known as Room 202
in the Gloucester County Courthouse. Frank Stewart was also instrumental
in having the Red Bank Battlefield and the Whitall Mansion restored.
He was the first to use what was to be called a mine-sweeper in
the recovery of cannon and cannonballs from the deep mud of the
Delaware River at the site of the battle. These had lain there,
lost to history, for over a hundred years.
Stewart was a prolific writer of magazine and newspaper articles
as well as booklets on South Jersey history, Native Americans, genealogies,
and personalities. The most important work by Stewart was The History
of the First United States Mint. Mr. Stewart spent over twenty years
researching the materials that resulted in this volume, published
in the 1920's. His inspiration came from the purchase of "Ye
Olde Mint Building" in Philadelphia as the site of the Stewart
Electric Company Building.
Among other books he
wrote are Notes on Old Gloucester County, History of the Battle
of Red Bank, and Major John Fenwick.
The collection contains over 15,000 books and pamphlets, 5,000 documents
and manuscripts, photocopies, 500 West Jersey deeds, maps, newspapers,
and periodicals. Emphases are South Jersey history, the Revolutionary
War period, Quaker history, the Old United States Mint, and Native
American lore. Significant source materials include: letters, diaries,
deeds, slavery documents, legal papers, business records, handwritten
archives, and military records.
Materials about the early people include bulletins and reports from
the Smithsonian Institution and the History of the Indian Tribes
of the United States by H.R. Schoolcraft, an exhaustive study. Also
thanks to Frank Stewart, we have two early portraits of George Washington,
thought to be from the studio schools of Gilbert Stuart and Rembrandt
Peale. There is a collection of rare books, including many early
Jersey imprints and the Isaac Collins' New Jersey Bible, which was
exhibited during the Tercentennary of the State of New Jersey, in
1964. The oldest book from Stewart's collecting is Cosmographica,
in Latin, published in 1551.
Among the books in the collection are the Proceedings of the New
Jersey Historical Society, the New Jersey Archives, the Colonial
Records, and Archives of Pennsylvania, Journal of the Continental
Congress, indexes to the source materials for Indian and Colonial
history of the United States, county histories, and local histories.
One of the most important items in the collection is the Minutes
of the Stamp Act Congress of 1765, owned by Caesar Rodney, a delegate
from Delaware. This booklet is the only known chronicle of that
seminal congress.
Other valuable sources in the collection include:
A Safe Conduct Pass or, as it is also known, Map of the James River (facsimile) issued by Algonquin Indians to Captain
John Smith in 1607, written in hieroglyphics.
Minutes of the Haddonfield Women's Meeting, kept by Elizabeth Haddon.
Samuel Mickle Diary, 1792-1829, chronicles colonial Woodbury.
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