New Jersey Early Land Records Project

Transcription

1 New Jersey Early Land Records Project Overview The manuscript at right is the original deed to New Jersey. More precisely, it is the 24 June 1664 release of James, Duke of York, to Sir George Carteret and Lord John Berkeley for the territory between the Hudson and Delaware rivers in America. This parchment, bearing the Duke s original signature, was the centerpiece of New Jersey s year-long 350th anniversary celebration in Corporate funds were donated for its conservation and exhibition in the New Jersey State House. It served as a historical icon for thousands of residents who visited the State Capitol during the year, and for those who attended our New Jersey Day ceremonies and festival in Trenton in June of that year. The document is remarkable in many ways. Of course it is a beautiful, exquisite artifact. It has profound symbolic value, containing the very naming of the province in honor of Carteret s homeland, the Isle of Jersey. As a title document it is the foundation for all subsequent land conveyances in the colony and state. And it is the cornerstone upon which New Jersey s charters, proprietorships, and public recordkeeping were established. But the Duke s Grant is remarkable for another reason. For most of its 352-year history, it was not readily accessible to the public. New Jersey s early property records are of national significance for several reasons. Millions of American families descend from the immigrant settlers of colonial New Jersey whose lives they memorialize. They tell the story of settlement patterns and the land-distribution and legal systems Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 1 of 20

2 in one of the original 13 colonies. They also document interactions and relationships between New Jersey s Indian sachems and European immigrants of varying ethnic and religious backgrounds. However, our land papers are also unique in comparison to those of the other colonies in that roughly two thirds of them were held privately for twelve generations. New Jersey s original grantees, Carteret and Berkeley, were endowed by the Crown with both land and governance rights. After several years of European settlement of the province under their 1665 Concession and Agreements, the first proprietors (in Carteret s case, his estate) released their interests to investors. The successor corporations came to be known as the East and West Jersey Proprietors. They ruled the province until 1703, when Queen Anne compelled their surrender of governance. At that time, the royal government required the proprietors to turn over certain publick records containing commissions and legal documents to the new Provincial Secretary. These books formed the core of the royal colony s archive, with its clerks continuing the volumes to record land conveyances. The proprietors land rights, however, were not disrupted by the installation of royal government. They survived the Revolutionary War and in fact continue today. For well over three centuries, on both sides of the ancient Province Line, the proprietors appropriated acreage to their shareholders and local settlers. They meticulously recorded these transactions in their own books, also retaining original returns of surveys with contemporary sketches of tracts as they were delineated. (In the case of West Jersey, these and other loose papers date back to the 1670s.) In 1998, East Jersey s proprietors sold their vestigial land rights to the State and disbanded. Their vast archive, housed for over three centuries in the East Jersey capital of Perth Amboy, was transported across the Province Line to the New Jersey State Archives (NJSA) in Trenton. Then in 2005, State Archivist Joseph R. Klett negotiated the terms of a long-term deposit of the West Jersey Proprietors record holdings, held in the ancient West Jersey capital of Burlington, Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 2 of 20

3 with the State. Please see the press coverage of these monumental developments available as a PDF at Since the acquisition/curation of the proprietary records, NJSA has been unpacking boxes of records dating back to the 1600s. The State has invested over $250,000 to date in projects to process, conserve, and index its holdings of early land papers (which now amount to over 80,000 colonial and proprietary records). Yet there is still much to be done and the State s resources are limited. As New Jerseyans are fiercely proud of their heritage, it is not surprising that this year a diverse set of user groups came together to facilitate and expedite the needed work. NJSA outlined the New Jersey Early Land Records Project consisting of eight interrelated subprojects designed to reach the goal of ready access to all of the early real-property documents. They include: archival processing of West Jersey Proprietors records; data entry from multiple collections to expand the State s existing Early Land Records online database (see below); conservation; and digitization. When completed, the Project will radically alter the research landscape for colonial New Jersey. The Genealogical Society of New Jersey (GSNJ) was offered, and embraced, the role of Project administrator, entering into a formal agreement with NJSA to govern the endeavor (see PDF at The work will cost $377,633, toward which the State has committed over $200,000 during the next three years (please see our full Project budget, also available at In addition to NJSA s commitment, the Project has attracted impressive corporate and organizational support in-state. Since fundraising began in Summer 2016, a total of $51,665 in grants and donations has been committed to the work from the following organizations: Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New Jersey ($14,165) New Jersey Land Title Association ($5,000) and Agency Section ($5,000) Signature Information Solutions ($10,000) Priority Search Services / State Capital Title & Abstract Co. / Western Technologies Group ($10,000) Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 3 of 20

