Community History
Community History participants collaborate with their communities to learn about and share local stories. They receive instruction on public history practices, develop projects through collaboration, and are eligible to receive funding from NJCH to launch projects in their communities.
The 2026 program will focus on America's 250th anniversary and its legacy. This does NOT require a focus on the Revolutionary period exclusively, but rather on how we have continuously over the past 250 years strived to "form a more perfect union."
NJCH provides $1,000 in funding up front to support participation in the program. Participating organizations are eligible to apply for additional funding up to $5,000 to support the project they develop over the course of the program.
Nonprofit organizations, state and local government, and unincorporated community groups are eligible to apply to be part of Community History. The application is now closed.
Congrats to our 2026 Cohort!
Our 2026 cohort is our largest ever, comprising nine organizations! Check out their profiles for info on their preliminary hopes for the program.
Cohort Member Profiles
Ringwood Public Library
Ringwood Public LibraryWith a thirst for history and a legacy that is often hard to access, Ringwood Public Library seeks to harness community fascination to uncover hidden stories and create interactive experiences that bring the past to life. |
|
The Ringwood Public Library serves a community with a rich, complex history ranging from the Ramapough community to the iron mines and local estates. Library staff recently discovered a “hidden gem” involving a Japanese Baron who owned over 1,600 acres in the area, a story that sparked intense local interest and high engagement with the library’s newsletter. By participating in the Community History program, the library aims to move beyond standard archival work to learn how to empower residents to co-create history projects. They are exploring developmental ideas like multi-media webpages, educational board games, or guided hiking trails that will help students and residents connect with the lived experiences of those who shaped Ringwood’s past. |
Nassau Presbyterian Church
Nassau Presbyterian ChurchBuilding upon their prior efforts to document and digitize 268 years of burial records from Princeton Cemetery, Nassau Presbyterian Church now aims to go beyond records to find engaging ways share the diverse, often-untold stories of those interred there, from revolutionary leaders to anonymous residents whose lives reflect the broader American experience. |
|
Nassau Presbyterian Church stewards a historic cemetery that has served as a final resting place for 268 years, including figures like John Witherspoon, Aaron Burr, and Grover Cleveland. While they have successfully compiled and digitized comprehensive burial records, the church sees this program as an opportunity to “put some flesh back on the bones” of their history by moving from cold data to human-centered storytelling. The church intends to use the program’s training to envision new ways to honor those in unmarked graves, particularly in the section designated for African Americans in the early 1800s. They hope to collaborate with neighbors like the Arts Council of Princeton to interpret the cemetery as a reflection of the national arc of race, immigration, and institutional history. |
Vivekananda Vidyapith, Inc.
Vivekananda Vidyapith, Inc.Vivekananda Vidyapith aims to archive a vast trove of materials documenting its 50 years of cultural contributions in Wayne, as well as recording the oral and video histories of its community to preserve the spiritual and cultural legacy of the Indian diaspora for future generations. |
|
For 50 years, Vivekananda Vidyapith has provided cultural and spiritual education to the Indian diaspora in New Jersey. They are joining the cohort to learn professional methods for archiving their own half-century of history, which includes music, lectures, and children’s magazines, and to preserve the legacy of Swami Vivekananda’s 1893 arrival in America. The organization’s developmental focus is on training staff and alumni to conduct oral history interviews with founders and long-time members, making their history visible and accessible to current and future community members. Among potential projects is the creation of a digital documentary, “Our Story – Our Journey,” that will allow future generations to stay connected to their heritage and understand their community’s contribution to New Jersey’s cultural diversity. |
Say More Poetic Society
Say More Poetic SocietyIrvington’s Say More Poetic Society aims to leverage spoken word and oral history to record the lived experiences of residents and activists, strengthening community ties through shared memory and creative expression. |
|
The Say More Poetic Society uses the power of spoken word and poetry to explore Black history and local arts, celebrating figures like James Baldwin and local “poetry slam” masters. They are participating in the program to build staff capacity in storytelling and digital curation, moving from traditional archives toward active, co-created digital and oral histories. By learning new community-engagement models, the society hopes to make their services more culturally responsive to the needs of Irvington’s long-time residents and activists. They plan to use historical exploration to foster intergenerational connections, grounding their work in the community’s lived experiences and local context. |
