Red Bank Register: Clippings, 1971-1988

The Monmouth County Archives has custody of the clippings filed by subject at the now defunct daily newspaper, Red Bank Daily Register (also the Sunday Register after its introduction). The Red Bank Daily Register collection may be the only clipping morgue from a defunct Monmouth County newspaper in a public repository.

The file was begun in 1971 by the newspaper’s librarian, Olga Boeckel, after a fire destroyed the earlier files. While this disaster is regrettable, by 1988, Ms. Boeckel and her assistants had developed a collection containing more than 200,000 clippings filed under more than 18,000 subject headings. (No clippings after 1988 have been found.) After the newspaper went out of business in 1991, the clippings were acquired by the Eastern Branch of the Monmouth County Library in Shrewsbury. In 1996, they were transferred to the Western Branch (Library Headquarters). The Library donated the collection to the Archives in 1999.

This file is a remarkable and unique historical resource documenting Monmouth County during its transition from a largely rural county to a suburban community. Unlike the newspaper itself, which has been microfilmed in chronological order but has never been indexed, the clipping file provides access by topic. In some cases, dozens of clippings on a single topic are conveniently available, greatly facilitating research. Historians, genealogists, and local government agencies will find this collection to be a very convenient source of information.

In addition to being a well-organized file, the collection is also well focused on Monmouth County. The small proportion of envelopes of clippings not related to Monmouth County have been segregated and are not included in this record series.

There are four groups or subseries within the collection.

I. The Monmouth County Government series.

These approximately 15,000 clippings are filed by county government agency, such as Board of Health, County Clerk, Courts, Freeholders, and Planning Board, and then filed in reverse chronological order. A complete list of subject headings is available in the Archives and some of the clippings are subject/name indexed in a database.

Within Courts, for example, there are clippings about most of the important court cases, including murders, that occurred in the county during these years; additional clippings about court cases are in the Grand Jury clippings. Clippings on Elections trace the political issues, controversies, and candidates of the era. The large number of clippings concerning the Board of Chosen Freeholders covers their myriad activities, and the controversies that arose from time to time. Some of these clippings duplicate those found under the names of other agencies.

These articles significantly augment the government records that are held, or may be acquired by, the Monmouth County Archives. Election records in the Archives provide the tallies and the winners but nothing about the personalities or the issues over which elections were contested. Similarly, court records in the Archives typically do not contain testimony given by witnesses, only the names of the people involved and the stages and results of the legal process. Newspaper articles are useful, if not necessary, to understand fully the nature and significance of the cases, and often provide photos of the defendants. The expression of the young man accused of murdering his step-parents conveys, even more than the text, the tragedy of the case described in a Grand Jury clipping.

II. Regional School Boards Series

The Regional School Board clippings pertain to the half dozen regional boards in the County. There are approximately 6,000 clippings pertaining to regional school boards. Many of the clippings concern teachers and educational policy.

III. Local Government (Municipalities) Series

These approximately 9,000 clippings pertain to local governments, grouped alphabetically by name of municipality. With the exception of some Tinton Falls clippings, 1974-1975, the clippings are from 1980 to 1983.

The Local Government clippings contain articles with news about events and controversies in which a municipal agency was involved, such as a town council, police department, or a local school board. For example, clippings from the Middletown file document changing land use in the article about the purchase for $1 of Camp Coles, a U.S. Army base, for future recreational purposes. The clipping about a labor dispute between the police and the township provides evidence that management/labor tensions in 1980 were not limited to the private sector.

Unlike the Monmouth County Government series, the Local Government and Regional School Board clippings document public agencies for which no records are available in the Monmouth County Archives. As is often the case, these local agencies do not maintain or index their records in a way that facilitates access by researchers. Consequently, these clippings have very high value for future reference.

IV. Subject (Alphabetical) File

This is the largest series in the collection and processing has not yet been completed. The clippings, when received, occupied 53 cubic foot record cartons. The clippings are arranged alphabetically under 14,607 subject headings, which are listed in a database available in the Archives.

Note that the subject file does not include personal names. The Register had a clippings file by name but it was not acquired by the Monmouth County Library.

