Women's Project of New Jersey
The Women’s Project of New Jersey was initiated in October 1984 to publish the first comprehensive reference volume on women who were both representative and notable in New Jersey’s history. Its mission expanded to promote the understanding of “the role of women in the history and culture of our state." The original goal was achieved in April 1990 with the publication of the award-winning volume Past and Promise: Lives of New Jersey Women. The organization’s broader goal was and continues to be achieved by the creation of a traveling photographic exhibit, a speakers’ panel and lecture series, two school workbooks and K-12 curricula found on the NJ women’s history website, a speakers’ bureau, a poster series, a paperback revised and updated edition of Past and Promise, and the development of the nation’s first state-based women’s history website.
History
Beginning with the support of the Mendham Free Public Library, the Project’s growing research, production and publication activities resulted in the incorporation of the Women’s Project of New Jersey as an independent non-profit in July 1985 with a volunteer Board of Trustees that included historians, librarians, writers, a lawyer, an accountant, a publicist, an educational equity specialist, women's studies specialists, and an art historian. Academics from Rutgers University, New Jersey City University and Drew University were particularly active on the collaborative project.Initial steps included defining the focus and scope of the Project, determining the research methods and how to ensure accuracy, establishing the editorial board, targeting the audience to be as wide as possible, deciding how to organize the volume, discussing funding sources and potential publishers, and identifying subjects for the biographical volume that promoted an understanding of the role of women in the history and culture of New Jersey. The selection of “representative” women of all backgrounds as well as “notable” women was determined, reflecting the diversity and value of the lives of the women of the State, and adopting an inclusive view of history that understands the past as the history of all the people, not merely the history of those who held a monopoly of power.
The task of the editors was to determine “not only who was significant, but also what was significant”, including the value of women’s unpaid family and community-building work.
The search for suitable subjects included scouring major historic reference sources, writing to all of the state’s 463 historic societies, and contacting major women’s organizations. In order to help ensure an appropriate historic perspective, it was decided that potential subjects for the biographical volume had to have been born in or before 1923, the date of the introduction of the Equal Rights Amendment, written by New Jerseyan Alice Paul. Out of 1,000 potential subjects, 296 were chosen, illustrating women’s private and public sphere of achievement. Special efforts were taken to seek out under-represented sub-populations of women.
More than 250 researcher/writers were recruited and trained to complete the extensive research of original documents required as the foundation for writing each biographical entry. They contacted the living subjects, some of whom were interviewed, and asked all to review their biographies before publication. Several instances of published historic error were uncovered and rectified. Several artifacts and rare photographs, long neglected or lost, were uncovered and given their rightful place in the history of the state. Bibliographic entries at the end of each article and a comprehensive Index provided scholars and general readers with additional tools to expand their understanding of the women examined in the reference volume. An introduction and overview essays for each of the four defined historic periods provided context and unifying narrative. It was decided not to use the traditional historical periodizations, based on wars, but rather to create new ones based on women’s lived lives.
State-based private foundations, state and federal agencies, and corporations provided the majority of the funding for the writers/researchers' honoraria, administrative costs, and special projects. Fundraising events were also carried out.
The quality of this historic undertaking was recognized by the award of the American Association for State and Local History to the WPNJ of its Certificate of Commendation in 1986 for the "Women's History Through Biography" project. In 1990 and 1991 respectively, the WPNJ was honored with awards from the New Jersey Historical Commission and the national AASLH for the book, traveling photographic exhibition, and establishment of the Women’s History Archives at Rutgers University Libraries, all deemed contributions to the advancement of state and local history. In 2004 the AASLH again awarded the WPNJ a Certificate of Commendation in recognition of the New Jersey Women’s History Website, created in collaboration with Rutgers University and the New Jersey Historical Society, which has served as a model for other state-based women’s history websites across the nation.
Upon its publication, the significance of the volume in researching, recording and interpreting for a wide public audience the experiences and achievements of half of the population which had been largely ignored by traditional scholarship was recognized by the widespread review and praise of the volume by The New York Times, the Star-Ledger, the New Jersey Historical Commission Newsletter, New Directions for Women, NJ History, and numerous other regional newspapers and scholarly journals.
The impact of the original WPNJ initiative has multiplied over the years as various publications by Project scholars, the creation of a Speakers Bureau to provide knowledgeable presenters to schools and communities, the creation of a “New Jersey Women’s Heritage Trail,” initiatives such as the “New Jersey Women’s History Web Site Training Project” – which trained teachers to demonstrate how to integrate New Jersey women’s history into K-12 curricula using Internet documentary sources – biographical entries in The Encyclopedia of New Jersey, and other initiatives have continued to use WPNJ scholarship to expand the understanding and appreciation of the role of women in the history and culture of the state.
The Board of Trustees of the Women’s Project of New Jersey, Inc. dissolved the organization on 4 November 2006.