Friends of the Howe House
Friends of the Howe HouseThe Friends of the Howe House aim to use the methods and processes learned through Community History to transition its efforts around preserving the first home owned by an African American in Montclair from commemorative events to sustained, research-driven interpretation. |
|
Friends of the Howe House (FOHH) is an all-volunteer nonprofit dedicated to preserving the Jame Howe House in Montclair. Howe was the first African American in Montclair to own a home. Previously enslaved to the Crane family, Howe was willed the home along with six acres of land and $400. The home still stands and was saved for preservation through the efforts of the FOHH, formed in 2022. The organization views the Community History program as a vital step in their transition from commemorative events to sustained, research-driven interpretation that confronts the state’s complex history of slavery and freedom. Through this developmental process, FOHH aims to shift toward shared authority, inviting residents, descendants, and elders to act as co-creators of the house’s narrative. They envision this work will form the basis for the transformation of the Howe House into a museum and community gathering space that honors difficult truths while fostering civic pride. |
Prallsville Mills (Delaware River Mill Society)
Prallsville Mills (Delaware River Mill Society)Celebrating 50 years of preservation, the Delaware River Mill Society at Prallsville Mills is uncovering the stories of the people who shaped the mills over three centuries, seeking new ways to engage and educate today’s community. |
|
As the Delaware River Mill Society celebrates its 50th anniversary, it is looking to make its sites and history more accessible and community-facing. The society manages the Prallsville Mills, a site with a preserved history of industry and community labor that spans more than two centuries. The organization is participating in the program to brainstorm new ways to share the stories of the workers and families who lived around the mills and used the nearby canal. They aim to move toward a more holistic approach to interpretation, potentially using video, new exhibits, and enhanced signage to make meaningful connections between the past and today’s visitors. |
Four Oranges
Four OrangesFour Oranges is expanding its work to document the arts and architecture of Essex County to encompass not only journalism but also public history methods. It is looking to Community History for training its team in oral history and other documentary methods, as well as to receive a grounding in ethical leadership as it records the stories of modern-day caretakers of Essex County’s historic sites. |
|
Created as a nonprofit media organization focused on arts and architecture, Four Oranges is evolving into a public history facilitator. The organization has already begun this journey with the Orange Branch Historical Society, researching the legacy of a former rail line that shaped regional development in Essex County. Four Oranges is looking to Community History for formal training in recording oral histories and in the ethical stewardship of historical materials. They intend to explore the 250th-anniversary theme by profiling the volunteers and congregations who maintain the Revolutionary-era cemeteries and churches of Essex County today, a team they call the “modern-day stewards” of history. |
Interfaith Neighbors
Interfaith NeighborsWith a strong focus on Springwood Avenue, once the thriving cultural and economic heart of Asbury Park’s African American community, the group aims to integrate history into neighborhood revitalization and cultural tourism. |
|
Interfaith Neighbors is a community-focused organization dedicated to neighborhood revitalization and the amplification of marginalized voices. Building on its prior work in digital history, the organization is seeks to deepen its skills in public history, oral history, and heritage work. With a strong focus on Springwood Avenue, once the thriving cultural and economic heart of Asbury Park’s African American community, the group aims to integrate history into neighborhood revitalization and cultural tourism. Its work will aim to preserve the memories and amplify the voices of residents whose stories have too often been overlooked, including senior citizens who remember Springwood Avenue’s heyday, youth who are shaping its future, and immigrant residents who contribute to its evolving identity. |
The New Weis Center
The New Weis CenterThe New Weis Center is connecting environmental history with community resilience, using the diverse stories of people who protected Ringwood’s nature to inspire today’s youth to take hope and action in the future. |
|
The New Weis Center operates on a property with a history of environmental protection, including the legacy of Camp Midvale, a site founded by immigrants with a progressive reputation for welcoming all. They hope to use local history to help young people overcome “eco-anxiety” by sharing stories of environmental success and community action. The Center’s developmental goal is to expand its school field trips and public programs by learning how to tell more meaningful, inclusive stories. They are particularly interested in incorporating the history of the local Native American population and using digital media to reach those who cannot visit the site in person. |
Our 2025 cohort included six organizations! Check back soon for final reports on their projects.
