Back

Print this Page

Sept. 27, 2006

BREAKING NEWS: Martha Washington sets up dining cart in Town Hall lobby . . . offers tea and cakes to visitors from NJ Dept. of State office coming to praise Township’s innovative archives program. . .

  Media Advisory. . . Media Advisory. . . Media Advisory. . .

WHAT: Woodbridge Historical Archives receive visit from Dept. of State office

WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 28, 2:30 p.m. – TOMORROW!!!

WHERE: Town Hall Lobby, 1 Main Street, Woodbridge, NJ

Woodbridge Town Hall will be the scene of History Past and History Present this Thursday, when representatives of the New Jersey Department of State come to inspect the Township’s new archive program .

And they’ll be graciously greeted by Mrs. Martha Washington, former First Lady and a frequent visitor to the state in times past. She’ll serve tea and share her recipe for Virginia pound cake.

The state visit and historical re-enactment highlights Woodbridge Township’s new archive activity resulting from two recent grants from the New JerseyPublic Archives and Records Infrastructure Support (PARIS) Grants Program.

“The Township received a $150,000 PARIS Phase Two grant this spring to continue upgrading our public records management system ,” says Interim Mayor Joseph F. Vitale. “ During the reorganization process, we uncovered material from an even earlier point in our history than we’d previously known existed.”

First settled in 1664 by Puritans from Massachusetts Colony and formally chartered in 1669 by England’s King Charles II, Woodbridge is New Jersey’s oldest municipality. A recent search of the Alexander Library Special Collections at Rutgers University uncovered original Township records dating to 1667 – birth, marriage and property records along with minutes of the nascent settlement’s political organization.

“It was quite an experience,” says Municipal Clerk John Mitch. “Despite their antiquity, these records have a distinctly contemporary aspect that show how people were motivated to build their community on a solid footing.”

Six archivists and records management specialists from the Dept. of State Office, including Albin Wagner, Chief of the Bureau of Records Management, will visit Thursday to see a special historical display set up in the lobby of Woodbridge Municipal Building.

Township employee and amateur actress Barbara Kitchen will add historical flavor to the event in her role as Martha Washington.

Following the lobby inspection, the group will tour several Township historic sites including the Barron Arts Center, Trinity Episcopal Church and the Parker Press Grounds.

Back