Lathrop Building

Newsletter Archives

The Madison Historical Society Newsletter is published four times a year in September, November, February, and April. You may receive a copy by email when you subscribe or belong to the Society. Please sign up through our newsletter subscription form, below.

Click on the Newsletter archived issue you would like to read to open pdf:

April 2024 Newsletter

Headline: Annual Meeting on May 16, 2024

Spotlight on History: The Writers of Madison

February 2024 Newsletter

Headline: Our New Look

Headline: March speaker Stephen Whitty on “The History of New Jersey’s Movie Industry” and April speaker Mallory Mortiliaro on “Madison’s Lincoln Portrait”

Spotlight on History: Madison’s “Dark Horse” of a Different Color

November 2023 Newsletter

Headline: Portrait of the Rose City: A History of Madison, New Jersey

Headline: The Madison History Museum

Spotlight on History: The Curious Presence of the Door in the Woods - Part 2

September 2023 Newsletter

Headline: September: Anne Dimock speaking on Madison's Barbershop Controversy: Local History Through the Lens of Historical Fiction and Imagination

Headline: October: Rick Feingold speaking on Cornelius Vanderbilt -- First Gilded Age Tycoon

Spotlight on History​: The Curious Presence of the Door in the Woods

April 2023 Newsletter

Headline: May: Susan L. Simon speaking on The Lathrop and Gibbons Families: The Civil War Through the Gilded Age

Spotlight on History: The Runaway Nun and the Madison Riot

February 2023 Newsletter

Headline: March: Jack DeStefano speaking on Paterson: The First Planned Industrial City

Headline: April: Peter Wosh speaking on Murder on the Mountain: Crime, Passion, and Punishment in the Gilded Age, New Jersey

Spotlight on History: ​Harold Buttenheim and the Centennial of Zoning in Madison 1922-2022

November 2022 Newsletter

Headline: 100th Anniversary of the Madison Historical Society

Spotlight on History: Madison's Oldest Continuous Business: And No End In Sight

September 2022 Newsletter

Headline: September: Joel Farkas speaking on "Remember the Ladies: Women During the American Revolution

October: Erin Feith speaking on "When Millionaires Came to Morris County"

Spotlight on History: The Last Picture Show: The History of Cinema in Madison

April 2022 Newsletter

Headline: Museum Finds a Home!!! and Celebration of Our 100th Anniversary

Spotlight on History:  Mark Twain in Madison

February 2022 Newsletter

Headline: February:  Dr. Walter D. Greason speaking on " The Enduring and Evolving Dynamics of Racial Segregation in New Jersey: From Redlining to Mt. Laurel, and Beyond"

March: Robert G. Langford speaking on "Lincoln's Commanders: Battles Fought and History Made" 

April: Dr. Lawrence Hogan and Kevin Kane speaking on "Before You Can Say Jackie Robinson: Black Baseball in America in the Era of the Color Line"

Spotlight on History: The Burnets of Madison: Ten Generations and Going Strong

November 2021 Newsletter

Headline: John C. Maloney, Jr. and Tom Hildner speaking on "Black Suffrage and the Fifteenth Amendment: A Short Historical Perspective"

Spotlight on History: ​Don Newcombe Revisited

September 2021 Newsletter

Headline: ​Dr. Raymond Doswell speaking on "The Negro Baseball Leagues" and Louis Picone speaking on "Grants's Tomb: The Epic Death of Ulysses S. Grant and the Making of an American Pantheon"

Spotlight on History: Drew University, Madison, and Rock Music: Perfect Together

April 2021 Newsletter

Headline: Meridoc Burkhardt speaking on "The Battle of Connecticut Farms and the Death of Hannah Caldwell"

Spotlight on History: Four Houses of Enos Wilder

February 2021 Newsletter

Headline: Rick Geffken speaking on "Stories of Slavery in New Jersey" and William (Larry) Kidder speaking on "Revolutionary Princeton 1774-1783"