- Burlington County Library
- Historical Society of Hammonton
- Lower Township Historic Preservation Commission
- Highland Park Historical Commission
- 2nd New Jersey Regiment
- Middletown Township Public Library
Our 2024 cohort included:
- Glen Rock Historical and Preservation Society
- Bloomingdale Free Public Library
- Avon-by-the-Sea Historical Society
- Atlantic City Free Public Library
- South Jersey Artist Collective
- Lawnside Historical Society
- Montclair Public Library
- Southern Ocean Chamber Association
- MUYU - Jersey City
Check back soon for information on their final projects!
Click here for highlights of the Community History Fall 2023 Showcase, or view descriptions and presentations of participant projects below.
Indian American Club
Indian American Club“This project highlighted the mission of the Indian American Club: giving voice to Indian-American stories, promoting diversity, and supporting the New Jersey community as a whole. It expanded IAC’s reach and broadened its community.” |
|
Indian American Club explored the experiences of Indian Americans in the professional and business spheres, highlighting the obstacles they overcame and how they forged community in a new country. The project culminated in an engaging panel of Indian Americans with business backgrounds who discussed their experiences with immigration in open dialogue with the audience and emphasized the power in keeping Indian culture alive in New Jersey. |
Haddonfield Public Library
Haddonfield Public Library“In hearing about other community history projects, from oral histories to programs at historic sites and battlefields, we learned what went right or wrong and then thought of how the library could encourage our local groups to take on similar projects.” |
|
Inspired by the unexpected discovery of eighteenth-century letters “hidden” in the vault of the library, formerly a 1920s bank, the project team at the Haddonfield Public Library set out to make the library’s collections and local history resources more accessible to the community, branding the library as a resource for anyone in the community who wants to learn about and share local history. During the program, they offered greater access to scanned historical documents, purchased a digital kiosk to allow community members to share their stories, and created a dedicated local history web page. The page features digitized maps of walking tours created by local history groups and highlights the library’s digital resources, including local newspapers and publications. |
Preserve Shady Rest Committee
Preserve Shady Rest Committee“The collegiality and professional and peer network offered through this program is by far one of the most valuable I have experienced. The guest speakers, our fellow cohort members, and past cohort contributors have stretched our thinking and challenged our organization to think bigger and do better.” |
|
By setting up opportunities for community members to share their stories via message boards and interviews, the Preserve Shady Rest Committee learned more about the rich history of their Golf & Country Club, including the Clubhouse’s ties to Black culture and jazz history, as well as the community’s interest in preserving this history and making it known to the broader public. After participating in Community History, Preserve Shady Rest applied for and was awarded an Incubation Grant from NJCH to continue its work through the initiation of a master plan. Click here to learn more about that work. |
TRUE Mentors Inc.
