University Archives and Special Collections

“A unique source of New Jersey history materials, including documents. and the printed page, is to be found in the Stewart Collection of New Jersey History that is housed in the Savitz Library of Glassboro State College. The collection was willed to the college by Frank H. Stewart in 1948 upon his death. When presented to the college, it was the largest private collection of New Jersey history. It has been enlarged and enriched since that date, and it is the only comprehensive research collection of New Jersey history in Southern New Jersey.”

From “The Stewart Collection:  A Research Library of New Jersey History” by Harold W. Thompson, Jr., Rowan University faculty member, published in Kelsey Review, Autumn 1964.

The Frank H. Stewart Collection is the cornerstone collection of Rowan University’s Special Collections and contains approximately 5,000 volumes and 70 linear feet. These numbers are estimates as the Collection is scattered and a cursory undated inventory does not list all its contents.  Willed to the college in 1949, the Collection consists of Stewart’s research on colonial events and families of the southern New Jersey and Philadelphia region, as well as his own business and personal papers.  The Collection also contains glass plate negatives, paintings, personal effects, and artifacts from the former First U.S. Mint Building in Philadelphia.