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The Newark Experience

1900-1950s

"Urban, New-Stock Liberalism and Progressive Reform in New Jersey,"
John D. Buenker. New Jersey History 87(2), Summer 1969, 79-104.
Looks at New Jersey Assembly members, especially those from Newark and Jersey City, from 1907-1914 to illustrate the role of urban new-stock politicians in the Progressive movement. Available?
Metropolitan Aspirations: Politics and Memory in Progressive Era Newark. Rutgers-restricted access
Martin V. Minner. Thesis (Ph.D), Indiana University, 2005.
"[F]ocuses on the 250th anniversary celebration held in Newark in 1916 and the range of media and civic events, such as a pageant, parades, poster and poetry contests, an industrial exhibition, statuary, and plans for a memorial building, that marked this civic celebration. The study argues that this massive commemorative event served primarily to promote civic identity, which in turn served a number of political ends." Available?
Playing Politics with Disease: Newark's Imperious Mayor During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic
Jennifer E. Harmsen. Thesis (M.A.), Rutgers University Newark, October 2015.
"While the Department of Health of the State of New Jersey acted swiftly to the pandemic by issuing mandatory closings of all public gathering places, the municipality of Newark, under the leadership of Mayor Charles P. Gillen, chose not to adhere entirely to the quarantines. Of the 29,000 Newarkers who were stricken with the flu, 2,800 people died within three months."
Mayor Gillen on his handling of the influenza epidemic
Newark Board of Commissioners Minutes, October 24, 1918.
Charles P. Gillen
October 27, 1939 interview with Charles P. Gillen, Newark mayor from 1917 to 1921.
I Am A Newark Citizen: Being a Series of Addresses.
Reg Parnell. Newark, Lackawanna Press, 1934.
Addresses delivered by Reginald Parnell, Newark's Director of Revenue and Finance, over radio station WGCP. Available?
Planning, Slum Clearance and the Road to Crisis in Newark.
David Levitus. A NewarkMetro Report. Looks at how Newark politics and policies of the 1940s and 1950s contributed to the conditions that resulted in the riots of 1967.

Video

Progressives and Reformers: Newark Takes the Lead
Panel discussion sponsored by the Newark History Society and featuring Elizabeth Aaron, Steven Diner, and Ezra Shales. Moderated by George Robb. June 20, 2016.
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