TRUE Mentors Inc.“Giving our kids the opportunity to create their own film has been a way to facilitate team building and creativity, as well as learning new skills along the way.” |
|
TRUE Mentors empowered Hoboken youth to help shape the historical narrative. Partnering with the Hoboken Historical Society and the Rutgers Filmmaking Department, TRUE MENTORS educated their youth about the troubling history of low-income residents in Hoboken, including the devastating Hoboken Fires, and provided them with training on journalism and documentary filmmaking. With their newfound resources and skills, the youth created a collaborative documentary film about their community’s history. Once completed, their film will be showcased to the community at a local theatre. |
Union Public Library
Union Public Library“The interactive sessions provided by current and former cohorts, especially librarians, helped us to explore the universe of opportunities.” |
|
Union Public Library expanded the reach of the library’s collections, programs, and resources to more accurately reflect the people within their community and meet their unique needs. As part of their project, they gathered and documented untold stories from Union Township residents, including those from the immigrant, Hispanic, Haitian, and African-American communities, which culminated in a video that they plan to make accessible on their website. |
Click here to view the Community History Fall 2022 Showcase, or view descriptions and presentations of participant projects below.
Willingboro Community Development Corporation (WCDC)
Willingboro Community Development Corporation (WCDC)“Community learning sessions offered opportunities to exchange knowledge, ideas, and experiences with participants. This knowledge will guide us in developing effective strategies, avoiding common pitfalls, and maximizing impact.” |
|
Willingboro Community Development Corporation (WCDC) explored the history of the Futuro House, a UFO-like structure designed as a portable ski chalet in the late 1960s and placed in its spot in Willingboro in 1973. Several other Futuro Houses were deposited around the world. Only 19 remain in the country, and Willingboro’s Futuro House is New Jersey’s only remaining Futuro House. WCDC organized a series of focus groups of Willingboro residents to learn more about why their town was chosen as a Futuro House “landing point” and to gather community feedback to brainstorm how they might use it today. The WCDC plans to continue researching the history and possible preservation of the Futuro House to foster a sense of pride, ownership, and shared history with the community to ensure that Willingboro’s unique identity as the home of a Futuro House is not lost but celebrated. |
The FAF Coalition
The FAF Coalition“We learned a lot about the concept of community history in that it is not the same as “Capital H” history, but rather it’s more about storytelling and community engagement.” |
|
The FAF Coalition focused on uplifting the significant and largely unknown Black history of Woodbury. Their project team gathered research on the Carpenter Street School, built in 1840 and one of New Jersey’s oldest existing schoolhouses for African-Americans. On February 25, 2023, The Coalition hosted a Black History Month event at Bethel AME Church to display their research findings to the community and open discussion for community members to share what Black history means to them. The project team also implemented a volunteer Woodbury Black Organizing Committee to continue the work of uplifting and spreading awareness of the Black history of Woodbury. |
Wanaque Public Library
Wanaque Public Library“As someone with no prior experience in public history, participating in the group learning sessions gave me the confidence to tackle this project.” |
|
Wanaque Public Library traced the impact of the building of Route 287 on the town of Haskell. Their project team conducted surveys and oral history interviews with residents to document and collect stories on how this change affected the Haskell community. They also indexed photos and comments related to Route 287 posted on the Good Ol’ Haskell Facebook group and researched census records to trace demographic changes before, during, and after the highway came to town. |
Appel Farm Arts & Music Center
Appel Farm Arts & Music Center“This program has given us the time and resources to capture a slice of our organization’s long and unique history and to explore some processes for further documentation of our alumni community’s experiences.” |
|
Appel Farm Arts & Music Center explored the history of their summer Arts Camp, which has been around for more than 60 years and maintains an active alumni community. The project digitized archival materials, including photographs, VHS tapes, press clippings, and other materials contributed by community members, and recorded interviews with camp alumni. In the future, Appel Farm hopes to continue building their alumni database and collecting stories from the camp alumni community. |
Historic Paulus Hook Association
Historic Paulus Hook Association“A foundational principle we practiced from the learning sessions was the primacy of community input and feedback into the what and how of any project design.” |
|
“Underground Jersey City: Where am I?” aims to uncover the living past of local historic sites, starting with pre-colonization of Lenape land in Paulus Hook and continuing through the nineteenth century. The Association coordinated a Community Advisory Board, sent out surveys, and hosted public meetings to engage the local community in the planning and content of their project. Through this process, their project team learned what aspects of Paulus Hook’s history the community found most compelling, and in the next stages of the project they plan to build an interactive ArcGIS map to help the public see where history happened in their own neighborhoods. They hope that this map will become the basis of a walking tour and inform future installation of site-markers throughout Paulus Hook and beyond in Jersey City. |
Arts Guild New Jersey
Arts Guild New Jersey“Participation in the Community History learning sessions provided insights based on a broad spectrum of past and current projects of colleagues in the program.” |
|
Arts Guild New Jersey researched seventeenth-century Burlington County sources to highlight stories of peaceful intercultural communication and collaboration between the Lenape, Old Settler, and British Quaker cultures. At an event titled “Our Storied Past,” Arts Guild presented the findings of their research through a telling of selected stories from mythologies, legends, and the history of these cultures. |
Click here to view the Community History Spring 2022 Showcase, or view descriptions and presentations of participant projects below.