The collection is available for use without restriction. The Archives is in the process of converting the collection to microfilm. Patrons are asked to use the microfilm when available

SERIES	CONTENTS	ROLL NUMBER
County Government	Adjuster to Counsel	1
County Government	Court to Freeholders 1986	2
County Government	Freeholders 1985 to 1975	3
County Government	Freeholders 1975 to Judge (County)	4
County Government	Jury Commission to Monmouth Museum	5
County Government	Monmouth Museum 1972 to Planning Board 1975	6
County Government	Planning Board 1975 to Tax Board	7
County Government	Tercentenary to Youth Detention Center	8
Regional School Boards	Freehold Regional to Matawan Regional	9
Regional School Boards	Monmouth Regional to Shore Regional	10
Municipal Governments	Aberdeen to Long Branch	11
Municipal Governments	Manalapan to Sea Bright	12
Municipal Governments	Shrewsbury Borough to West Long Branch	13
General	AAA Auto Club to Affordable Housing	14
General	Africa to American Legion Sandy Hook	15
General	American Legion Sandy Hook to Arnts of Allenhurst	16
General	Arpin to Arts	17
General	Arts to Azzolina Land Corp.	18
General	B&A Parkway to Bar Bombay	19
General	Bar Closings to Belvidere	20
General	Ben & Jerry’s to Bridge: Matawan Creek	21
General	Bridge: McCarter to Byron	22
General	C.A.R.E. to Central Jersey Water Co.	23
General	Central Mall Stationery to Christian Brothers Academy	24
General	Christian Businessmen’s Committee to Cluster Developers	25
General	Clydesdale Horses to Commuters	26
General	Commuters for a Democratic Railroad to Consumer Advice	27
General	Consumer Affairs to Cromwell Building	28
General	Day Care Centers, Misc to Democrats, Monmouth County (Independent)	29
General	Democrats, New Jersey to Doelger, Richard, Antiques	30
General	Doer’s Profile to Easter Eggs	31
General	Easter Festivals to Education Association: New Jersey	32
General	Education Association: New Shrewsbury to Equal Rights Amendment	33
General	Equine Advisory Board to Feist Scottish Games	34
General	Feist & Feist to Footnotes in History	35
General	For the Kids Sake to Fort Monmouth Pulse Power Center	36
General	Fort Monmouth Recreation Services Program to Freehold Second Baptist Church	37
General	Senior Citizen Housing to Garden Clubs Middletown	38
General	Garden Clubs Misc. to The Gate West Gift Shop	39
General	Gateway National Recreation Area to Guide Foundation for the Blind	40
General	Guide of Creative Art to Helping Hand	41
General	Helping Other People Endure (Hope) to Hook, Line & Sinker II & III	42
General	Hope College Choir 1972-Hospitals Auxiliary 1972, 1971	43
General	Hospitals-Monmouth Medical Center 1988-Houses Selling 1988	44
General	Housing Low Income 1986-1977 to Indictments 1976	45
General	Individual Educational Programs to Jehovah’s Witnesses	46
General	Jelly Fish to Kiwanis Club Red Bank 1972-1971	47
General	Kiwanis Club Shadow Lake 1981 to Little Silver Water	48
General	Little Silver Arts & Crafts Day 1982 to Long Branch: Public Health & Nursing, 1980	49
General	Long Branch: Railroad Station 1985 to MCOSS Family & Nursing Service 1976	50
General	MCOSS Family & Nursing Service 1976 to Marketplace 1973	51
General	Marlboro Anniversary 1973 to Mental Health Services, Shore Area 1971	52
General	Mental Patients 1987 to Monmouth Area Wide Coordinating Council 1978	53
General	Monmouth Art Center 1988 to Monmouth College Council 1971	54
General	Monmouth College: Education Dept. 1985 to Monmouth Computers 1982	55
General	Monmouth Computers 1982 to Monmouth County: Kennel Club 1971	56
General	Monmouth County: King Observance Committee 1982 to Monmouth Reform Temple 1975	57
General	Monmouth Regional H.S. 1988 to Multiple Listing Service: Commercial 1974	58
General	Multiple Listing Service: Red Book Area 1975 to Nail Care 1988	59
General	Names 1986 to National Conference of Christians & Jews 1970	60
General	National Cong of the Assoc. of Operating Room Nurses 1972 to Negro Professional Business Women’s Club 1975	61