New Jersey Trade and Manufacturers' Catalogs

Background

The Rutgers University Libraries collection of New Jersey trade and manufacturers catalogs reflects an effort "to collect, preserve and make available for research, primary and secondary materials in various formats, documenting all aspects of New Jersey's history, from its founding to the present" (see Sinclair New Jersey Collections Collection Development Policy Statement).

Until early 2000, The Libraries provided access to its New Jersey trade and manufacturers catalogs through RLIN and through QuickSearch, through item level cataloging. This changed in 2000, when The Libraries broadened its selective use of collection-level cataloging. While continuing to maintain traditional item level cataloging for New Jersey trade and manufacturers catalogs published before 1850, the Libraries now provides access to catalogs published after 1850 through QucikSearch, WorldCat/OCLC, and through the Special Collections and University Archives web page via a combination of collection level catalog records and electronic finding-aids.

Arrangement

The items in the finding aid for the New Jersey Trade and Manufacturers' Catalogs Collection is arranged by place of publication. Items published outside New Jersey have been cited according to the location of first-named or most prominently named New Jersey entity--factory, showroom, business office, dealership, etc. Citations for catalogs whose imprint is not New Jersey appear with a brief, explanatory, note. For example, below the citation, "Iron railings, wire fences-entrance gates. New York: Anchor Post Iron Works, [19--]," we have included, "Factory located in Garwood, N.J." Items with no apparent New Jersey affiliation are listed at the end of the finding aid under "miscellaneous."

Sizes

Due to preservation concerns, items in the collections are stored in groups based on size. The finding aid includes a notation for each item (Size 1 through Size 5); this size must be included on the call slip when requesting catalogs so that the item can be retrieved.

Please see the finding aid to New Jersey Trade and Manufacturers' Catalog Collection.