State of New Jersey

Department of State
Trenton, NJ 08625
(609) 984-1900

WEST JERSEY PROPRIETORS’ ARCHIVES COME TO TRENTON
Records of Early Colonial Settlement and Governance Deposited at State Archives

TRENTON – The New Jersey Department of State is proud to announce today that the Division of Archives and Records Management has received on deposit the Council of Proprietors of West New Jersey’s vast holdings of historical surveys, record books and maps. Stored in Burlington for over three centuries, such monumental documents as the original 1664 patents from the Duke of York, the Concessions and Agreements of 1676, which served as West Jersey’s constitution and bill of rights, and many thousands of land surveys are now more accessible to the researching public than ever before.

Secretary of State Regena L. Thomas applauded the deposit, which unites the incomparable archives of both the East and West Jersey Proprietors within a single research institution for the first time in history. “I commend the State Archives and the Council of Proprietors of West New Jersey for taking this step,” Thomas said, “which will ensure the preservation of some of New Jersey’s earliest and most important historical records, and make them available to students of our unique colonial past.”

According to division director Karl J. Niederer, “The 330-year-old West Jersey Proprietors are the legal successors to John, Lord Berkeley, who received rights to half of the colony under the Duke’s 1664 grant. In 1676, Berkeley’s heirs agreed to a division of New Jersey into eastern and western provinces.”

Joseph R. Klett, chief of the State Archives, said the 1676 agreement, referred to as the Quintipartite (five-party) Deed, is among the manuscripts now in the State’s care, along with others signed by proprietor William Penn, and the notes of John Lawrence, who surveyed the division in 1743. Klett continued, “The collection joins a large volume of related proprietary and colonial records formerly filed with the Secretary of State’s Office and transferred to the Archives in the 1960s, as well as East Jersey’s records.” The East Jersey General Board of Proprietors dissolved in 1998, selling their land rights to the State’s Green Acres program and transferring their records to the State Archives.

“It’s really been a banner year for colonial records in New Jersey,” said Niederer. He and Klett were instrumental in the State’s successful acquisition of seventeenth-century records and maps of East Jersey proprietary governor Robert Barclay at Christie’s auction house in June. Niederer further noted that as the New Jersey’s official repository for public records and historical research center, the State Archives is prepared to meet the challenges presented by the addition of the West Jersey Proprietors’ records to its manuscript holdings.

In total, the West Jersey deposit consists of eleven large parchment documents dating from 1664 to 1763; fifty-five bound volumes of minutes, surveys, warrants, and other records dating from 1676-1909; twenty cubic feet of loose papers, including survey returns from 1680-1900s; and fifty-two boxes of rolled maps and plans dating back to the 1700s. Archives staff completed their inventory and packaging of the collection in November at the Surveyor General’s Office on High Street in Burlington. West Jersey officers Robert S. Haines (President), Daniel W. Haines (Clerk), William H. Taylor (Surveyor General) and Nancy Barclay (Treasurer) participated in the on-site inventory and helped transport the boxes.

“We’re elated to receive these documents into the State Archives’ professional care,” said Klett, who proposed the deposit and has been working out details of the transfer with Council members over the past two years. While the West Jersey Council allowed most of its bound volumes to be microfilmed in the 1950s, and the film has been publicly accessible since then, the loose papers and maps have not been readily available. “The Proprietors’ resources are limited,” Klett noted. “They’re not a public repository with paid staff and research hours.” Under the agreement, the State Archives will provide cataloging, indexing and public reference service for the collection.

Archives’ collection manager Ellen R. Callahan will have direct responsibility for storage and processing of the voluminous deposit, including detailed cataloging, creating databases and indexes, re-housing the documents in archival materials, and conservation planning. “The deposit is a milestone event for the Archives and for New Jersey’s historians,” Klett said, “and a wonderful opportunity for the state’s archivists to apply their professional expertise to preserving some of New Jersey oldest colonial manuscripts and making them accessible for research.”

West Jersey Council President Robert Haines and Twelfth Surveyor General William Taylor are equally elated with the depository arrangement. “The Proprietors have cared for these documents for the past 330 years,” Taylor said. “We are confident that the State Archives will meet the challenges of that job for at least the next three centuries.”

