 On April 29, 1909, The Newark Museum Association was formed, as founder John Cotton Dana put it, "to establish in the City of Newark, New Jersey, a museum for the reception and exhibition of articles of art, science, history and technology, and for the encouragement of the study of the arts and sciences."
Throughout the coming year leading up to this institution's Centennial in 2009, we will look at where we have been, where we are and where we are going.
Image: Ladies looking at the Rockwell Collection of Japanese art objects in the Newark Public Library, 1908. The Rockwell Collection was purchased by the City of Newark in 1909, and placed in charge of the newly formed Newark Museum Association, thus becoming its first acquisition.
 In 1909, a ceramic decorator named Carl Schmidt at The Rookwood Pottery in Cincinnati, Ohio, completed what would be one of his greatest works. Against a background of jet black which lightens toward the bottom to a deep blue, Schmidt's 1909 "Black Iris" was consigned to a Newark art gallery run by Frederick Keer. In 1910, the "Black Iris" came to the new Newark Museum as part of a large exhibition on modern American pottery. In 1914, three years after the exhibition closed, the Museum finally purchased the vase for what was then a substantial sum of $100—the original price tag is still in place. It remains to this day the finest example of Schmidt's work in any museum.
Image: Black Iris Vase, 1909, Decorated by Carl Schmidt for The Rookwood Pottery Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, slip–painted porcelaneous earthernware, Museum Purchase, 1914.
 "The Junior Museum is the magic carpet which bears children from the land of books to the land of things."—Promotional brochure, 1928
Established in 1913 "to help the imagination create adventures in understanding," the Junior Museum encouraged New Jersey's youngest residents to "freely express their interest." For a lifetime membership fee of 10 cents, members could participate in activities, take field trips and join various clubs that were devoted to encouraging scientific and artistic inquiry. They also produced newsletters, staged pageants and organized exhibitions that featured their own work. While learning technologies and the daily activities of children change with regularity, the Junior Museum is still a place that is both real and conceptual—a place at the Newark Museum where children are free to explore the world that surrounds them.
Image: Nature study with Junior Museum supervisor, Robert Reid, examining a turtle with a group of children, circa 1950.
 The Arts Workshop originated during the depths of the Great Depression. As industrial jobs disappeared, men and women suddenly found themselves with what social commentators termed "an excess of enforced leisure time." In an effort to encourage self–improvement while providing city residents a minor diversion form the grim economic reality, then Museum Director Beatrice Winser set aside studio space and encouraged participants to pursue drawing, painting and sculpting. The program was free throughout the Depression and into the mid-1940's.
As the program grew in popularity, the Museum recruited local artists to teach skills as varied as jewelry making, photography and paper making. It also created and Artist-in-Residence program to provide professional artists with the resources needed to conduct their own work. For seventy-five years, the Arts Workshop has remained a place where individuals are encouraged to explore creative pursuits and develop hidden talents.
Image: Arts Workshop students painting in the Museum Garden, circa 1940s.
Many people have grown up in the galleries and workshops of the Newark Museum. Others have just recently visited for the first time. Whether you began your relationship with the Museum decades ago or weeks ago, there is no doubt that the Museum is a great place to share with friends and family, a deeply meaningful place to learn and talk about life and human nature where you are always certain to be entertained and enlightened.
In this spirit of community and history, we are collecting stories that describe the special moments in your life in which the Museum has played an important role.
From the many stories that we receive, we will select a variety of Centennial Stories to share with the rest of the community in a specially produced film that will air during the Museum’s Centennial Celebration.
Please take a moment to tell us about your own favorite Centennial Stories. Click the link below and complete the form which will be emailed to Newark Museum.
Centennial Stories submission form
Or, you can mail your stories to the following address:
Centennial Stories
c/o Ted Lind, Education Department
Newark Museum
49 Washington Street
Newark, NJ 07102
Images and Discussion Group
In addition to your Centennial Story, you may also submit images or your Newark Museum experiences and participate in a discussion at the Newark Museum Centennial Celebration online group.
In order to contribute, you must be a member of Flickr (Membership is Free) and Join the Centennial Celebrationl group. To quickly locate our group in Flickr, do a Group Search for "newark museum centennial" (in quotes).
Images can be submitted to the Centennial Celebration Group
at: http://www.flickr.com/groups/museumcentennial
There are several ways to submit your photos to the Centennial Celebration group. For those of you who are unfamiliar with uploading photos to Flickr and sending them to a group, click here for step-by-step instructions (PDF)
For additional information, please see the Flickr FAQ at http://www.flickr.com/help/photos/#16
Also, please review the Flickr Community Guidelines at:
http://www.flickr.com/guidelines.gne
Terms and Conditions (PDF)
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