Spotlight on History:  A Unique Madison Story

November 2020 Newsletter

Headline: Plaque Program Huge Success 

Spotlight on History:  Madison's Master Theologian and Teacher: Dr. George D. Kelsey

September 2020 Newsletter

Headline:  Ray Williams speaking on "To Counterfeit is Death and Dr. Robert Butts speaking on "The History of Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey"

Spotlight on History:  Madison During the Times of Spanish Influenza 

Spotlight on History: Madison's Oldest Living Resident​

April 2020 Newsletter​

Spotlight on History: The Great Mead Hall Fire

Historic Personal Profiles of Madison: Madison's Soft-Spoken Olympian: JoJo Starbuck

2020 February Newsletter

Headline: Ray Williams speaking on "To Counterfeit is Death" and David Hanna speaking on "Americans Who Joined the Foreign Legion in 1914 to Fight for France and Civilization"

Spotlight on History: Mayor of Madison and "Father of the Skyscraper" 

2019 November Newsletter 

Headline: The Madison Historical Society Plaque Project is Underway

Spotlight on History: "Transistors, and Nobels, and Madison, Oh My! Madison's Most Controversial Former Resident"

2019 September Newsletter

Headline: Robert Dunne Speaking on "The History of the Madison Fire Department" and Dr. Herman Huber Presenting "Lt. Samuel S. Coursen, Madison's Medal of Honor Recipient"

Spotlight on History: "D-Day and Madison" by Dr. Herman Huber

April 2019 Newsletter

Headline: Linda Barth Speaking on "New Jersey Originals: Technology Marvels, Odd Inventions, Trailblazing Characters & More"

Spotlight on HIstory:  "Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, a Personal Profile"

February 2019 Newsletter​

Headline: MHS Presents Mr. David Veasey "New Jersey's Colonial Architecture Told In 100 Buildings" in March and Linda Barth in April, "New Jersey Originals: Technology Marvels, Odd Inventions, Trailblazing Characters & More"

Spotlight on History: "Lt. Samuel S. Coursen, Madison's Medal of Honor Recipient" by Dr. Herman Huber

November 2018 Newsletter

Headline: New Databank Available on Madisonians in WW I by Jim Malcolm

Spotlight on History: ​In addition to helping to found the Madison Golf Club ......

September 2018 Newsletter

Headline: MHS Presents Dr. Barbara Oberg "Reading Thomas Jefferson's Mail" and Dr. Salvatore Presico "Who Really Discovered America - The True Significance of Columbus's Voyages

Spotlight on History: 1968 - One Incredible Year for the Nation and For Madison

April 2018 Newsletter

Headline: MHS Presents Dr. Brian Regal Speaking on "“The Secret Life of the New Jersey Devil”

Spotlight on History: "A Very American Story" the evolution of the Waverly Tavern to the PS Pub to Four Seasons to Shanghai Jazz,

February 2018 Newsletter

Headline: "MHS Presents Alan Siegel Speaking on "19th Century Disasters in New Jersey"

Spotlight on History: "The Great Madison Disaster of 1877"

Looking Back in Time: "The Eightieth Anniversary of Friends of the Madison Public Library"

November 2017 Newsletter

Headline: "Then and Now" 

Spotlight on History:  "Images of Past and Present Madison"

September 2017 Newsletter 

Headline: "MHS Presents Mark Di Ionno Award Winning Columnist for the Star Ledger"

Spotlight on History:  "The Birth and Early History of the Madison Eagle"

April 2017 Newsletter

Headline: "MHS Presents Pat Sanftner Speaking on "Alexander Hamilton, the Little Lion"

Spotlight on History:  "A voice from Madison's Past, Arthur Buttenheim"

February 2017 Newsletter

Headline:  "MHS Presents Professor James Carter Speaking on  'America's Entry into World War I”

Spotlight on History: "America and Madison in World War I"

Looking Back in Time:  "Downtown Madison in 1967"

November 2016 Newsletter​

Headline: "The Anniversary of America's Entry Into World War I"

Spotlight on History:  "America and Madison Prior to World War I"

