The Mason Room is open on Tuesdays from 10 am to noon. At that time, and also by appointment, members of the New Providence Historical Society are available to help with local history research. To make an appointment, call the Historical Society at (908) 665-1034, or email the Historical Society.
The following local history materials are available during regular library hours:
New Providence History
Images of America: New Providence by Joan Gonczlik and Jane Coddington provides information about New Providence's history as well as photographs. The Founders of New Providence, New Jersey by Willis Johnson and This is New Providence, published in 1968 by the League of Women Voters, also provide histories of New Providence.
The New Providence - Berkeley Heights Directory (1955 - 1980, with gaps) is a telephone directory with two different indexes: name and address. It is helpful for residents of older houses who wish to look up who was living at their address in that time period.
The library's collection of New Providence High School The Trail yearbooks goes back to 1960.
Census records for New Providence are available online through HeritageQuest (free with a library card).
The borough publication New Providence Welcome Guide also has a few pages on New Providence's history.
Another online source for New Providence history is Turkey Tracks, the newsletter of the New Providence Historical Society.
Early History
For New Providence history up until 1899, see From the Passaiack to the Wach Unks edited by Helen Desmond.
For New Providence history up until 1869, see Family Records by John Littell, Summit, New Jersey by Edmund Raftis and Summit's Story by Robin Little.
For assistance finding these materials, please ask at the reference desk.