SCLSNJ Partners with Frontline Arts to Enrich Community Memories

Submitted by Carolann DeMatos

Frontline Arts chose to add some of the amazing art from their talented veteran artists to the Somerset County Library System of New Jersey’s (SCLSNJ) National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant-funded digital collection. The Library System is currently progressing through an 18-month initiative to enhance Somerset County’s collective memory by digitizing the most treasured possessions of our residents.

SCLSNJ will make these collective memories available for research and use for future generations by contributing digitized items to Rutgers University’s New Jersey Digital Highway, by making them available in our library’s online catalog, and by submitting them to the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).

The Somerset County Library System of New Jersey Common Heritage initiative has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in these Library programs do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

About Somerset County Library System of New Jersey
Somerset County Library System of New Jersey (SCLSNJ) partners with you to connect, to explore, to share and to discover. Together we enrich lives, expand knowledge and strengthen communities. SCLSNJ branches can be found in Bridgewater, Bound Brook, Hillsborough, Manville, North Plainfield, Peapack & Gladstone, Rocky Hill at Mary Jacobs Memorial Library, Somerville, Warren Township, and Watchung. Additionally, there are two SCLSNJ reading stations in Branchburg and Washington Valley. Visit SCLSNJ.org.

About the National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency created in 1965. It is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States. Because democracy demands wisdom, NEH serves and strengthens our republic by promoting excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of history to all Americans. The Endowment accomplishes this mission by awarding grants for top-rated proposals examined by panels of independent, external reviewers. Learn more at neh.gov.

(above) Artist Tara Krause of Sparta stands with her art piece, “Nagasaki, 1945: Our Burned in Shadow of Past and Future” (2018). Artist Jim Fallon of Hoboken stands with his art piece, “Orphan Opus ’68” (2013). Frontline Paper Studio Manager Walt Nygard of Teaneck stands with his art piece, “Soul Brothers” (2017).

(above) SCLSNJ’s Director of Human Resources Deanna Rivera; SCLSNJ’s Technical Services Manager and Grant Coordinator Rebecca Sandoval Sloat; Artist Tara Krause of Sparta and Wolpe, her 9 year old German Shepard companion from Semper Fido; SCLSNJ’s Adult Services Librarian Ken Kaufman; Artist Jim Fallon of Hoboken; and Frontline Paper Studio Manager Walt Nygard of Teaneck; pose with some of the art being adding to the Library’s growing digital history collection.