New Jersey Baby Boomer

As a resident of New Jersey, when I think of Camden, NJ, my thoughts are usually marred with memories of reports about high crime rates and corruption…but there is much in history in Camden, New Jersey, including the Walt Whitman house.

He was born in Long Island, and raised by Quaker parents.  His work experience seems very random…from government clerk, to editor and journalist, to being a nurse during the Civil War during which time he wrote “Beat, Beat, Drums”.  He held other positions, but his greatest desire in life was to be a poet. His best known work was a controversial one for it’s time due to sexual content, Leaves of Grass. He wrote other works that probably would not have been in line with his Quaker upbringing…but some shared his concern for the conditions during the times in which he lived, politically and otherwise.

Walt Whitman didn’t make his home in New Jersey until toward the end of his life…after he suffered a stroke. The Walt Whitman House can be found on Mickle Street in Camden, New Jersey.  The Camden County Library holds events in honor of the poet, Walt Whitman.

Image: Circa 1860, in public domain.

Recently I was listening to Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant”, a favorite song, story, ballad or whatever you’d like to call it from my teen years released Thanksgiving of 1967. My husband and I were watching a special on public television with Arlo and his daughter and son-in-law singing and sharing memories.

One of those memories that Arlo shared surprised me. It was about Arlo’s father, Woody Guthrie. Woody lived during the times when many in Hollywood and in the entertainment arts in general were under suspicion of being Communists. They were among many that were “blacklisted” for stands that they took that may not have been communist, but were different enough to make the powers that be in Washington at the time suspicious. It’s almost surreal to watch historical documentaries about those times on television, seemed so unjust, but at that time Communism was a very serious matter.

So where does the Woody Guthrie – New Jersey connection come in? Apparently he suffered from what was thought to be a mental illness, and was picked up as a vagrant on the streets in NJ in the mid-1950′s when I was a few years old, and admitted to Greystone Hospital in New Jersey, a Psychiatric facility. I remember driving by Greystone now and then, and comments about this or that person being admitted there, always in a negative tone like the person was crazy and the facility was not the nicest place to be. But what they did for Woody was positive…they were able to finally determine that he suffered from what is now known as Huntington’s Disease…a degenerative nerve disorder.

Those were interesting times in our history, you can read more about Woody at a website devoted to him, www.woodyguthrie.org.

And since Thanksgiving is days away, and Alice’s Restaurant was released on Thanksgiving….here’s Alice’s Restaurant performed about 5 years ago by Arlo Guthrie…just as good as it ever was.

With the 2010 elections over, and a powerful change sweeping Washington once again, I realized anew what a privilege it is to be able to vote. I am a female blogger, and it amazes me to think that there was a time when women were not allowed to vote…that in fact, once given the privilege, in some states that privilege was taken away for a time. This made me curious about the history of the Women’s Suffrage movement and how it affected our State of New Jersey. It should be noted that a woman’s right to vote and the suffrage movement was not limited to the United States…but this is a NJ blog, so here the focus will remain.

Here is a time-line, so to speak, of the movement here in New Jersey:

1776 – It was Abagail Adams that wrote to her husband, John Adams, asking that woman not be forgotten in the new laws of our new Nation. In the constitution, all “inhabitants” of the land, without distinction of sex or race were given the right to vote…but in New Jersey (and perhaps elsewhere) the voters were to be property owners. If a woman was married, her husband was the property owner, so if my history is correct, only woman who were single and widows were permitted to vote.

Another source states that woman who possessed $250 were permitted to vote.

1787 – Women in all states except New Jersey lost their right to vote when the US Constitutional Convention gave States the right to set their own qualifications.

1807 – New Jersey joined the other States by revoking the right of women to vote – as well as aliens, and persons of color (Negros). Only white males were permitted to vote, the claim being that it would simplify things and help to eliminate fraud.

It was in 1920 that women throughout the United States won the right to vote through an amendment to the Constitution…ratified in 1920. You can find complete Women’s Suffrage time-lines at the following links:

100 Years Toward Suffrage

Votes for Women State by State

Womens Suffrage Events Timeline

Women’s Rights Timeline

I did an earlier post for St. Patrick’s Day about something in Camden, and remembered I’d read somewhere that the Victor Talking Machines were first created there.  The Victor Talking Machine Company was incorporated in 1901 in Camden, and the dog, Nipper, listening to “His Master’s Voice” became the trademark for the company and a symbol found on records for many many years.

I attend auctions frequently, and now and then come across old phonograph cylinders. The disc type records were experimental around the time that the Victor Talking Machine Company came to be, not considered a serious way to make music until over time and with some effort, the fidelity was improved so that records had a wonderful high-fidelity sound.  At the time, the powerful voice of Enrico Caruso was an excellent way to market the “talking machines”, as it enhanced and was enhanced by the improved fidelity of records at the time.

It was later in the 1920′s that Victor was purchased by RCA (Radio Corporation of America) and formed the well known company name “RCA Victor”.

