Special Collections and University Archives: Environmental History Resources

A guide to materials held by Rutgers Special Collections and University Archives on the topic of New Jersey environmental history.

Manuscript Collections

New Jersey Pineland Commission Records, MC 783
Meeting minutes, press clippings, publications, and other records.
New Jersey Water Environment Association Records, MC 855
Rutgers Grass Roots - Progressive Activist Files, R-MC 020
Environmental actions of the Friends of the Rutgers Ecological Preserve
Consumers League of New Jersey Records, MC 1090
Issues related to personal consumption and the environment, such as food inspection, pesticides, and pollution.

Congressional Papers

Papers of Harrison A. Williams, Jr., MC 2
Major theme is involvement of the Federal government in managing the natural and built environment of the United States. Subjects represented throughout the collection include land use, national parks protection, air and water pollution, flood control, ocean dumping, hazardous waste, New Jersey water resources, and conservation initiatives at Sandy Hook, the Great Swamp, Pine Barrens, Delaware River Water Gap, and Tocks Island.
Andrew Maguire Papers, MC 670
Legislative activities regarding health and environment. Local New Jersey issues include the extension of route I-287, closure of a Ford plant in Mahwah, electromagnetic radiation in Rutherford, and a Bergen County sewer commission investigation.
James J. Florio Congressional Papers, MC 780
Among the topics represented in the subject files are energy and the environment.
Dean A. Gallo Congressional Papers, MC 996
Gallo’s papers contain information relating to many aspects of United States public policy, including the environment. Special emphasis on Superfund cleanup initiatives and legislation to mandate double hulls on oil tankers. Material relating to these issues can be found in the Bills Files, Photographs, and Press Clippings Series.
Edward J. Patten Congressional Papers, MC 1042.1
William J. Hughes Congressional Papers, MC 1372
Served on the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. Committee Files cover ocean dumping, coastal barriers, fisheries, and recreation waters, marine conservation, offshore oil and leasing of areas offshore for drilling, oil spills (including spills in Delaware Bay and Penns Grove), and Lipari Landfill (Pitman, New Jersey). Speeches and remarks about environmental concerns in his home district, including ocean dumping, beach erosion, preservation of waterways, and conservation of the Pinelands.
Frank R. Lautenberg Papers, MC 1464
Served on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works' Water and Wildlife Subcommittee and chaired the Superfund, Waste Management, and Regulatory Oversight Subcommittee. Advocated for the enforcement and strengthening of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. Supported the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. Subjects include beach erosion, pollution, industrial chemicals, individual Superfund sites, and national Superfund trends.

Manuscripts

Vail, Daniel. Middlesex County, N.J. 1938. "Studies of Aerial Pollution and River Pollution in the Raritan Valley." Copy of a report made to the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders by Daniel Vail, special investigator.

Wilber, Francis Augustus, 1851-1891. Papers, 1872-1916 (MS 66-192)

Rutgers College student, assistant and professor of analytical chemistry. Includes thesis on gauging the Raritan River (1879) and essay on water supply for cities and towns (1878). Letters and diary are about a survey of North Jersey and New York State mining conditions, 1880-1881, 1889, for the U.S. government.