Council of Proprietors
West New Jersey in America
Burlington, NJ 08016

PO Box 158
Burlington, NJ 08016

December 5, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

To All Press:

The attached document, for immediate release, announces a major historical development regarding public access to over three hundred years' worth of records of the Proprietors of West New Jersey, now on deposit at the New Jersey State Archives in Trenton. We are planning a press event relating to this exciting news for next Wednesday, December 14th, at 10:00 a.m., to be held in the State Archives' Manuscript Reading Room, 2nd Floor, 225 West State Street, Trenton. The event will include short remarks by officials of the respective organizations and a display of key documents in the deposit, followed by time for press interviews.

Robert S Haines, President

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 5, 2005

BURLINGTON, NJ

Robert S. Haines, President of the Council of Proprietors of West New Jersey, announced today that the council's vast holdings of surveys, record books and maps dating back to the seventeenth century have been deposited with the State Archives in Trenton. The nine-member Council and its Surveyor General unanimously resolved to enter into a depository agreement with the Archives at a full meeting held in Burlington on October 12th. The agreement places the documents, including the monumental "Concessions and Agreements" and original 1664 patents from the Duke of York, in a state-of-the-art facility and under the custodianship of professionally trained archivists.

The Council members are legal successors of John, Lord Berkeley, who received half of the colony of New Jersey under the Duke's 1664 grant. In 1676, Berkeley's heirs agreed to a "province line" dividing New Jersey into east and west. That document, referred to as the Quintipartite (five-party) Deed, along with others signed by William Penn and the notes of John Lawrence, who surveyed the division in 1743, are among the manuscripts now in the State's care. West Jersey's proprietors hold legal right to all unappropriated land west of the province line. East Jersey's proprietors dissolved in 1998, at which time they sold their land rights to the State's Green Acres program and transferred their records to the State Archives.

The deposit with the State does not affect the Council's land rights or legal ownership of the records. Under the agreement, the State Archives will provide cataloging, indexing and public reference service for this priceless collection. "We know the Archives staff and facilities will provide the best possible care for these historical treasures," Haines said. Daniel W. Haines, Robert's brother and Clerk of the Council, noted that the proprietors do not have facilities or resources to conserve the records in an archival environment. "We are fortunate to have the wonderful facility that exists at the State Archives, and the dedication of their staff."

Joseph R. Klett, Chief of the State Archives, is elated to receive the documents into his purview. "This is the realization of a professional dream for me," said Klett, who proposed the deposit and has been meeting with Council members over the last two years to work out details of the transfer. "If you're a student of colonial New Jersey, you know that east is east and west is west. But the 'twain' have now met at the State Archives so to speak. What an exciting time for the historical community."

In total, the deposit consists of eleven large parchment documents dating from 1664 to 1763; fifty-five bound volumes of minutes, surveys, warrants, and other records dating from 1676-1909; twenty cubic feet of loose papers, including survey returns from 1680-1900s; and fifty-two boxes of rolled maps and plans dating back to the 1700s. Archives staff completed their inventory, packaging and relocation of the collection in November.

The Council has retained its facsimile of the "Concessions and Agreements of the Proprietors, Freeholders and Inhabitants of the Province of West New Jersey in America." This document, drafted in England by William Penn and the Quaker trustees of West Jersey late in 1676, is considered one of the founding colonial charters on which were based the principles and American freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution a century later. "The original volume cannot be exhibited except on rare occasion," said William H. Taylor, Twelfth Surveyor General of West Jersey, "whereas a facsimile can be on permanent display." That's exactly what the Council hopes to see happen in the City of Burlington, former capital of West Jersey, with the creation of a permanent historical exhibition and tourist destination celebrating and interpreting the history of the province and its proprietors.

Richard P. McCormick, Professor Emeritus of Rutgers University and currently the senior member of the West Jersey Council, spoke in favor of the proposed deposit at the Council's October 12th meeting. "Few 'historic sites' in New Jersey can match in importance the antiquity of the West Jersey Proprietors or its impact on our history as a colony and a state," McCormick said. "Moreover, the West Jersey 'Concessions and Agreements' merit attention and admiration along with the Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights as statements of the finest aspirations in our democratic tradition."

Under the terms of the deposit, the State Archives will create new microfilm and imaging of certain West Jersey records as part of the longterm plan for their care and preservation. This will also facilitate display of reproductions in Burlington, on the Archives' website, and in published form. "The Proprietors have cared for these documents for the past 330 years," said Taylor. "We are confident that the State Archives will meet the challenges of that job for at least the next three centuries."