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Jules Irving was born on April 13, 1925 in New York City. He was a director and producer, known for Loose Change (1978), What Really Happened to the Class of '65? (1977) and The Detective: Bull in a China Shop (1975). Co-founded the San Francisco Actor's Workshop in 1952 with wife Priscilla Pointer, Herbert Blau, and Beatrice Manley. There, he served as Consulting Director until 1966. He was Artistic Director of the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center from 1965-1972. He died on July 28, 1979 in Reno, Nevada, USA. One of his daughters is actress Amy Irving.

The Jersey City Free Public Library (JCFPL) is the largest municipal library in the State of New Jersey, serving one of the most diverse cities in the country. The Library meets the needs of the community by providing a wide array of programming and resources, and access to a broad range of print, digital, and audiovisual collections. The Library has been a cornerstone of Jersey City’s growing and changing community for more than 120 years.

In 1889, Mayor Orestes Cleveland appointed a board of trustees to found the Jersey City Free Public Library. In 1901, the library opened with 15,515 books, ready to serve Jersey City’s residents. At present, the JCFPL consists of ten locations and a Bookmobile, offering physical and digital collections exceeding one million items. The library staff of 140+ provides the nearly 300,000 residents with information, programs, services, events, and resources for entertainment and lifelong learning. The JCFPL continues to evolve in order to best serve Jersey City’s racially, economically, and socially (incredibly) diverse population.

The New Jersey Room is the local history department of the library, located on the third floor of the Priscilla Gardner Main Library Branch. It contains an extensive collection of books, images, maps, research files and more documenting the history of Jersey City and Hudson County, as well as the state and region.

Formed as a department in 1964 to incorporate the collections of the Hudson County Historical Society and the research collection of William H. Richardson into the existing historical materials collected by the library, the New Jersey Room has served generations of genealogists, students of all levels, historians, creative writers, and casual researchers alike. Whether it be the history of a family, a building, street, or neighborhood, social issues, or the perpetual cycles of redevelopment, the New Jersey Room collection and its dedicated staff are here as a resource to all who have an interest in Jersey City and Hudson County.

The founding of the New Jersey State Normal School in Jersey City was based on legislation in and subsequent amendments to the New Jersey Laws of 1903. Chartered in 1927 and formally opened on September 12, 1929, New Jersey State Normal School in Jersey City was the sixth state normal school established in the state. The first state normal school was established in Trenton in 1855, followed by subsequent state normal schools in Montclair, Newark, Glassboro, Paterson, and finally, Jersey City.

Shortly after 1855, while deliberations were ongoing regarding the establishment of a second state normal school, a local Jersey City-based Saturday Normal School that was run by the Jersey City Board of Education began in 1856, operating for a total of twenty-three years. In 1877, a teacher training school began in a grammar school where student teachers took “training class” to observe and do practice teaching.

By 1886, preparatory work for teaching transferred to the Jersey City Training School for Teachers. In 1896 it relocated to a new building and was institutionally reorganized to have two departments: “Model” and “Practice.” By the end of 1900, the school closed and the Board of Education renewed their 1896 proposal for the Assembly to pass a bill providing a location for a Jersey City-based state normal school.

In 1911, the New Jersey Department of Education attempted to cement jurisdiction of the state, rather than cities and counties, to unify the training and certification of teachers across the entire state. The State Normal School at Trenton started offering a state certificate, which allowed graduates to teach in any part of the state. This contributed to a decline in attendance to existing Jersey City-based training schools that could not offer such a certificate, in addition to the onset of World War I.

While educators and officials in Hudson County long sought to establish a normal school locally, it took nearly twenty-five years since the initial state legislation (1903-1927) before the construction of the state normal school in Jersey City. Various factors led to delays, such as legislative setbacks, funding changes at the state level, difficulties in securing a site in the city for the school, and tense partisan political battles. These challenges were met with the advocacy of Jersey City civic clubs and appeals by various Jersey City education commissioners, ultimately leading to the legislature approving funds for the New Jersey State Normal School at Jersey City in 1927. Two years later, the New Jersey State Normal School in Jersey City opened in 1929.

The New Jersey State Normal School in Jersey City was renamed and restructured throughout the years:

• New Jersey State Normal School in Jersey City, 1927-1935
• New Jersey State Teachers College at Jersey City in 1935, offering bachelor of science degree in education and the country’s only teacher-training college with a three-year program
• Jersey City State College in 1958, offering a bachelor of arts degree and four-year liberal arts program
• New Jersey City University in 1998, establishing a College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, and College of professional studies

The founding of the New Jersey State Normal School in Jersey City was based on legislation in and subsequent amendments to the New Jersey Laws of 1903. Chartered in 1927 and formally opened on September 12, 1929, New Jersey State Normal School in Jersey City was the sixth state normal school established in the state. The first state normal school was established in Trenton in 1855, followed by subsequent state normal schools in Montclair, Newark, Glassboro, Paterson, and finally, Jersey City.

The New Jersey State Normal School in Jersey City was renamed and restructured throughout the years:

• New Jersey State Normal School in Jersey City, 1927-1935
• New Jersey State Teachers College at Jersey City in 1935, offering bachelor of science degree in education and the country’s only teacher-training college with a three-year program
• Jersey City State College in 1958, offering a bachelor of arts degree and four-year liberal arts program
• New Jersey City University in 1998, establishing a College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, and College of professional studies

"While New Jersey City University throughout its history has held fast to its founding principles of access and excellence, it has grown and evolved over the years to become the institution of great opportunity that it is today.