Other Inventions and History:

Thomas Edison and the Stock Market Ticker

Also see “New Jersey History” under “Categories” for more posts of interest.

Image from Wikipedia

As we get ready to celebrate the birthday of our Nation, only a few days after Canada celebrated their birthday, I began to think back to things that I learned in history.  When in school, I actually hated history classes, sad, I know…I think it was more because of the way it was taught than anything. A teacher who makes history come alive is a great teacher indeed, if you are left with a text book with an overwhelming number of words and a few pictures, and no intrigue in what is written, it is to me, boring.

So this boomer, over the years, has gained a great love for history in my own way.  It started out innocently as a love for historical novels…history mixed in with a bit of drama, romance, and other things that made it more interesting to read.  Then great movies that portray events in history, then stumbling on museums and historic spots while traveling, and finally, the internet provides an endless resource for researching the history of anything.

Little things intrigue me, like when a light goes on because you realize that the name of a bridge has historical significance. I remember when they built the Verrazano Narrows Bridge that reaches from Brooklyn to Staten Island, NY.  I didn’t give it much thought at the time…it made it easier to visit some relatives and it was REALLY big was all that registered to me as a child. 

The bridge itself is named after the Italian explorer, Giovanni da Verrazzano, who came and explored the NEW YORK coast under commission by France. But he also explored the New Jersey coast in the early 1600′s.  I grew up thinking that this beautiful bridge went from my State to Staten Island, but I guess the only connection that it has to NJ is the fact that the man it was named after explored the NJ coast.

A few other posts related to history you may want to visit:Thomas Edison & the Stock Market

New Jersey Women – Ann Morrow Lindbergh

New Jersey Women – Clara Barton

New Jersey Men – Death, Duel & Weehawken, NJ

As a young girl, living in the Nixon – Edison area of New Jersey off Route 1 until I was 14, I remember passing the Edison Memorial when we were on our way to visit my Aunt, and on many other occasions.  This was a teaching moment for my Dad, an Electrical Engineer, an opportunity to tell me about the great man, Thomas Edison, that invented the light bulb and many other things that we still depend on today.

Today commemorates the introduction of the first Stock Market Ticker in New York City in 1867. When you look at pictures of the activity and technology involved with the Stock Market today…literally tracking and investing from our laptop if you use a laptop computer… it’s hard to imagine a day when the latest upswings or downturns had to travel by mail or messager.

While Edison didn’t invent the ticker, that credit goes to an Edward Calahan, Edison is noted for improving on the ticker, and patenting his model. Edison made enough money through the use and sale of this invention to be able to construct his laboratory in Menlo Park, NJ, very close to where I grew up, and it was there that many of the inventions he was noted for were developed, including the light bulb.

Mechanical tickers of one sort or another were used into the 1960′s, and in our baby boomer lifetimes, were replaced by what we have become accustomed to seeing today.

The Edison ticker image above is taken from SparkMuseum website, an interesting site.

When we went on our trip a bit over a week ago, from a distance, I was able to capture the Twin Lights that are situated in the Navesink Highlands. These historic lights were originally built in 1828, and then rebuilt of area brownstone in 1862. Today they are much like they were when rebuilt, but are no longer operating lighthouses.

Sitting about 200 feet above sea level, when in operation, one light remained stationary while the other flashed. The lights brought cargo and other ships safely into New York Harbor on the Atlantic Coast.

It was interesting to me to see two lights, as most of us are more accustomed to seeing just one. These were built with the light house keepers area, and rooms for storage built between, and connecting the two towers.

Twin Lights was decommissioned in 1949, then purchased by the State of New Jersey as a historic monument and is a museum today. If you visit, you can climb one of the towers and view the beautiful Atlantic Ocean. Enjoy the exhibits showing the history while your there.

We just got home from our local commemoration of this great day in the center of our town of West Milford at our war memorial. I am sure, at least hope, this is being repeated in many towns across the USA. Sitting in front of me was a frail but wonderful WWII Veteran. Sitting front and center were 2 families of our most recent casualties…I don’t like that word, I mean our most recent heroes to give their lives in Iraq. It was special to simply be able to shake a hand, give a hug to a tearful family member, to say “thank you” knowing that there were no words that could take away the pain. We thank those who have served our Nation and paid the ultimate price. Also remembered were local heroes who died in the attack on 911, names that many know nationwide from our area, like Father Mychael F. Judge who left our local catholic church to be a Chaplain for the NY City Fire Department, the image of his body being carried from the World Trade Center ruins now impressed in the minds of many, among the first if not the first victim we heard about after the attack. And Jeremy Glick, a hero of United Airlines Flight 93. So many more names that we must never forget. My son took a few pictures, one shown above.

Now, what has become my favorite patriotic song with wonderful images to stir the heart to remember, and thank you not just to NJ heroes, but all of our heroes all over the USA:

GOD BLESS AMERICA!