Dear Fellow Genealogists I wanted to pass this great news along to all of you! Happy Hunting! Joan Joan M. Lowry mailto:jmlowry@earthlink.net (From the NJ State Archives) > It is with great pleasure and no small amount of trepidation that I > announce to you all the posting, earlier this morning, of the State > Archives’ online browsable catalog! Yes, we have successfully created a > monster… website that is. With over 200 brand new webpages, this > expansion of the site represents a milestone in terms of public access > to the 27,000 cubic feet and 25,000 reels of historical and genealogical > treasure held by the Archives. It is a milestone, in fact, comparable > to the major collection management efforts associated with the > relocation of the State Archives to its new facility in 2000. > > The browsable catalog is accessible from the State Archives’ main page > at DARM’s site, www.njarchives.org. You can link directly to the > catalog page at: > > <http://www.njarchives.org/links/catalog.html> > > From the catalog main page, select any number of pathways to find > series-level listings relating to numerous topics, holdings for specific > state agencies and counties, and so on. The listings also provide > contact information and links for more recent records still held by the > agency or by local government. > > These 200+ pages provide the researching public with powerful new tools > to enhance remote use of the State Archives collections and allow for > considerable research planning in advance of a visit to Trenton. > Moreover, the series-level catalog provides us with a framework onto > which the Archives can, and will, soon link finding aids and guides, > box- and reel-contents data, imaged collections, searchable databases > (including key-word searching of the catalog), and so on. > > Lastly, if you will indulge me, I would like to specially acknowledge a > few State Archives, DARM and departmental staff whose support and > contributions to developing the browsable catalog have been key in > making this vision a reality… > > First, thanks go to Archives Collection Manager Ellen Callahan, my > partner in arrangement and description for many years up to and through > the move of the Archives. Ellen’s dedication to making the Archives’ > holdings as accessible to the public as possible has been vital to our > progress, including the development of the catalog. > > Next, thanks go to the Archives staff for the numerous ways they have > helped to develop, review content, and contribute to design decisions > relative to the new pages. Specifically, thank you to Veronica Meyer > for making the catalog intro pages a reality, to Sean Curry and Beth > Colosimo for reviewing content and resolving cataloging questions, and > to Joanne Nestor for selection of images for the intro pages. > > Finally, thanks go DARM webmaster Dan Noonan, departmental MIS Director > Richard Allen, and DARM Director Karl Niederer. Dan’s and Rich’s > technical and moral support are deeply appreciated by the Archives, as > are Karl’s confidence in the Archives staff and the creative license > given to us. > > Enjoy and happy browsing... We look forward to your constructive > criticism and any suggestions you might have for additional topics and > pages. > > Sincerely, > > Joseph R. Klett > Chief of Archives > > P.S. Please excuse cross-postings and feel free to forward to any > relevant history, genealogy or archives listserves. >