Chartered in 1927, what is now New Jersey City University opened in 1929 as the New Jersey State Normal School at Jersey City. It was renamed New Jersey State Teachers College at Jersey City in 1935 and Jersey City State College in 1958 before adopting its present-day status and name in 1998.

NJCU began its history as the country's only teacher-training college with a three-year program. In a single building situated on 10 acres along what was then Hudson Boulevard, it taught 330 women and one man, most of whom were residents of Hudson County. In 1958 the school was authorized to award the Bachelor of Arts degree, and an M.A. in education was added the following year. In 1962, it became one of the few colleges in the United States with a special-education demonstration school when it began administering the A. Harry Moore School, with which it officially merged in 1963. In 1968, Jersey City State College developed a liberal arts program.

In 1998, the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education approved the school's request for university status and a change in name to New Jersey City University, and the institution was restructured to include:

• The College of Arts and Sciences, dedicated as the William J. Maxwell College of Arts and Sciences in 2006 in honor of the 1958 alumnus, president emeritus, and distinguished service professor of history and education
• The College of Education, dedicated in 2007 as the Deborah Cannon Partridge Wolfe College of Education in honor of the 1937 alumna, teacher, theologian and humanitarian
• The College of Professional Studies"

(From the New Jersey City University website)

The founding of the New Jersey State Normal School in Jersey City was based on legislation in and subsequent amendments to the New Jersey Laws of 1903. Chartered in 1927 and formally opened on September 12, 1929, New Jersey State Normal School in Jersey City was the sixth state normal school established in the state. The first state normal school was established in Trenton in 1855, followed by subsequent state normal schools in Montclair, Newark, Glassboro, Paterson, and finally, Jersey City.

Shortly after 1855, while deliberations were ongoing regarding the establishment of a second state normal school, a local Jersey City-based Saturday Normal School that was run by the Jersey City Board of Education began in 1856, operating for a total of twenty-three years. In 1877, a teacher training school began in a grammar school where student teachers took “training class” to observe and do practice teaching.

By 1886, preparatory work for teaching transferred to the Jersey City Training School for Teachers. In 1896 it relocated to a new building and was institutionally reorganized to have two departments: “Model” and “Practice.” By the end of 1900, the school closed and the Board of Education renewed their 1896 proposal for the Assembly to pass a bill providing a location for a Jersey City-based state normal school.

In 1911, the New Jersey Department of Education attempted to cement jurisdiction of the state, rather than cities and counties, to unify the training and certification of teachers across the entire state. The State Normal School at Trenton started offering a state certificate, which allowed graduates to teach in any part of the state. This contributed to a decline in attendance to existing Jersey City-based training schools that could not offer such a certificate, in addition to the onset of World War I.

While educators and officials in Hudson County long sought to establish a normal school locally, it took nearly twenty-five years since the initial state legislation (1903-1927) before the construction of the state normal school in Jersey City. Various factors led to delays, such as legislative setbacks, funding changes at the state level, difficulties in securing a site in the city for the school, and tense partisan political battles. These challenges were met with the advocacy of Jersey City civic clubs and appeals by various Jersey City education commissioners, ultimately leading to the legislature approving funds for the New Jersey State Normal School at Jersey City in 1927. Two years later, the New Jersey State Normal School in Jersey City opened in 1929.

The New Jersey State Normal School in Jersey City was renamed and restructured throughout the years:

• New Jersey State Normal School in Jersey City, 1927-1935
• New Jersey State Teachers College at Jersey City in 1935, offering bachelor of science degree in education and the country’s only teacher-training college with a three-year program
• Jersey City State College in 1958, offering a bachelor of arts degree and four-year liberal arts program
• New Jersey City University in 1998, establishing a College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, and College of professional studies

Louise E. Woodruff Bush was born in 1887 to David Woodruff and Frances (sometimes spelled "Francis") Demond in Morristown, NJ. She attended the New Jersey State Normal School where she was president of the Gamma Sigma literary society and studied the Kindergarten course. She graduated in June 1907 and began teaching in East Orange Schools. In 1914, she married John A. Brokaw, who died in four years later. She married William H. Bush (1881-1954) in 1924 and later moved with him to Chatham, NJ. She remained active with Trenton State alumni groups including Gamma Sigma Nu throughout her life. She died in 1963.

Mildred G. Duncan Warnecke was born to Charles Henry Duncan (1873-unknown) and Laura Ella Woolman (1876-1928) in 1902 in Burlington, NJ. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Education from The New Jersey Normal School at Trenton in 1924. She married Rudolph Emil Warnecke (1902-1967), with whom she had three children: Donald Bruce Warnecke (1929-1931), Suzanne Warnecke (1931-2023), and Carol Warnecke Harris (1932-). She taught in New Jersey schools in three different locations, specifically in Burlington schools from 1924-1927, Rutgers Preparatory School in Somerset in the 1930s, and in Westfield schools from 1942-1946.

Warnecke had been a very active member of Gamma Sigma Nu, where she later befriended Louise Woodruff Bush (class of 1911), whose photo albums also are part of this collection.

Edna Buck Van Sickle Budd was born in 1890 to Walter N. Van Sickle and Theresa Buck in Unionville, NY. Shortly after, the family moved to Wantage, NJ. She attended the New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton where she was president of the class of 1911, a member of Gamma Sigma literary society, and a member of the short-lived social club the “Sacred Nine.” She taught 6th grade in Chatham, NJ schools for three years before marrying Merritt L. Budd (1887-1952) in 1914. After her children were born, she was active in their school’s Parent Teacher Association, as well as a wide array of religious, civic, and history organizations. She also remained active in the Trenton State College, Gamma Sigma Nu alumni group. She died in 1982.