John T. Cunningham (June 26, 1915 – June 7, 2012) was an American journalist, writer, and historian who published numerous works related to the history of his native state,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. Long known as "New Jersey’s popular historian", his ''This is New Jersey'', originally published in 1953, has never gone out of print. Cunningham work has also included collaboration on several documentaries and frequent speaking engagements.
Early life and career
Cunningham was born in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Brookside Brookside may refer to:
Geography Canada
* Brookside, Edmonton
* Brookside, Newfoundland and Labrador
* Brookside, Nova Scotia
United Kingdom
* Brookside, Berkshire, England
*Brookside, Telford, an area of Telford, England
United States
* Brook ...
section of
Mendham Township, New Jersey
Mendham Township is a township in Morris County, in the central portion of northern New Jersey, United States, located more than due west of New York City. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 5,869, reflecting an ...
near Morristown, where he graduated from
Morristown High School
Morristown High School (MHS) is a four-year public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from three communities in Morris County, United States, operating as part of the Morris School District. The school serves students ...
in 1932, and later able to pay tuition, he graduated from
Drew University
Drew University is a private university in Madison, New Jersey. Drew has been nicknamed the "University in the Forest" because of its wooded campus. As of fall 2020, more than 2,200 students were pursuing degrees at the university's three scho ...
in 1938. He worked briefly for the Morristown Record, to which he had been contributing local interest articles since high school, and in 1939 was hired by the ''
Newark News
The ''Newark Evening News'' was an American newspaper published in Newark, New Jersey. As New Jersey's largest city, Newark played a major role in New Jersey's journalistic history. At its apex, ''The News'' was widely regarded as the newspaper ...
''. During World War II, became a captain in the Army Air Corps and in 1946 returned to The News, remaining until 1963, when he began writing and publishing full-time.
Later career
Cunningham began his writing about history while working at the ''
Newark News
The ''Newark Evening News'' was an American newspaper published in Newark, New Jersey. As New Jersey's largest city, Newark played a major role in New Jersey's journalistic history. At its apex, ''The News'' was widely regarded as the newspaper ...
'', where, around 1947, he was assigned a column called "Let's Explore." He said,"My goals did not include either the writing of books or becoming a historian," but he became well respected as a historian and writer.
"I doubt if there is a community in this state that I couldn't tell you about," he declared."I consider myself a journalist rather than a historian. A journalist lets it fall where it should. We approach things with an open mind, while historians tend to take a subject and find the material to prove their point."
The ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' said that while Cunningham's books are not considered academic works since illustrations are common and footnotes are rare, they are concise, energetic and well regarded among their genre.
In the 1970s, he and his wife founded Afton Publishing, and he helped establish the
New Jersey Historical Commission
The New Jersey Historical Commission is a government agency of the U.S. state of New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New ...
. He lived in
Florham Park, New Jersey
Florham Park is a borough in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 11,696, Cunningham died on June 7, 2012 from natural causes at a Morristown Medical Center.
Selected works (to 1997)
Histories
*''Baseball In New Jersey: The Game of History'' (
New Jersey State Museum
The New Jersey State Museum is located at 195-205 West State Street in Trenton, New Jersey. It serves a broad region between New York City and Philadelphia. The museum's collections include natural history specimens, archaeological and ethnograph ...
, 1995)
*''Beginnings'' (Atlantic City Electric Company History, 1962)
*''Capsules of New Jersey History'' (New Jersey Manufacturers Association, 1981)
*''A Century of Progress'' a history of Passaic County (First National Bank of Passaic County, 1965)
*''Chatham: At the Crossing of the Fishawack'' (Chatham Historical Society, 1966)
*''Chatham'' (1997) and ''Madison'' (1998), Images of America Series (
Arcadia Publishing
Arcadia Publishing is an American publisher of neighborhood, local, and regional history of the United States in pictorial form.(analysis of the successful ''Images of America'' series). Arcadia Publishing also runs the History Press, which publi ...