4 The Grabas Institute for Continuing Education ($2,500) New Jersey Society of Professional Land Surveyors ($2,500) Taylor Wiseman & Taylor ($2,500) We have identified four subprojects for which NHPRC funding is most appropriate and would make a crucial difference. These activities include the archival processing of roughly 10,600 West Jersey loose papers and the addition or completion of index data for over 60,000 land instruments. Over 60 record series will be addressed, from colonial- and proprietary-level filings to local land records and family papers. We believe our Project will set precedent in the northeastern U.S. in its statewide coverage and date span, and the fact that it will index records from so many sources. This expectation is reflected in the wonderful support letters received from various sectors (see PDF at In addition to the funding partners listed above, letter writers include renowned regional organizations such as the National Genealogical Society, the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society, and the New Netherland Research Center. Several preeminent New Jersey scholars and professional groups have also communicated their support, such as Dr. Maxine Lurie, Dr. Richard Hunter, the Archaeological Society of New Jersey, the Association of Professional Genealogists, and of course the West Jersey Proprietors (which is currently in the process of becoming a non-profit historical organization). We hope the NHPRC and its reviewers will look favorably on our request for $99,993 in funding to complement an institutional match of $66,906 (40% of the proposed budget) to support the four subprojects. Our enthusiasm about this effort has been contagious and inspiring to others. We hope we have done justice to this in our presentation. Note: Throughout the narrative, we will refer to the large-scale Early Land Records Project by its full title or as the Project and will refer to the subprojects proposed for grant funding as the proposal or by their specific names. Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 4 of 20

5 Collections Land records are invaluable for genealogical and local history research. They contain proofs of lineage, long-forgotten Indian place names, and details of the cultural landscape. The collections included in the Early Land Records Project also illustrate the history of surveying and landownership in colonial America. Included are royal grants, patents, surveys, deeds, mortgages, quitclaims, etc. The bulk of the instruments to be addressed date from the pre-1785 period, before New Jersey s county clerks were required by law to systematically record deeds. Yet these materials are underutilized due to the complicated nature of accessing the information they contain. Land papers from the colonial period may be difficult to read, or to understand even if the text is very legible. And depending on the collection, finding specific documents can be tricky and may require several steps using manual indexes, abstracts, and extract books. Even the most dogged researcher might avoid the ancient land instruments due to their complexity and language. But the answers to many historical and genealogical questions lay buried deep within them. Please see the Plan of Work section below for more information about the records to be addressed by the Project, and the Supplemental Document for specific details and illustrations in connection with the four subprojects proposed for NHPRC funding. Audience The demand for improved access to NJSA s holdings of colonial and proprietary land documents is clear and present, and ever-increasing. Our local fundraising success and the State s focus on these records demonstrate the monumental significance of our Project goals and the breadth of the intended audience. There are many potential end-users for these materials. Obviously, genealogists and local historians have much to gain from the Project. But the title industry and those interested in the history of land-use and surveying also eagerly await improved access. They bring alternative perspectives be it from an archaeologist s interest in ancient landmarks, structures, and historical Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 5 of 20

