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Annual Reports of the State Normal School Board of Trustees to the State Senate and General Assembly provide a yearly review of both the Normal School and Model School operations. The information provided varies from year to year but generally includes a Report of the Principal [a position that became President of the College], Treasurer’s Reports, a list of officers and instructors, descriptions of courses of instruction and names of graduates.

This series include tuition receipts for John McCormick (n.d., 1862) and George Hildebrecht (1902-1903); Commencement Programs (1878, 1880); the History of Class of 1904, compiled by Class President Kenneth H. Lanning (1930); Modellian (1915) [Model School yearbook]; and two scrapbooks kept by Grace Bromwell Fletcher, Class of 1907 and Emma R. Kerns Crofton, Class of 1916. These scrapbooks were pre-printed and titled The Girl Graduate: Her Own Book, providing places for photographs, event programs, class prophecies, class autographs and other ephemera.

This series features alumni-sponsored event programs dating from 1901 to 1991, and issues of the Accent and Alumni Review from 1987 to 1996. Although technically a publication of the college’s Office of College Relations, this publication does include class notes, news about local Alumni association chapters and feature articles on alumni. As noted above, information on alumni may also be found in issues of The Signal and State Signal (see Series 4).

This series includes several publications that provide a good overview of the Normal and Model
Schools as well as for specific topics as listed below. Especially interesting are State Teachers College
and State Normal School, Trenton, NJ: Past, Present and Future, 1930 and Time the Great Teacher: A History
of One Hundred Years of the New Jersey State Teachers College at Trenton, 1855-1955. The material is
arranged in chronological order.

This small series is arranged in chronological order and includes material from 1857, 1865, 1904,
1920 and 1986. The earliest letter is an 1857 invitation from the Normal School Principal to the
Judges of the Court of Errors and Appeals to examine programs of the institution. The most recent
is a 1986 letter of protest at early attempts to remove Trenton from the name of Trenton State
College.

This series is divided according to the publications' origins, and includes the following sub-series:
The Signal and State Signal - Includes some issues of The Signal and its successor publication the State Signal, a student publication established in 1885 that continues to be published today. The Signal began as a literary magazine created by students of both the Normal School and the Model School. In addition to poems and short stories, it reported general news about the schools (athletics, courses, cultural activities, etc.), and information about faculty, graduating
seniors and alumni as well as providing editorials. Of particular interest is the May-June 1917 issue which includes a history of (p. 193) and a farewell to (p. 195) the Model School which closed in 1917. After a lapse of 10 years, the publication returned in the fall of 1929 as a student newspaper providing full coverage of campus activities. This collection includes scattered issues of The Signal from 1885 to 1919, and some issues of the State Signal from 1933 to 1975. Issues from 1933 document the school’s move from Trenton to the new Hillwood Lakes campus (Ewing), and the 1955 issue documents the centennial celebration of the Normal School.

Student Handbooks - The Student Handbook (1938-1939; 1939-1940) was published by the Student Executive Board and provides information about academics, social groups, athletics, and general policies. A Hand Book for the Women’s Athletic Association (1939-1940) provides information about women’s intramural and school sports activities.

Bonner Scholar Publications - There are a few issues of a publication from TCNJ’s Bonner Scholars. The Wall (2017-2018), which became Street Light (2018, 2023), features stories about homelessness in Trenton.

Miscellaneous Student publications - This sub-series includes a booklet of two plays written in 1921 by the Normal School’s History and English classes; a 1942 satirical student newspaper; a 1960 literary magazine and a photographic essay about Front & Warren Streets in Trenton (ca. 2000s).

Miscellaneous Faculty Writings - Included is Geography of New Jersey, by State Teachers College President Roscoe L. West and former Head of Geography Department, Ella Huntington, 1938, and two papers on women in politics given by Trenton State College faculty members Allen H. Merriam (Indira Gandhi: Prime Minister) and Marian B. McLeod (Bernadette Devlin: Irish Political Heroine) as part of a conference titled Women in Politics: Studies in Role and Status, 1974.

Outside Publications – This includes a variety of booklets and pamphlets and press clippings written by sources outside the school that discuss aspects of the institution. Of particular interest are issues of the Education Bulletin published by the New Jersey State Board of Education, 1915-1919, 1948 and Curricula and Entrance Requirements of the State Teachers Colleges and State Normal Schools, 1929, published by the State Department of Public Instruction.

This series consists of brochures, pamphlets, programs and notices produced by the school’s administration and student organizations. Administration material include brochures about the school’s tuition, special or new academic programs, celebrations and commencement programs. Student brochures promote plays, debates and other activities.

This series includes a handful of photographs and a variety of materials that do not fit in the other series. Of particular interest to the history of Normal schools in general is the work "American Normal Schools: Their Theory, their Workings, and their Results, as Embodied in the Proceedings of the First Annual Convention of the American Normal School Association, Held at Trenton, New Jersey August 19 and 20, 1859." There is also a small and charming collection of dance card/event programs, which were used by young women to schedule with whom they would dance during the evening. Often, as in this collection, the cards were part of a small, printed program of the event which could be worn on the wrist. Finally, this series includes a ca. 1930s Teacher’s College beanie that freshman class members were required to wear.

Note that the photographs that appear in the "Additional Photographs" folder make up a part of Trentoniana's photograph collection, and do not physically appear in this record group.

This series includes issues of The Seal dating from 1913 to 1972. Some issues are inventoried and stored with the Trenton Normal and Model Schools et al. Collection while others are available in the Trentoniana Room for immediate use by the public. Publication of The Seal began in 1911 and continued until 2018. Produced by each senior class, these yearbooks typically include photographs of the senior class, lists of clubs, athletic teams, class “prophecies,” as well as information about teachers and academic departments.

A complete list of the specific volumes, arranged chronologically, follows:
New Jersey State Normal School: 1913, 1914, 1915, 1919
New Jersey State Normal School at Trenton: 1922 (ex libris Elizabeth S. Dixon), 1924 (ex libris Lucy Territo), 1924 (ex libris Marguerite A. Gulick, home economics faculty), 1925 (ex libris Margaret Freas)

Trenton Normal School: 1927 (ex libris Virginia R. Manton), 1928 (ex libris “Dot”), 1928 (ex libris Marion Rogers), 1929 (ex libris Dorothy S. Mount)

Trenton State Teachers College: 1933, 1934 (ex libris Alice Evelyn Moody), 1935, 1936 (ex libris Donald S. Robinson)
1937, 1939-1941, 1942 (ex libris “Business Office”), 1943, [1944 was not published], 1945, 1946, 1947 (ex libris Frieda Riddick), 1948 (ex libris Frieda Ruddick), 1949-1958

Trenton State College: 1959-1967, 1964 (ex libris Fred A. Schultz), 1968 (ex-libris Asst. Professor Byron Steele), 1968 (ex libris Bill Allibone; includes 2 letters from Alberta G. Maged class of 1969 to Bill Allibone), 1969 (with supplement), 1970 (ex libris Peggy Esposito, secretary of C. Walter Benner, Trenton High School Vice President), 1971-1973, 1977, 1979

Trenton State College Alumni Association Directories: 1988, 1993

This series consists of four variations of a map drawn in 1977 depicting the land in Ewing that was purchased to develop the new Normal School campus. The main drawing, titled “Old Crosskeys to William Green Farm Today,” was drawn by Robert Reeder Green for his book The Land Along the Shabakunks, and shows historic features of the tract. It also includes one page from the 1930 Franklin Real Estate plat book, depicting the Normal and Model Schools in their original Trenton location.