)
*''Clara Maas: A Nurse, a Hospital, a Spirit'' (Clara Maas Memorial Hospital, 1968)
*''Colonial New Jersey'' (Thomas Nelson, 1964)
*''Garden State: The Story of Agriculture in New Jersey'' (
Rutgers University Press
Rutgers University Press (RUP) is a nonprofit academic publishing house, operating in New Brunswick, New Jersey under the auspices of Rutgers University.
History
Rutgers University Press, a nonprofit academic publishing house operating in New B ...
, 1955)
*''The East of Jersey'' (
New Jersey Historical Society
The New Jersey Historical Society is a historical society and museum located in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The Historical Society is housed in the former headquarters of the Essex Club. It has two floors of exhibition space ...
, 1988)
*''Made in New Jersey'' (Rutgers University Press, 1954)
*''Newark'' (New Jersey Historical Society, 1966)
*''New Jersey, America's Main Road'' ( Doubleday, 1966)
*''On the Right Track, a history of the Madison Y.M.C.A. (Madison Y.M.C.A., 1990)
*''The New Jersey Sampler: Historic Tales of Old New Jersey'' (Afton Publishing, 1964)
*''New Jersey's Five Who Signed,'' on the Declaration of Independence (New Jersey Historical Commission, 1975)
*''New Jersey's Rich Harvest: A Brief History Agriculture in New Jersey'' (New Jersey Agricultural Society, 1981)
*''The New Jersey Shore'' (Rutgers University Press, 1958)
*''Railroading in New Jersey'' (Associated Railroads of New Jersey, 1952)
*''Railroads in New Jersey: The Formative Years'' (Afton Publishing, 1997)
*''Remembering Essex,'' with Charles Cummings, (Donning Company, 1995)
*''This Is New Jersey'' (Rutgers University Press, 1953)
*''Thomas Edison: They Called Him Wizard'' (
Public Service Electric and Gas Company
The Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) is a publicly traded diversified energy company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey and was established in 1985 with a legacy dating back to 1903.
The company's largest subsidiary is Public Service Elect ...
, 1979)
*''University in the Forest: The Story of Drew University'' (Afton Publishing, 1972)
Textbooks
*''New Jersey: A Mirror on America,'' for high school (Afton Publishing, updated by Patricia J. Cunningham, 2006)
*''On the Go in New Jersey,'' elementary, (Afton Publishing, updated by Patricia J. Cunningham, 2008)
*''On the Go in New York,'' elementary, (1990)
*''On the Go in Pennsylvania,'' elementary, (1991)
*''You, New Jersey And the World,'' elementary, digital (Afton Publishing, updated by Patricia J. Cunningham, 2012)
Photo essays
These works were created in collaboration with Walter Choroszewski:
*''The Garden State in Bloom'' (Esthetic Press, 1993)
*''New Jersey: A Scenic Discovery'' (Foremost Publishers, 1981)
*''New Jersey: A Photographic Journey'' (Esthetic Press, 1987)
*''New Jersey: Naturescapes and Detail'' (Esthetic Press, 1992)
*''New Jersey: A Photographic Celebration'' (Esthetic Press, 1994)
Daniel Denton Daniel Denton (c. 1626 – 1703) was an early American colonist. Denton led an expedition into the interior of northern New Jersey. He was one of the purchasers of what is known as the Elizabethtown Tract in 1664, in the area of (and surrounding) ...
*
Henry Howe
Henry Howe (October 11, 1816 – October 14, 1893) was an American author who wrote histories of several states in the United States. His most celebrated work is the three volume ''Historical Collections of Ohio''.
Life
Henry Howe was born in ...
Barbara Haney Irvine
Barbara Haney Irvine (born 1944) is an American advocate for the preservation of women's historic sites. Irvine is the founding president of the Alice Paul Institute, named after American suffragist leader Alice Paul, and is the executive director ...
*
John P. Snyder
John Parr Snyder (12 April 1926 – 28 April 1997) was an American cartographer most known for his work on map projections for the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Educated at Purdue and MIT as a chemical engineer, he had a lifetime interest ...