6 geography, or from a title professional s or surveyor s need to investigate colonial property rights in connection with present-day legal disputes. Recent developments have contributed to a more widespread public interest in these materials. Soon after the deposit of the West Jersey archive, Joseph R. Klett, now State Archivist, authored a Guide to Using the Records of the East and West Jersey Proprietors. This hefty research aid is available in hardcopy (free at NJSA) and online at Then, in 2012, NJSA unveiled its Early Land Records database. This resource, developed by Archivist Vivian Thiele and others, currently provides online access to information about more than 20,000 documents primarily colonial conveyances recorded by the Provincial Secretary/Secretary of State: GSNJ has also promoted the use and study of New Jersey s early land records through its publications and programming. To commemorate the 350th anniversary of New Jersey s founding, in 2014 the Society produced a supplemental number to Volume 89 of The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey. The special issue comprises a 64-page monograph, also authored by Mr. Klett, on Understanding New Jersey s Geography in the Proprietary Period. It contains short histories of the proprietorships and each of their geographic subdivisions, citing the land transactions that established early colonial settlements and correlating them to present-day municipalities. The work includes five original maps created by Veronica Calder, head of NJSA s Publication and Outreach Unit, illustrating the extent of each civil division at end of the proprietary period (1703). In recognition of this publication, Mr. Klett received two important accolades. He was given the 2015 Donald Lines Jacobus Award of the American Society of Genealogists, a prestigious honor recognizing model works of scholarship in the field of genealogy. And he recently received the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance s 2016 author award for best reference work. Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 6 of 20

7 It was also in 2014 New Jersey s 350th anniversary year that land-title educator and historian Joseph A. Grabas authored Owning New Jersey: Historic Tales of War, Property Disputes and the Pursuit of Happiness. This book analyzes how real property transactions provide insight into, and in some cases have shaped, New Jersey history. For example, the chapter titled Guns and Ankers for Land: Native American Land Transfers discusses 17th-century indentures between local sachems and settlers. One example cited is a 1684 conveyance made by Iraseeke of Wickaton, which guaranteed the Indian chief and his heirs a 315-year annual right to borrow a gun and hunt on the tract conveyed. The author uses this example and others to show that transactions between Europeans and Native Americans were more complex than is often thought. Iraseeke s deed and other documents cited by Mr. Grabas will be indexed online by our Project. NJSA s web statistics in connection with the Early Land Records database reflect the growing interest in the collections addressed in this proposal. Analytics for September-November 2016 (see show that the database was visited an average of 366 times per month. Page hits (which correlate to the number of searches performed) averaged 3,159 per month. User time at this URL was either second or third highest of all NJSA s many online databases. We anticipate that use will accelerate as we use social media to promote the Project. Finally, the Early Land Records Project will enable and promote the study and mapping of colonial communities. New data sets will allow historians, literally, to rewrite the books on settlement and land-use. GSNJ envisions use of the database by educators in engaging students at all levels to explore history. Project leaders Michelle Novak (GSNJ) and Joseph Klett (State Archives) have both developed curriculum materials for teaching with archival sources, specifically including classroom activities and assignments involving colonial deeds. The Society will further develop and promote these educational materials, incorporating the Project products. Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 7 of 20

8 Archives Program Description The Genealogical Society of New Jersey (GSNJ) GSNJ was founded in 1921 by a group of scholars dedicated to discovering, preserving, and publishing information pertaining to families and individuals associated with our state. Promoting genealogical scholarship is one of our highest priorities. We do this through: The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, founded in Our magazine is a national leader among genealogical journals and the preeminent source for transcribed and abstracted primary-source material for New Jersey. Our manuscript collections on deposit at Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J. In addition to the papers of noted genealogists, our holdings include over 6,100 family Bible records and hundreds of thousands of gravestone transcriptions. They are maintained in an excellent, controlled and secure environment, open to the public at no charge, six days a week, under the supervision of Rutgers staff. GSNJ Trustee Janet T. Riemer, retired preservation archivist at Special Collections, serves as our Manuscripts Committee Chair. The GSNJ Newsletter, now in its 40th year, which serves as a forum for book reviews and in-depth articles on repositories, archival sources, and research methodology. Our website, which provides online access to collection guides and indexes. Special publications, including volumes of transcribed source records, county-level Graveyard and Gravestone Inscriptions Locators, and other reference works. Educational programs, frequently cosponsored by other genealogical and historical groups. Advocacy for legislation and support of initiatives that increase access to records. GSNJ has always depended on a remarkable corps of volunteers focused on service and accuracy. Our 15-member board of trustees consists of archivists, librarians, professional Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 8 of 20

