1933 The Tower Yearbook.
Content warning: Some of the yearbooks from 1911 through the 1930s contain racist illustrations of figures in blackface and minstrel characters, as well as inaccurate, derogatory, and/or offensive depictions of Asian and Indigenous people.
The first issue of The Seal was focused on the history and activities of the Class of 1911 and included sections on “class prophecies,” “statistics” of each student, a calendar of the year’s past events, poems, ditties and songs, vignettes of events in each department and hall (dorm) life, listings of the literary societies as well as social clubs (such as “the red mice” and “the clammy six”), a group portrait of the class and some of the societies and clubs, and advertising from Trenton businesses. The seniors were listed in a directory and did not have individual portraits. The next yearbook, 1912, had a similar format, but also included a list of faculty members, as well as photographs of the campus buildings. Starting in 1915, there were individual portraits of graduating seniors (1913 had individual portraits as well, but not 1914). The format remained fairly consistent afterward, however a few issues from the 1920s also have the Juniors, or class of February of the next year listed in the book with the previous May graduates. The Yearbook Club had several name variations, including: Year-Book Club, Year Book Club, or just “Yearbook” or “Seal.”
The collection is complete from 1911 until The Seal ceased publication in 2017. No issue was printed in 1944 due to World War II restrictions.
In addition, there are a few folders of ephemera, correspondence, photographs, obituaries, and other clippings taken from books formerly belonging to Vivian Rolandelli, Kenneth Weber, and Jessie Turk.
College of New Jersey (Ewing, N.J.)
Content warning: The illustration and description of the mural (in Box 1, Folder 3) includes inaccurate, derogatory, and/or offensive depictions of people indigenous to the area.
The Mildred Duncan Warnecke Collection contains student group photographs; photo albums depicting family life, sports and leisure activities, rural scenes, and Normal School students; newsletters and student activities of the class of 1907; and reunion materials related to Gamma Sigma Nu sorority. The collection also contains copies of The Seal yearbook and The Signal newspaper. Warnecke came to acquire the photo albums created by Louise Woodruff Bush, likely through meeting Bush (older Gamma Sigma Nu member) at the sorority annual reunions. The collection spans 1906-2000, with most of the materials created between 1906-1969.
Bush, Louise E. Woodruff, 1887-1963
The bulk of the collection pertains to Mildred’s time at the New Jersey State Normal School at Trenton from 1913-1915. Of special note is her diary, which begins with a daily account of camping in Shawmont, Pennsylvania (now Roxborough, Northwest Philadelphia) before going off to Normal where she writes of her classroom and social activities. Her copy of the Seal yearbook is heavily signed and annotated with alumni information up to 1980. Her photograph collection documents students in their everyday lives on campus including in their dorm rooms, wearing gym uniforms, performing a Japanese Tea ceremony, and a possible inside joke of her and her friends enacting characters based on their teacher William N. Mumper (the yearbook is inscribed to indicate “Mumpers” characters). There also are several photographs of faculty members (before they were pictured in the yearbooks).
There are some additional materials from the late 1970s including Normal School alumni lists and photographs of her paintings from her post-retirement career as an artist.
Pepper, Mildred Bard Charlesworth, 1895-1985Content warning: The items in this collection may contain racist and harmful depictions of marginalized groups and sexist or misogynistic language.
This collection includes two series containing yearbooks and ephemera from the Jersey City State Normal School.
Series 1 - The Tower Yearbooks, 1933-1935
In 1932, the graduating class published the first volume of The Tower. This series contains The Tower published in 1933, 1934, and 1935. The forward of the 1933 addition states, “We accept with gratitude the heritage of ‘The Tower’ bequeathed to us by the proceeding class. We desire to increase this legacy by adding our contribution of school anecdotes, trusting that each succeeding year will add materially to its value as an heirloom.”
All of the yearbooks feature a forward, dedication, listing of yearbook staff; faculty; management; their school and class history; school organizations and student clubs with photos and descriptions; underclassmen class photos; and the senior class featured with portrait photographs of each student, a quote, and description of the student.
The Jersey City Free Public library’s collections contain the second edition of The Tower, published in 1933 (and digitized in this series), and subsequent years through 2006.
Series 2 - Ephemera, Jersey City State College, Pre-1980
This series contains ephemera of the Jersey City State Normal School spanning from 1914-1934. There are two commencement pamphlets, one from 1934 in a time after the opening of the Jersey City State Normal School in 1929, and the other from a precursor to the normal school called the Teachers’ Training School in 1914. Additional ephemera includes a 1934 song book, as well as a reprinted 1932 article by Peter J. Ganon in the school newspaper The Golden Gothic on the gothic architectural style of the campus’ buildings. The song book index indicates that it contains songs from the school and other colleges, songs about the United States and New Jersey, hymns, rounds and songs of greeting, children’s rote songs, and miscellaneous songs.