Greater Cape May Historical Society
Greater Cape May Historical Society“We are so grateful for the opportunity and the experience to work with a cohort of non-profits with different missions. We learned from them and the importance of learning how to get your organization’s mission into the minds and hearts of their respective communities.” |
|
The Greater Cape May Historical Society’s mission is to collect, preserve, document, interpret and share the history of the greater Cape May area. The Society’s community history project focused on the work of the Cape May Geographic Society, which published annual bulletins from 1947 through 1991 pertaining to the natural history of the Cape May region and advocated for the preservation of the region’s natural beauty and the study of its history. By digitizing historical materials created by the Geographic Society and sharing them with local community members, the Historical Society provides historical context for the significant interest today in the ecology of greater Cape May, a destination for ecotourism, birding, and nature photography. |
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Children of Essex County
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Children of Essex County“The learning sessions greatly enhanced our ability to challenge the hierarchy of who gets to write history.” |
|
CASA Essex developed a plan to capture and give voice to the stories of people who have lived experience in the child welfare system. They worked closely with community partners to convene an Advisory Committee with expertise in child welfare, Essex County history, and philanthropy to consider how to focus their historical research, allow participants to maintain ownership of their stories, and lead lasting change. The Community History Program helped CASA Essex learn how this kind of community-based history and storytelling can provide new ways to achieve their goal to help the broader community understand the circumstances families face that lead to involvement with the child welfare system. |
New Jersey Orators, Inc.
New Jersey Orators, Inc.“The Stakeholder Mapping process helped us to identify local stakeholders who we had not partnered with before and broaden our communication plan for our community history project.” |
|
New Jersey Orators, Inc. (NJO) is dedicated to teaching the art of public speaking, an appreciation for literature, reading literacy, civic engagement, college readiness and life skills to youth between the ages of 7 and 18 years. As participants in the Community History program, the organization developed an initial interview framework for their NJO “Experienced Orators” to use for a national rollout of their Oral History Project. NJO high school students interviewed women from Middlesex, Somerset and Union Counties over the age of 90, collecting their recollections and experiences living through the Civil Rights Era and created original oratories based on those interviews. This was an initial pilot project to form the basis for a national partnership with the National Association of University Women (NAUW). NJO developed the foundation for an oral history project called “Remembering Their Legacy: An Oral History of our Seniors,” where they will interview and record the recollections of the NAUW Forever Emeralds, past presidents over the age of 90. The Orators’ collection of audio and video recordings from this project, as well as the historical digital artifacts uncovered through their research, will be archived at Rutgers University. The Oral History Project will be expanded around the state and nationally in the coming years. |
TRUE Mentors, Inc.