9 researchers, and family/local historians. They come from a variety of professional settings, including information technology, legal services, marketing and public relations, government, and academia. GSNJ s trustees represent counties across the state and all have recognized subject expertise. The Society is funded by individual and organizational memberships and subscriptions, publication sales, donations, program income, and annual operating support from the New Jersey Historical Commission. While GSNJ will act as Project administrator and fiscal agent, all work on the collections will be done at the State Archives in Trenton (see below). This arrangement will greatly facilitate and expedite the work plan, avoiding cumbersome governmental fiscal procedures, budgetary issues/freezes, delays and complications with procurement and contracting for services. Holdings New Jersey State Archives GSNJ has always enjoyed a close and robust working relationship with both Rutgers University s Special Collections department and the State Archives the two major genealogical research centers in our state. We frequently cosponsor events and projects with these institutions, and both are represented on our Board. The State Archives hosts GSNJ meetings and seminars, provides subject-matter presenters, and is a vast source for material to publish. In return, GSNJ promotes NJSA s mission and collections, advocating for preservation of and access to archival resources. NJSA will oversee the day-to-day work of processing and indexing the land instruments and provide supervision and security in the handling of the documents. Archives staff will be directly involved in the selection of all contractors and service providers. Under NJSA s depository agreement with the West Jersey Proprietors, the Archives may publish index data for the proprietary records. Similarly, GSNJ and NJSA are at liberty to publish indexing data and abstracts of public documents held locally (available on microfilm at NJSA). Since neither category of records is proposed for digitization at this time, there are no permissions or copyright concerns. Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 9 of 20

10 NJSA s facility in downtown Trenton is open, free of charge, to researchers five days a week, excepting holidays. It is conveniently located near the State Library, State Museum, and historical attractions. Its Microfilm Reading Room and reference library, where researchers access over 30,000 reels of state, county, and federal records, is open all day. The Manuscript Reading Room, providing access to over 40,000 cubic feet of paper records, is open from 1:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. Staffing consists of 13 full-time professionals and support personnel, and 8 part-time assistants, volunteers, and interns. Environmental controls and security are of utmost importance. Patrons are registered, and the use of all collections is carefully monitored with original materials thoroughly tracked. The ADA-compliant facility was repurposed for NJSA s programs and holdings in The Archives free website, which hosts the Early Land Records database, is maintained by the State of New Jersey. It is a robust site, receiving much acclaim nationally. NJSA staff post new data about collections on a daily basis. Copies of records may be ordered from the site (for a fee), or researchers can use NJSA s resources in person without charge (with fees for printing/repro). Description of Collections The collections to be processed, indexed/abstracted, and (in part) digitized by the large-scale Early Land Records Project are grouped below. The three groups shown in bold are most directly connected to the subprojects proposed for NHPRC funding in this application. Please see the Plan of Work section and Supplemental Document for more detail: Provincial Secretary/Secretary of State s deeds and surveys, (One record series; 19,587 items; 100 c.f.) [see subprojects E & F] East Jersey Proprietors surveys, warrants, and deeds, 1660s+ (Three records series; 17,476 items; 69 c.f.) [see subprojects A, C, E & F] West Jersey Proprietors surveys, warrants, and deeds, (Three record series; 32,163 items; 75 c.f.) [see subprojects A, B, & F] Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 10 of 20

