Archiving… and you

The Kingston Historical Society (KHS) was formed in 1997 as a non-partisan, non-profit organization to preserve, enhance and promote the history of the village of Kingston, New Jersey.

For the past 25+ years we have been been collecting items related to the village of Kingston and preparing presentations for the community. Some of our artifacts help us to understand our environment. For example, the flour sack shows what was produced at the Kingston mill on the Millstone River.

Copies of photos brought to Photo Night at the Kingston Firehouse on March 5, 6, 2011
Flour Sack from Kingston Roller Mills

Other items help us to remember our more recent history.

Glasses and mugs from community anniversaries (and the Main Street Coffee House)

The Kingston Historical Society maintains a second website to show photographs of artifacts via the world wide web. This second site uses a more formal style than our main, WordPress formatted, website. Items in the archive site can be linked back to our WordPress pages, as seen here–

Here’s a photo of the Delaware and Raritan Canal at the Kingston Lock. In May of 1989 the section of the canal was drained so gates could be repaired.

several photographs from the period were gathered as an archive “Item”
https://archive.khsnj.org/items/show/82

And this item is combined with several other items to create a “collection” related to the Kingston Canal Area: https://archive.khsnj.org/collections/show/16

So far we have created a number of collections which you are welcome to browse. https://archive.khsnj.org/collections/browse

There is plenty more archiving work that needs to be done. Some is methodical and some will require creativity. The Kingston Historical Society welcomes volunteers from central New Jersey to join us in the work of sorting, preserving and displaying our collection. If you are interested in being a part of the team, please fill out the form at the bottom of THIS LINKED PAGE. It’s a great way to learn history by helping preserve it.

Holiday Tree Lighting- 2023

Photo by Glen McParland

The weather cleared just in time for our community tree lighting, Sunday December 3rd, 2023. The crowd was not as large as other years, but the Kingston Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 came to provide lights, and the Kingston Women’s Chorus came to provide a joyous sing-along.

Photo by Charlie Dieterich
Photo by Charlie Dieterich

The Kingston Women’s Chorus sang seasonal favorites and reminded us that they have a concert on December 10th at the Kingston United Methodist Church. See OUR EVENTS LIST

Before the event the Kingston Historical Society opened the history room in the Kingston Locktender’s House for one last view of the 2023 displays. The Locktender’s House is now closed until April, 2024. The windows of the house were decorated by Karen Linder and Anne Zeman, with evergreen arrangements made at the December 2nd Wreath and Garland Making Workshop put on by the Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands. fpnl.org

Photo by Glen McParland

The Historical Society provided cookies and hot chocolate, the assembled crowd provided magical power to light the tree for the holiday season.

Photo by Glen McParland

Trustees Sharon Hansen and George Luck, Jr. were in charge of food and setup. Deputy Chief Robert Weissman led the Fire Company’s lighting detail

Photo by Glen McParland

Thanks to all who attended. See you next year!

Volunteer!