Since the development of photography in the mid-nineteenth
century, the camera has been used as a tool of both discovery
and preservation. Photographs bring alive our picture of the past
and can open a floodgate of memories and nostalgia or inspire
curiosity and a sense of history.
Collected in this delightful visual history are over 200
photographs, which bring to life the rich and diverse history of
Lawrence Township, New Jersey, from the Victorian era to the
Great Depression. Some of the best and most telling images are
those which simply give us a picture of "how things used to be,"
which seem to have frozen for posterity a moment of a certain
way of life, which has long since disappeared.
I n this exploration of daily life throughout Lawrence
Township we see a barge landing at Port Mercer, a blacksmith
shoeing a horse in Slackwood, people from all walks of life at
work and play. In the faces of these people we can see how a
strong community spirit helped Lawrentians to adapt to the
changes of the twentieth century.