TRUE Mentors, Inc.“Our organization intends to continue finding ways to teach our youth about community history and devise more projects for our youth to engage with their communities and the history that surrounds them.” |
|
TRUE Mentors, Inc. is a volunteer-based community organization that provides mentoring programs to at-risk youth residing within Hudson County. The goal of the organization’s Community History project was to make their youth feel represented in their communities while also learning about the history of the people who have impacted their communities before them. TRUE Mentors accomplished this by holding expert-led workshops on ways to reflect personal, familial, and cultural connections through art, such as portraiture, iconography, and mapping. Youth then created their own works of art based on these cultural and historical methods that were presented in a culminating event at Ben & Jerry’s in Hoboken in November 2022. |
Mahwah Museum
Mahwah Museum“We gained information on technical aspects of the work we seek to develop, such as recording equipment, microphones, file types, software and methods to use for recording and maintaining the material in digital form.” |
|
The Mahwah Museum Community History project is developing a 21st century presentation of the Ramapough community – its Legacy and Heritage. Highlights include featured oral history segments from respected Ramapough elders; audio recorded tribal legend stories accessible through QR codes on free bookmarks; quotes from community surveys of local community members who grew up in Ramapough; the history and struggle of State and Federal Recognition for the Ramapough Indian Nation; and a look at tribal customs and Pow Wow regalia. During the Community History program, the team recorded recitations of a Lenape prayer in Munsee language by a Ramapough elder and three narrations of Tribal Legacy stories: “How Two Bears Lost Their Tails;” “The Most Beautiful Bird;” and “How the Evil Manitoo Broke his Apron Strings.” The story images and reading of these stories were made into QR codes available on bookmarks available at the Mahwah Public Library and the Ringwood Public Library. |
Click here to view the Community History 2021 Showcase, or view descriptions and presentations of participant projects below.
East Trenton Collaborative
East Trenton Collaborative“The oral histories that we have been conducting for this project have helped to develop a deeper connection with the East Trenton residents and a deeper understanding of our role in the neighborhood” |
|
East Trenton Collaborative (ETC) is a neighborhood revitalization and community organizing initiative based in the East Trenton neighborhood. During the Community History program, ETC conducted oral histories to capture elements of East Trenton neighborhood’s history from the perspectives of longtime residents. During monthly Community Meetings and one-on-one interviews, they completed 7 oral histories with East Trenton residents and compiled an outreach list of over 20 residents. They learned that the East Trenton Center, ETC’s office and Community Center, has played a crucial role in their community for decades as a central neighborhood hub. They see this project as a starting point for developing a fuller vision of East Trenton’s community history, and by getting the effort started, ETC created something that the East Trenton community will continue to contribute to in the future. |
Clinton Hill Community Action
Clinton Hill Community Action“Perhaps the lesson with the biggest impact on Clinton Hill was that, with some training, we could be our own public historians.” |
|
The Clinton Hill Neighborhood History Project is a multi-year, public history project involving oral histories with community members, collections of photos and artifacts, and identification of community and historical landmarks to tell the neighborhood’s history. On December 3, 2022, the project team held a history fair to showcase their project and engage the community in a rich conversation on Clinton Hill’s history. |
Community Partnership for Egg Harbor Township Schools
Community Partnership for Egg Harbor Township Schools“The project impacted us by opening our minds to a past that is not always so ‘prideful.’” |
|
The Community Partnership for Egg Harbor Township Schools researched and documented the history of Egg Harbor Township Schools, for which the partnership helps to raise funds and provide other supports. Looking through old school photographs, examining documents, and interviewing with former students, teachers, staff, and community members, the project team charted the incredible growth of the school district as the township grew—through its highs and lows. From this research the team created a short documentary about the history of the school district that debuted in June 2022 at a School History Night event hosted at Egg Harbor Township High School and remains part of the curriculum for students in the district. |
Enslaved African Memorial
Enslaved African Memorial“Members of the community were excited to learn about this discovery and had a desire to learn more and offer support to our ongoing efforts to tell the story of slavery in New Jersey.” |
|
Enslaved African Memorial Committee gives presence to the stories of the enslaved Africans who helped build the infrastructure of what is now one of the richest but was once one of the largest slave-holding counties in New Jersey: Bergen County. This project focused on a nineteenth-century African community in Paramus called Dunkerhook that was founded by two formerly enslaved individuals who rented the homes of their former enslaver upon their emancipation. EAMC’s work during Community History included continued archaeological excavation of the site in partnership with Montclair State University and work on a documentary film that will tell the story of Dunkerhook to illuminate another piece of the often overlooked history of slavery in New Jersey. |
