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Our Collections

The Pingry School Archives offers no end of collections for the use of our community. Click HERE to see our full inventory of traditional archival holdings, or browse through some examples below of both traditional (documents, photographs, newspapers) and digital (images, audio, video) materials on this regularly updated page.

What are Collections?

The term collection is used in many different ways. Some examples:

  • a set of archival or (more commonly) manuscript materials
  • materials assembled by a person, organization, or repository from a variety of sources; an artificial collection
  • (sometimes pl., collections) a thematic aggregation of sets of otherwise unrelated archival materials
  • (also pl., collections) the holdings of a repository, taken as a whole
  • the process and practice of collecting archival materials

The word collection is one of the many fraught terms in archives. The term bears the weight of many, and sometimes contradictory, meanings, but it remains a heavily used term, and there is a good reason it is so: because, everything in an archives, in the end, is collected by archivists—or foisted upon it by a higher power. Everyone uses the term, but many hate it. To the purist, the term collection appears to suggest the archivist assembles archives from scraps rather than appraises the records the archives acquires. To the manuscripts librarian, the term may suggest every collection is an artificial collection—since, indeed, many are.

Credit: This work contains some material sourced from Dictionary of Archives Terminology

 

Admiral Halsey

William Frederick "Bull" Halsey Jr. '00 was a fleet admiral in the United States Navy during World War II, one of four officers to have attained the rank of fleet admiral of the United States Navy, and one of Pingry's most renowned alumni.

On November 7, 1945, hundreds of thousands lined the streets of Elizabeth to pay tribute to Admiral Halsey as he returned to his birthplace for a day in his honor. One of Halsey's stops on that day was the Pingry School, and THIS COLLECTION contains photos, videos, and newspaper clippings from his visit, along with a number of other items.

Admiral Halsey visits Pingry

 

Publications

Pingry has been publishing regularly since the first issue of the Pingry Record appeared in February 1895. That was soon followed by the first edition of the Blue Book in the Spring of 1908, and finally by the first official issue of the Pingry Review in May of 1945. Over the following years, still more publications have arrived, including Calliope (literature), Polyglot (world languages), Vital Signs (current events) and many more.

While the full catalog of Pingry publications would be too large to link here, please feel free to browse THIS COLLECTION of recent issues. And make sure to remember that you can always make an appointment with the Archives to come in and research additional holdings.

Original Pingry Review Art

Theater Programs

Pingry's tradition in the dramatic arts stretches back to the school's earliest days. From our earliest surviving program, a 1909 production of College Chums, to the drama department's most recent hit, THIS COLLECTION of more that 100 historical play and musical programs is sure to bring back memories.

Nicholas Nickelby Play Program

Mora Family Glass Plate Negatives

Acquired during the summer of 2020, THIS COLLECTION of digitized glass plate negatives originally produced in the mid-1890s depicts the life of Pingry student and successful artist Jo Mora, along with Jo's brother, renowned artist F. Luis Mora. The digitization process for this collection was was a long and careful one, as the plates were both fragile and deteriorating and once digitized needed to be rehoused individually in archival grade sleeves and boxes.

Many of the images herein were taken at Pingry's Parker Road campus in Elizabeth and in the surrounding area. Originally part of the Mora family's personal archives, these negatives were donated to Pingry following their use as reference for Lynne Pauls Baron's biography "F. Luis Mora: America’s First Hispanic Master" by Lucinda Hogarty, a neighbor of Baron.

 

Student on Parker Road campus in 1895
Helen Baeck-Hubloux '20 college counselee

 

Pingry Athletics Digital Hall of Fame

Combining Pingry's repository of archival sports team photos along with a database of every athlete and coach in the school's history, the Pingry Archives' first major project after the program's launch is still one of its most popular.

PINGRY'S DIGITAL HALL OF FAME, available at two dedicated kiosks in the Miller A. Bugliari '52 Athletics Center and from any home computer, dates to 1886 and tells a truly comprehensive story of the history of sports at the Pingry School. Searching for an athlete produces a list of every team for which he or she played, searching for a team produces a list of every player on that team, all of whom are 'clickable', and searching for a specific sport produces a list of every team in school history. 

Digital Hall of Fame front poge

Traditional Collections

While Pingry's digital holdings are vast (well north of 500,000 unique objects), its traditional collections are equally as impressive. Featuring everything from negatives to newspapers, clothing to catalogs, paintings, pamphlets, scrapbooks, slides and so much more, a member of our community looking to do research on the school's history will have their hands full. 

Click HERE to browse the complete collection of inventories and finding aids to get a better idea of our holdings.

Disclaimer

The Pingry School Archives houses historical materials, images, information, videos, etc. that may be considered offensive or sensitive according to modern standards. These items reflect the attitudes of the times they were created. The items are preserved and retained to adequately represent the historical record of the Pingry School.