The Plainfield History Collection
Catalogue of the Plainfield History Collection (Adobe PDF file - download Adobe)

The Plainfield Collection includes historical and contemporary materials about the city of Plainfield, NJ. The Plainfield Collection is comprised of historical and contemporary materials about the place and its inhabitants. It contains city directories dating back to the 1870s, high school yearbooks, family histories, bound organization records as well as monographs detailing the cultural, social and historical aspects of life in Plainfield. Items from the city government and social services are also part of these holdings.

The Catalogue of the Plainfield History Collection, published in 2002, provides quite a comprehensive guide to the contents of the collection. Additions are made on a regular basis, please contact us for the most current information.

  Local Organizations' Records
  Complete List of Organizations

  The Library holds records of more than   110 local clubs and organizations, from the   late nineteenth century to the present. They contain such important documents as charters, constitutions, by-laws, articles of incorporation, financial reports, and membership lists of many local associations.

Detwiller Blueprint Collection
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This unique collection of 15,000 architectural drawings and blueprints documents the rich history of Plainfield's architectural development. It includes residences, houses of worship, businesses, and multifamily dwellings from 1887 to the present. The drawings have been microfilmed and digitized for preservation and Internet access.

Further Information:
Complete History of the Charles H. Detwiller Collection

Related Collection:
Detwiller Private Papers at Rutgers University

  Local and Area Newspapers
  Complete List of Holdings

  The Plainfield Periodical Collection includes   23 newspapers and magazines spanning   160 years of local history. These holdings include microfilmed copies as well as broadsides. The Courier News on microfilm is available in the upstairs reference section.

  Local Authors Collection
  This collection includes a broad array of   approximately 100 books by 35 local   authors. A recent inventory showed that Plainfield has had authors since the early 1800's writing about everything from science to poetry to children's books. Authors include: Van Wyck Brooks, Judy Blume, Adele DeLeeuw and many others.

Local and New Jersey Maps
Complete List of Maps

Recently inventoried, this collection includes 98 State maps beginning in 1874, 19 Plainfield flat maps, and 21 framed walls maps of Plainfield, including two copies of the oldest map of Plainfield dated 1832. This cartographic collection includes numerous atlases in the New Jersey Collection. Maps of and information about the the nine historic districts of Plainfield can be found here.      

  

  Photograph Collections
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  The Plainfield Public Library's historic   photograph collections include over   20,000 individual photographic prints, negatives, slides and glass plates by over a dozen local photographers from the 1870's to the present.

Further Information:
Historic Photograph Collections of the Plainfield Public Library

Plainfield Postcard Collection
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The Plainfield Postcard Collection contains 2,000 postcards with 1,000 unique images. The Chase collection and the Ricketts collection make up the core of the library's
holdings, depicting Plainfield in the early 1900s.

 Plainfield Police Logs
 Complete list of Police Logs

  The Library houses 340 ledgers used by the   Plainfield Police Division between 1854 and   1956 to record their daily activities. Journals report items such as arrests, accidents, thefts, criminal dockets, tax ledgers, and lost and found animals. Surnames are indexed in many volumes.