Old Mill Hill Society
Old Mill Hill Society“You don’t need to be a museum, and you don’t need to be a historian, to jump in and do meaningful community history work.” |
|
The Old Mill Hill Society is dedicated to historic preservation and restoration of properties within the Mill Hill area of Trenton. Community members launched this history project in response to graffiti appearing on a statue of George Washington in the neighborhood following the Black Lives Matter protests during the summer of 2020, creating opportunities for the Mill Hill community to discuss how the Revolutionary War and its rhetoric resonates with African Americans. The project team sent out surveys and held public discussions to discern which issues to were most important to community members, and then settled on a plan to research and share stories of African Americans during the Revolutionary War. The committee involved Sprout U School of the Arts in Trenton to create a “living history” event at Trenton Free Public Library with students portraying various individuals from the Revolutionary War period, such as Boston King, Phillis Wheatley, and Ona Judge. They also created an archive of historical photographs and newspaper articles that will expand as the project continues. |
Piscataway Public Library
Piscataway Public Library“We can certainly see how much work went into the making of ’When It Happened.’ The party had good food, friendly people, interesting and informative talks, and a great complimentary book. What’s not to love!” |
|
Piscataway Public Library collected stories from Piscataway residents about what it was like to live in the community during major historical events, including 9/11, the Great Recession, the founding of Black Lives Matter, the passing of same-sex marriage legislation by the Supreme Court, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Hurricane Ida. Team members created a website and form for community members to contribute vignettes of their experiences. In September 2022, selected contributions were published in a book titled When It Happened: Piscataway Reflects on Global Events, which was distributed at various sites around town and remains available to be checked out at both library branches. The culmination of the project was a Book Launch party at the library. |
Raíces Cultural Center
Raíces Cultural Center“Stories are precious, and sharing them allows our ancestors to live on especially if their stories aren’t usually part of the dominant narrative.” |
|
Raíces Cultural Center is dedicated to preserving cultural roots through the arts, history, and ecology. Their project, “Stories for the Ancestors, Stories of Healing,” collects and shares untold and undertold family histories, stories, and inter-generational memories. Video interviews from their project can be found on their website. Participation in Community History also inspired the development of the “Raíces Community History Project Panel,” a monthly meeting of community members of diverse backgrounds who provide feedback about current history-focused projects and programs and brainstorm new project ideas. |
Salvation and Social Justice
Salvation and Social Justice“Our participation in the Community History learning sessions helped us to restructure our project. We learned that our project can be even more successful if we focus on one church in our denomination.” |
|
Salvation and Social Justice seeks to liberate public policy theologically by modeling the hope and resiliency of Black faith. With a long-term goal of telling the story of liberation advocacy in the African Methodist Episcopal Church across New Jersey, they focused this first project on the 200-year history of Greater Mt. Zion AME Church, the oldest Black church in Trenton. They contracted a historian, documentarian, and technology company to map out a strategic plan to tell the story of Greater Mt. Zion’s history of participating in the fight for the freedom and economic growth of Black people. |
Trent House Association
Trent House AssociationQuote in response to a question about why some African Americans are moving from the north to the south:“I think for some people, life is excellent [here], but for other African Americans, they’re still struggling…Where there was supposed to be opportunities up north, but they were fake opportunities. You got true opportunities down south [now].” |
|
The Trent House began the “Great Migration Oral History Project,” documenting the life stories of African American residents of Trenton who themselves or whose families moved to the city during the Great Migration (1915-1970). It was during this period that six million African Americans relocated from the South to urban centers in the Northeast, Midwest, and the West seeking better economic opportunities and escape from Jim Crow laws. During the project, the Trent House team held two focus group discussions with Trenton-area stakeholders. Focus group participants were asked to reflect on the kinds of information that would be valuable to collect and how the Trent House could present itself as an appropriate sponsoring organization for the project. The Trent House team used information gleaned from these discussions to begin the process of identifying potential interview subjects and developing questions to ask. The “Great Migration Oral History Project” continues, involving students from the College of New Jersey in conducting and transcribing interviews and developing an on-line archive to house interview recordings and transcriptions and supplementary photographs and documents. |
The New Weis Center
The New Weis Center is connecting environmental history with community resilience, using the diverse stories of people who protected Ringwood’s nature to inspire today’s youth to take hope and action in the future.