11 County and municipal deeds, mortgages, and surveys, (46 record series; 11,771 items; 8 c.f. and 10 reels) [see subprojects D & E] Original land records in State Archives manuscript collections, 1660s+ (10 record series; 1,193 items; 9 c.f.) [see subprojects C & E] Formats include bound volumes, paper and parchment manuscripts, and microfilm. They consist of the following types of instruments, generally pre-1785: Royal grants to the original owners of the Province of New Jersey; Patents from colonial governors authorizing land purchases and settlement; Indian deeds to the proprietors and patentees; Surveys of tracts, both vast and small, to proprietary shareholders and immigrant colonists; and Subsequent conveyances, quitclaims, mortgages, and leases between settlers. An intense research demand for records not currently indexed by the Early Land Records database is evident from in-person and mail inquiries at the State Archives, as well as public response to, and requests for, presentations on these records. Mr. Klett alone, since 2014, has presented on early land records at ten or more venues. Mr. Grabas has also presented frequently on the topic. The need for improved access to these records is also demonstrated by the enthusiastic commitments of funding by in-state organizations and businesses, which now total $51,665. As noted, we expect the Project to increase research and educational use of the records significantly. Aside from indexing over 60,000 instruments not currently indexed, the Project will result in free access to over 25,000 digital images and selected full abstracts (see the Plan of Work section). Archival Methodologies Further details on processes and specific objectives are provided in the Plan of Work section. Methodologies are broken down below in general terms. We have included information about the Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 11 of 20

12 larger Early Land Records Project s digitization and conservation activities to provide a general context, even though we are not seeking NHPRC funding for the correlating subprojects. Physical processing. This applies to Subproject B, which completes the unfolding/foldering of post-1760 West Jersey loose papers. The work, aside from a request for archival supplies, will be contributed in-kind. Experienced personnel currently working on the pre-1760 material will resume work on the remaining documents during the grant period. Processing includes carefully unfolding the manuscripts, placing them in acid-free folders and boxes, and recording basic descriptive data (names of parties, date, acreage, and location). Oversized items are stored flat. About 50% of the legal-size manuscripts and about 80% of the oversized manuscripts require polyester L-seals/folders due to fragmentation, weakened fold lines, or losses around the edges. Data entry. The bulk of our funding request is for data entry. The data structure and data-entry practices to be employed were essentially established when the Early Land Records database was developed several years ago. This resource is constructed on a Microsoft platform using Microsoft Access software for in-house data entry into a 2014 Enterprise-edition SQL Server. The website interface and data retrieval are provided using.net programming. The online application allows for free-text searching and/or data-filtering. (It also allows the user to order copies of records using an e-commerce shopping cart function.) The database currently contains descriptions of over 20,000 land instruments. Work to date has produced extensive controlled-vocabulary tables (e.g., for personal and place names) and has allowed for many of the quirks of data extraction from colonial land papers to be worked out. Further adjustments to methodology will be made as new document and index/extract formats are addressed. Basic data entry for all instruments will include the transacting parties names, transaction date, acreage, location, and the collection/item citation. For certain collections (see the Plan of Work section), advanced data entry will be done to extract all names, including adjacent/former landowners, witnesses, etc., and all place references/landmarks. Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 12 of 20

13 Our full-abstracting pilot will add the metes and bounds from the property descriptions for 250 items. And 15,591+ links to PDFs (25,000+ images) will be added as part of our digitization pilot. The data structure will be expanded to accommodate these pilots. Precedent for database-linked images is well established by a number of online resources now available on the NJSA website. Digitization. This work included in Subproject E (not proposed for NHPRC funding) can be divided into two parts: direct scanning and microfilm-to-digital conversion. The direct scanning component will employ an Epson Expression XL scanner purchased with corporate donations. At least 1,193 documents (approx. 3,579 images) will be scanned at a resolution of 600-dpi, producing color TIFF files to be stored permanently on the State s servers. 300-dpi color JPG files will be produced from the TIFFs and incorporated into a PDF for each land instrument (containing two to four pages, typically). The PDFs will be linked to the database entries for unrestricted public use. Part of the microfilm-to-digital conversion piece has been quoted by Crowley Micrographics, who will produce 400-dpi uncompressed greyscale TIFF files will be produced from positive 35-mm microfilm with 300-dpi JPG derivatives. PDFs will be created from the JPG files and linked to the database. Microfilm-to-digital conversion will also be done by FamilySearch.org using similar specifications. Please see the Plan of Work section for further details. At this time, New Jersey does not have a centralized electronic archive program for state government (i.e., trusted repository infrastructure). However, NJSA has a robust digitization program, established over a decade ago, which currently preserves over 110,000 image files on secure servers maintained and backed up by the New Jersey Office of Information Technology (NJOIT). NJOIT will provide increased server capacity to accommodate the Project. Conservation services. Subproject G (not proposed for NHPRC funding) will utilize the services of the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) in Philadelphia to repair, stabilize, seal-package, and frame several manuscripts of special significance. CCAHA is a Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 13 of 20

