Charles F. Cummings New Jersey Information Center
The Charles F. Cummings New Jersey Information Center (New Jersey Room) is a research-level collection of materials relating to New Jersey, Essex County and Newark. It includes both historical and current information in these formats: books, newspapers, documents, pictures and archives.
On January 18, 2006, The Newark Public Library’s New Jersey Information Center was renamed the Charles F. Cummings New Jersey Information Center.
Introducing the Newark Evening News Digitization Initiative
There is probably no more important resource for the study of Newark in the 20th century than the Newark Evening News, New Jersey’s newspaper of record. The Library is undertaking a new initiative to digitize the Newark Evening News.
1883-1931 is now available online: https://www.digifind-it.com/newark/
Projected cost: 1926-1937: $20,000 (half covered by Robert Treat Fund); 1938-1972: $100,000-$125,000
We will need your help! To donate, put “Newark Evening News” in the notes field.
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The Robert Treat Endowment
Your support of the Library’s Robert Treat Endowment Fund helps to ensure that the New Jersey Information Center collections are enhanced and preserved in perpetuity. The fund was created in 2005 by Charles F. Cummings. To learn more about giving, click here.
Who Was Charles Cummings?
Mr. Cummings, Assistant Director of Special Collections and Statewide Outreach, passed away on December 21, 2005. He was a valued employee since joining The Newark Public Library on July 15, 1963, and was recognized as the Newark City Historian and the expert source for “everything Newark” . Learn More.
Digital Collection
The Newark Public Library received a generous grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to digitize a portion of its historical materials. Many collections are already available in our digital archive here
or read more about the project.
Read: The activity books that pair with our digital collections: My Newark Story, Newark Eagles 101.
Knowing Newark
From 1996 through 2005, Charles Cummings wrote weekly Knowing Newark columns for The Star-Ledger. With the gracious support of The Star-Ledger and Newark Celebration 350, many of the columns are available in this keyword searchable website.
Read: The book version of this website (30+ columns) is also available digitally here.
The Newark Public Library’s Charles F. Cummings New Jersey Information Center has received generous support from the New Jersey Historical Commission (a division of the Department of State) in the form of a general operating support grant.