Interfaith Neighbors
With a strong focus on Springwood Avenue, once the thriving cultural and economic heart of Asbury Park’s African American community, the group aims to integrate history into neighborhood revitalization and cultural tourism.
Four Oranges
Four Oranges is expanding its work to document the arts and architecture of Essex County to encompass not only journalism but also public history methods. It is looking to Community History for training its team in oral history and other documentary methods, as well as to receive a grounding in ethical leadership as it records the stories of modern-day caretakers of Essex County’s historic sites.
Prallsville Mills (Delaware River Mill Society)
Celebrating 50 years of preservation, the Delaware River Mill Society at Prallsville Mills is uncovering the stories of the people who shaped the mills over three centuries, seeking new ways to engage and educate today’s community.
Friends of the Howe House
The Friends of the Howe House aim to use the methods and processes learned through Community History to transition its efforts around preserving the first home owned by an African American in Montclair from commemorative events to sustained, research-driven interpretation.
Say More Poetic Society
Irvington’s Say More Poetic Society aims to leverage spoken word and oral history to record the lived experiences of residents and activists, strengthening community ties through shared memory and creative expression.
Vivekananda Vidyapith, Inc.
Vivekananda Vidyapith aims to archive a vast trove of materials documenting its 50 years of cultural contributions in Wayne, as well as recording the oral and video histories of its community to preserve the spiritual and cultural legacy of the Indian diaspora for future generations.
Nassau Presbyterian Church
Building upon their prior efforts to document and digitize 268 years of burial records from Princeton Cemetery, Nassau Presbyterian Church now aims to go beyond records to find engaging ways share the diverse, often-untold stories of those interred there, from revolutionary leaders to anonymous residents whose lives reflect the broader American experience.
Ringwood Public Library
With a thirst for history and a legacy that is often hard to access, Ringwood Public Library seeks to harness community fascination to uncover hidden stories and create interactive experiences that bring the past to life.
Program Components
The Community History program consists of learning sessions attended by all participants, individual meetings with program staff, project work, and the opportunity to apply for project funding. (Hover over each image below to view details about the program components.)
Learning Sessions
Project Work
Participants
Funding
Take the Next Step
Our 2026 Community History cohort contributing to America's 250th anniversary is currently underway. Please check back soon for information future cohorts.
People
Gigi Naglak
Program Director
 |
Gigi NaglakProgram Director
Gigi spent 15 years in museum education and public engagement at history institutions prior to coming to NJCH, including stints at Ellis Island, the Science History Institute, and the American Philosophical Society. Helping broad public audiences to see themselves in history and to contribute to the historical narrative has always been central to her work, and she is thrilled to bring those practices to communities throughout New Jersey. Her particular interests include cultural studies, history of science, theatre history, and community-engaged history practice. Gigi has a BA in history and theatre arts from Drew University and an MA in performance studies from King’s College London. |
Contact
If you have any questions about this program, please contact Gigi Naglak at gnaglak@njhumanities.org or 609-695-4409.
Header photo: "WKL's Newark Assign" by Warren K. Leffler
Library of Congress U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017657595/