14 renowned national center for conservation of paper and parchment documents, and other materials. Please see the Plan of Work section for additional information. Project Products A primary product of the Project will be the vastly expanded Early Land Records database, fully accessible to the public. It will continue to reside on the State s secure servers, supported by both NJSA and NJOIT. When the work is completed, over 80,000 documents will be indexed. The subprojects proposed for grant funding will complete about 60,000 of the database records. Subprojects E and F (only the latter being proposed for NHPRC funding) will digitize 15,591+ land instruments and fully abstract 250+ colonial documents, respectively. During the grant period, Subproject B will physically arrange and stabilize 10,600 West Jersey loose papers from the post period. Finally, Subproject G (not proposed for grant funding) will conserve colonial manuscripts of special significance. In order to bring the Project to life, GSNJ is developing a stand-alone webpage to be launched in mid-december It will provide an overview of the collections and goals, and acknowledge our funding partners. The site will also feature short videos about the importance and uniqueness of the documents and tips for using the Early Land Records database. Project Publicity GSNJ s project administrator, Michelle Novak, is a marketing and public relations professional and will assist with publicity efforts for both the Society and NJSA. The State Archives also has publications and outreach personnel (namely Veronica Calder and her unit) who will be dedicated to several subprojects and public promotion of the work overall. Plans for publicity include: Regular social media postings (Facebook, Twitter) by both GSNJ and NJSA. Articles in The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey and/or the GSNJ Newsletter dedicated to the Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 14 of 20

15 importance and history of the colonial land records and Project goals. State, regional, and national genealogical press including, potentially: New Jersey Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal (Rutgers University); National Genealogical Society Quarterly; the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society s New York Researcher; and others. A teaching guide on the online resource and collections, downloadable from the project website. In-person presentations at the following potential venues: GSNJ s annual seminars; National Genealogical Society conferences; New Jersey Historical Commission conferences; land-title, professional surveying, and archaeological venues; lineage society and local historical events; regional/national archives and history conferences and webinars. Short videos hosted on the project website. Plan of Work As noted, the Project will build upon NJSA s existing Early Land Records database and processing and indexing work already completed by Archives staff. The database is a free resource hosted and supported by the State of New Jersey. Most of the needed data-entry will be done by two levels of contractors. Basic data-entry contractors, to be paid at $20/hour, will add data from straightforward sources, including indexes and abstracts. Advanced data-entry contractors with experience reading colonial script and legal documents will be paid at $24/hour. The latter will be employed for work requiring analysis of the original texts. Rather than hire a project archivist, our plan is to contract with existing NJSA part-time staff and potentially others (undergraduate or graduate students). There are three reasons for this, based on past experience with similar data-entry projects at NJSA. First, State government allows part-time employees to work only 944 hours annually (roughly half-time). The same employees, however, can be contracted by GSNJ to work additional hours on data entry. Typically, State Archives part-time employees work close to half-time for the State. Generally, they have history and/or library degrees Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 15 of 20