September 2016 Newsletter

Headline:  "MHS Presents Dr. Jude Pfister Speaking on "Becoming James Madison"

Spotlight on History:  "How Madison Got Its Name"

April 2016 Newsletter​

Headline:  "MHS Presents Marta McDowell Speaking on "the White House Gardens"

Spotlight on History:  "The Garden Club of Madison"

February 2016 Newsletter

Headline:  "MHS Presents Rich Rosenthal on: The Precedents of the *President - George Washington

Spotlight on History:  "The Underground Railroad in New Jersey, Morris County, and Madison"

November 2015 Newsletter

Headline:  "Annual Holiday Wreath Sale and Benefit"

Spotlight on History:  "Did Washington Have an Encampment in the  Madison Area?"

September 2015 Newsletter

Headline: "MHS Presents Dr. Bruce Chadwick Speaking on ;The General and Mrs. Washington'"

Spotlight on History: "The 'Nurse of the Century' Was a Long Time Resident of Madison"

April 2015 Newsletter

Headline:  "MHS Presents Vincent N. Parrillo Speaking on 'The Ellis Island You Don't Know'"

Short Articles: "Dinner to Feature Sojourner Truth Reenactment"; "Who Was Sojourner Truth"; and "Society Museum closer to Reality"

February 2015 Newsletter

Headline: "MHS Presents Linda Barth: Inventing in New Jersey"

Spotlight on History: "March is Women's History Month"

November 2014 Newsletter

Headline: "Annual Holiday Wreath Sale and Benefit"

Spotlight on History:  ""TWAS the night before Christmas..."

September 2014 Newsletter​

Headline: "The Madison Historical Society is pleased to present two marvelous programs this fall"

Spotlight on History: "Madison in World War I"

April 2014 Newsletter

Headline: April Program: "The History of Grace Episcopal Church of Madison”

Spotlight on History: "The High School Scrapbook Project"

February 2014 Newsletter​

Headline: First Spring Program: "Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life"

Spotlight on History: "The Founding of New Jersey, A Brief History"

November 2013 Newsletter

Headline: Annual Holiday Wreath Sale and Benefit

Spotlight on History: "Remembering the Kennedy Assassination"

September 2013 Newsletter

Headline: First Fall Program: "The Presbyterian Church of Madison, 266 Years of Christian Witness"

Short Articles: "History from the Dumpster" and "Tours of Hillside Cemetery"

April 2013 Newsletter​

Headline: "Madison, Methodism, and  Global Outreach"

Spotlight on History: " Madison and the Post-WW II Housing Crises"

February 2013 Newsletter

Headline: Spring 2013 Programs with Jon Gertner and Dr’s. Christopher Anderson and Vivian Bull

Spotlight on History: “Madison Heroine, Amabel Schraff Roberts”

November 2012 Newsletter​

Headline: "2012 Wreath Sale at the Hartley Dodge Memorial Building"

Spotlight on History: "Christmas in Madison and the Region Over the Years"

September 2012 Newsletter​

Headline: "The War of 1812 in Two Parts"

Spotlight on History: "Bottle Hill's Role in the War of 1812 and a Letter Home"

April 2012 Newsletter

Headline: "Baseball in New Jersey, 1855-1870" with John Zinn

Spotlight on History: "The First Cy Young Winner"

February 2012 Newsletter

Headline: "The Railroad: Key to Madison" with Carmine Toto

Spotlight on History: Madison's Architect

November 2011 Newsletter​

Headline:  "Annual Wreath Sale to be Held on December 3rd at the House at Hartley Frames"

Spotlight on History: "Hartley Farms"

September 2011 Newsletter

Headline: "Lincoln and the Larger Meaning of the Civil War" and "The Fighting 33rd: The Rebellious New Jersey Civil  War Regiment" .

Spotlight on History:  "A Most Remarkable Document" 

February 2011 Newsletter​

Headline: "Programs Announced for Spring"

Spotlight on History: "Well Known and Less Known Facts About the Hartley Dodge Memorial"