Research Guides: The Newark Experience: Municipal Government

Newark City Government

The City of Newark Archives and Records Management Center has Newark City Council minutes from 1954 to 2009. These have also been digitized; digitized minutes are available in the Archives Reading Room.

Revised General Ordinances of the City of Newark
2000, Amended through December 31, 2018. Includes the City Charter.

A History of Municipal Government in New Jersey Since 1798.: Albert J. Wolfe. Trenton, N.J. : New Jersey State League of Municipalities, 2004.

Records of the Town of Newark, New Jersey, From Its Settlement in 1666 to its Incorporation as a City in 1836.: Newark, N.J., New Jersey Historical Society, 1966. Reprint of the 1864 publication.; Records of town meetings, 1666 to 1836. Appendix includes lists of office holders up to 1713; transcriptions of early deeds; and the 1713 town charter. Available?

The City Charter and Ordinances of the City of Newark, Together With Miscellaneous Acts of the Legislature Relating to the City.: Newark, N.J., Printed at the Daily Advertiser Office, 1858.

Legislative Acts of 1876 Affecting the City of Newark with Action of Common Council in Relation Thereto

The City Charter and Supplements Thereto of the City of Newark and Miscellaneous Acts of the Legislature Relating to the City.: Newark, N.J., Printed at the Daily Advertiser Office, 1877.

"Municipal Charter Revision: Newark,": Frank G. Bates. American Political Science Review 5(3), August 1911, 438-440.; Describes a proposed city charter that was presented to the New Jersey legislature in 1911. Rutgers-restricted Access

Minutes of Meetings of the Board of Commissioners of Newark, N.J.: Newark (N.J.). Board of Commissioners. Available?

"Charter Change and Civic Reform in Newark, 1953-1954,": Stanley B. Winters. New Jersey History 118(1/2), 2000, 34-65.; Reformers hoped that a change from the five-member board of commissioners established by the 1917 city charter to a mayor-council form of government would lead to an overhaul of a graft-ridden administration, halt the city's neglect, and keep businesses and the middle-class in Newark. Available?

Final Report of the Charter Commission of the City of Newark.: Newark, N.J., 1953.; The Charter Commission found that "For more than three decades, municipal government in Newark has proved to be wasteful, extravagant, uncoordinated and not responsive to the basic need of our city...A major cause of poor government in Newark has been the commission form by which our city has been governed since 1917." Recommended that the commission form of government be abandoned and that Newark adopt the Mayor-Council Plan C, as set forth in Article 5 of the Optional Municipal Charter Law. Available?

An Exploration of Legislative Performance in Three Northeastern Cities.: Hy L. Dubowsky. Thesis (Ph.D), New York University, 1995.; Using existing models of state legislative reform, examines three big city councils (Newark, New York, and Philadelphia) in terms of reform and performance. Available?