16 and/or are retired librarians or archivists from non-governmental settings. Our plan will allow potentially several experienced NJSA part-time staff members to work essentially full-time at NJSA. Secondly, our plan will allow us to employ individuals who already have experience with NJSA s collections and data-entry activities. Thirdly, since most of New Jersey s colonial records are held by the State Archives, the in-state professionals that are most practiced with reading colonial scripts are already employed by the State Archives. This includes four or five existing part-time staff with years of qualifying experience. Our plan largely eliminates the learning curve for data entry. All eight subprojects of the Early Land Records Project are summarized below to provide full context. Further details and illustrations for the four proposed for NHPRC funding (A, B, D, and F) and our Project timeline are included in the Supplemental Document. Please also see the full Project master budget (not to be confused with the proposal budget) at Subproject A: East/West Jersey Bound Surveys, This work entails data entry to index 23,374 surveys from East and West Jersey Proprietors record books. Basic data entry will be completed prior to the grant period from handwritten extract books. We propose NHPRC funding for a second phase of advanced data entry (1, hours at a cost of $29,351.60) to add names and place references from the full document texts. Archivist Vivian Thiele will supervise the subproject. Please see the Supplemental Document for more details and illustrations. Subproject B: West Jersey Loose Papers, Building upon ongoing work, this subproject will complete the processing and indexing of West Jersey Proprietors loose surveys, warrants, and deeds (which begin in the 1670s). The first component is the physical processing of roughly 10,600 post-1760 documents. We propose NHPRC-funding of needed archival supplies ($4,702.40). The second component will index 17,200 post-1727 documents. We propose NHPRC fund the estimated 2,150 hours of basic data-entry for this work at a cost of $43,000. Staff time for this work will be an in-kind contribution valued at $41, Vivian Thiele will supervise Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 16 of 20

17 the subproject. Please see the Supplemental Document for more details and illustrations. Subproject C: NJSA/East Jersey Loose Documents. This work entails reformatting and importing electronic data into the Early Land Records database from existing finding aids for multiple manuscript collections containing colonial land instruments. The data is currently in Microsoft Access, Excel, and Word files. Descriptive information for 6,849 records will be added from: East Jersey loose papers, 1670s+ (5,656 records); NJSA original deeds and miscellaneous land records, 1660s+ (1,010 records); nine collections of personal/family papers containing colonial land records, 1720s+ (approx. 183 records). The work will enable other subprojects, most directly part of Subproject E (our digitization pilot; see below). Archivists Vivian Thiele and Veronica Calder will commence this activity prior to the grant period. No NHPRC grant funds are requested for this subproject. Subproject D: Pre-1787 Local Records. This subproject will add descriptive information to the Early Land Records database for an estimated 11,771 documents from 46 different county and municipal record series containing pre-1787 land papers. We estimate 1, hours of basic data entry will be needed at a total cost of $29, Corporate and organizational donations to the Project in the amount of $10,500 will be applied to this work prior to the grant period. We seek NHPRC funds to support the remaining work, at a cost of $18,927.50, as part of the subproject to be done during the grant period. Archivist Veronica Calder will supervise this subproject. Please see the Supplemental Document for more details and illustrations. Subproject E: Digitization Pilot. The technical aspects of this work are described in the Methodologies section. In summary, over 25,000 digital images of early land records (a combination of direct color scans and grayscale images converted from microfilm) will be incorporated into over 15,000 PDF files linked to our database. NJSA staff members Darleen Blackwell and Veronica Calder will perform the needed work, with corporate/organizational Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 17 of 20

