Special Collections and University Archives: Reform and Countercultural Movements

Noted for distinctive architecture and renowned as an artists' colony, Roosevelt, N.J., began its existence as a New Deal community of Jewish settlers supported by economic cooperatives in the form of farm operations, a factory, and retail shops. The collection consists of reference materials, records of community organizations, and papers and collections of individuals that were brought together to document the history of Roosevelt Borough and its residents.

The collection documents the Farmingdale, N.J., Jewish community from the arrival of the initial settlers in 1919 to the demise of the community in the early 1970s. The bulk of the material pertains to this community, although the collection also contains material relating to other rural Jewish communities. Furthermore, the interviews with Farmingdale residents document the early life of the settlers before coming to Farmingdale, both in Europe and in the United States, their motives for buying farms, and their subsequent experience of rural life. Interviews with non-Jewish Farmingdale residents and inhabitants of other Jewish rural communities give some perspective on the experiences of the Farmingdale settlers.

Free Acres, an isolated, single tax community located primarily in Berkeley Heights Township, but also partly in Watchung Township, was founded in 1910 based upon the single tax theory of Henry George as interpreted by Bolton Hall. At first a summer colony of artists, writers, actors, and intellectuals from New York City, the community was governed by its leaseholders, whose social life centered on several communal institutions. The community's original covenant was changed in 1936 as the result of an influx of permanent residents, so that thereafter each leaseholder paid a flat fee only for the use of the communal services, and individual property taxes were assessed on top of that amount. Free Acres today retains a cooperative structure through the Free Acres Association, by which residents regulate their land use and make payments to support shared services and facilities. This collection includes both official records of the Free Acres Association and assembled historical materials concerning the Free Acres community.

The Modern School at Stelton, N.J., was a child of the early 20th-century anarchist and libertarian education movements, inspired by the example of Spanish anarchist and founder of the first Modern School Francisco Ferrer (1859-1909). Originally located in New York, the Modern School opened its doors in January 1911. The collection contains both the official records of the Modern School of Stelton, N.J., and items donated to the collection by the students and teachers of the Modern School and residents of the Stelton Colony. The official records of the Modern School comprise minutes and reports of the Modern School Association of North America, the membership organization which supported the school; records of the Ferrer Modern School Association, which administered the property of the school; reports of the Board of Management, which administered the School itself; and correspondence received and copies of correspondence sent by the principal of the school. The donated materials include publications, photographs, newspaper clippings, correspondence, writings, and miscellany.

The records of the Mohegan Colony Association document the community's origin as the Mohegan Colony, an anarchist community founded in 1923 by progressive leader and anarchist Harry Kelly. Founded in the area of Mohegan Lake in Westchester County, N.Y., the community emerged from the Ferrer colony in Stelton, N.J. It was renamed the Mohegan Colony Association in 1952 when a new constitution was adopted; the community now operates as a homeowners' association, sharing responsibility for the maintenance and improvement of community property. This collection includes the official records of the Mohegan Colony from 1923 to 1949, as well as the official records and collected material of the Mohegan Colony Association. The Colony records consist of minutes, general membership correspondence, the correspondence of the board of trustees, and several publications produced by the Mohegan Modern School. The Mohegan Colony Association records are more extensive and consist of constitutional material, minutes, budgets, and financial records, as well as correspondence, maps, and association newsletters.