18 donations funding equipment and services. The cost of the subproject is estimated at $86, over a three-year period. No NHPRC grant funds are requested for this subproject. Subproject F: Full-Abstracting Pilot. This work entails data entry to add the metes and bounds (property delineations) to the database entries for a selection of 250 land instruments. The objective is to facilitate mapping projects relating to colonial New Jersey. A long-term goal, though not a specific deliverable in this proposal, is the addition of plotting functionality to our online resource. Archivists Veronica Calder and Vivian Thiele, and Director Joseph Klett will contribute supervision of this subproject in-kind, valued at $9, We request grant funds to support hours of advanced data entry in the amount of $4,000. Please see the Supplemental Document for more details and illustrations. Subproject G: Conservation. This work will entail professional conservation treatment by the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts for several colonial manuscripts. Three have been identified already, with treatment plans and cost estimates completed and local funding secured. They are: Daniel Leeds Book of Surveys (West Jersey), ca ; Dame Elizabeth Carteret s deed to the trustees of Sir George Carteret s estate (East Jersey), 1682; and the Gloucester County Indian deed (West Jersey), These documents will also be digitized by the conservator. This will enable Leeds Book to be more effectively indexed/abstracted, and will allow images of the items to be posted online. State Archives Collection Manager Ellen Callahan will oversee this subproject. No NHPRC grant funds are requested for conservation work. Subproject H: Administration. This work entails: meetings between GSNJ trustees, NJSA staff, and the Project Advisory Board; fiscal oversight and reporting; promotional activities; and the development of the project website. Staff/volunteer hours for both organizations will be contributed in-kind, though are not considered part of the proposal (to simplify grant reporting). Local funds will be used to support the costs of workmen s compensation insurance, payroll Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 18 of 20

19 services, and bank fees. While the administrative costs for the Project as a whole are valued at $35,157.90, again, we are not including this subproject as part of our proposal. The full Project budget over the next three years totals $377,633. The cost of the activities included in this proposal in subprojects A, B, D, and F amount to $166,898. Of this total, we seek NHPRC grant funding of $99,993. Our institutional match is of $66,906 will fund 40% of the proposal budget. Our Supplemental Document contains a detailed timeline showing the sequencing of the subprojects. Generally speaking, each project can stand alone during the grant period although components of each will build upon work currently underway, or to be done prior to the grant period using funds already in hand. Staff Qualifications Genealogical Society of New Jersey (GSNJ), 401(c)3: Bios of the members of GSNJ s Early Land Records Project Ad-Hoc Committee are included in the Supplemental Document. These three trustees will contribute administrative time and participate in quarterly Advisory Board meetings, with the chair attending additional meetings with NJSA staff. Michelle D. Novak, Chair and Project Administrator C. Arthur Lawton III, President Scott A. Holmes, Treasurer New Jersey State Archives (NJSA): Four members of the State Archives staff will contribute reportable time to the NHPRC-funded subprojects. See the Supplemental Document for bios. Full resumes are included for all NJSA Project staff in the Staff Resumes document available as a PDF at Joseph R. Klett, Executive Director [Subproject F] Vivian E. Thiele, Database Archivist [Subprojects A, B, D, & F] Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 19 of 20

20 Veronica L. Calder, Publications & Outreach Unit Supervisor [Subprojects D & F] Gregory R. Smith, Processing Assistant [Subproject A] Project Advisors: Our Advisory Board includes: the GSNJ committee; senior NJSA staff; representatives of donor organizations/corporations; representatives of the West Jersey Proprietors; and others from the fields of archaeology, land-title research, and surveying. The group will have regular progress meetings. Please see the Advisory Board directory available as a PDF at Performance Objectives Specific objectives for the subprojects proposed for NHPRC funding include: Indexing/abstracting over 60,000 additional colonial and proprietary land instruments (to supplement over 20,000 currently in the Early Land Records database). Arranging/rehousing 10,600 post-1760 West Jersey loose papers. Full abstracting of 250+ colonial documents. The following are also specific Project objectives, though not included in the components proposed for NHPRC funding: Digitizing over 15,000 land records for unrestricted, free use. Professional conservation of several colonial land instruments of special significance. And finally, the following are long-term objectives of the Project as a whole: Increased use of the Early Land Records database and project-related materials for genealogical, historical, archaeological, land-title, surveying, educational, and other activities. Increased traffic on the State Archives and GSNJ websites, generally. Public presentations, scholarly articles, social media posts; increased institutional outreach overall. Promoting genealogical scholarship and the use of primary sources. Genealogical Society of New Jersey NHPRC Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects ARCHIVAL Narrative Page 20 of 20