Had been building since colonial times to the clerk of the house. He was directed to create a list of books to include in the votes and proceedings of march 18, 1776. He was further directed quote to procure at the expense of the legislature a suitable case for the keeping and preservation of such books. He was also directed to make sure basically that he safeguarded and preserve the material as well and its this early collection of veaux that actually is the foundation of the state state Library Research collection today. I am often asked which is the oldest book in the state library collection. We do have the pamphlets from 1496 which is the oldest item but its only seven pages long so we dont featured as a book. Our oldest book is this one. Its a living history of rome. It was created in 1635 in switzerland and the interesting thing about this book is it has a legend with it and as often is the case legends are not true or turn out to be only partially true and the legend of this book is that it was owned by Phillip Langston in germany but went to the university. He was a close friend and thinker of Martin Luther during the protestant reformation and what led people to make the trip was these notations that ran all through the book. It was sold by samuel souther b. The bookseller as langstons copy. This is likely because he could make more money however scholars have studied this book and they say that theyre writing this not match there will handwriting so unfortunately that particular writing is not true however its still interesting as being around the time of the protestant reformation. It was definitely from a scholar at Wittenberg University and so it comes from a time when states thought about religion changing and then around 100 years later you get some of the same people affected by that change in thinking about religion coming to america, thinking about religious freedom. Some of them wind up in new jersey. This is the first book that we know that was printed within new jersey. It was printed in 1728. Most printing about new jersey has been done either in new york or philadelphia or in london up until this point but in 1728 a temporary Printing Press was set up in burlington, new jersey in order to print money for the colony and the legislature wanted to be close so they could see it and at the time they also did this book. This is the first known printed book within new jersey. Over here we have what we consider one of the founding books of the new Jersey State Library and it was a gift to the legislature from the first appointed governor of new jersey lewis morris from 1702 when new jersey first became a royal colony until 1738 when morris was appointed governor. New jersey and new york shared a governor so this marked the first time when new jersey and new york even though at that point they have their own courts in their own legislature, they shared a government. Here we can see his signature. This is a gift from his own collection and what it is is journals of the houses of parliament during the time of queen elizabeth. Maybe he just wanted to remind the legislature who made the laws and where the laws came from and to bear that in mind. He had his first speech that he gave to the new Jersey Legislature and he reminds them of what their job is. He says in the speech of the moral are choosing to be comprised under the terms of justice and honesty and god can only make men so but its the business of the legislature to make it otherwise. I think that tizon perfect way with the map here and the gallows and the morning. Yes, god may make us good that its the legislatures job to make sure that we do not do bad. At the back of this it was printed by another famous american in 1738. Now in 1734 he has gone to prison because at that time they imprisoned the printer rather than the author. He went to prison because printing things by forest who was saved political opposition. Over here we have what is one of my favorite stories of new jersey. Again the colonial period but its a little later just before the revolutionary war so it starts naturally in 1768 and at the time george iii was on the throne in england and William Franklin was the last royal governor of new jersey. He was thought to be a fair governor and people respected him. At the time new jersey was divided into east and west germany and east jersey treasurer was named Steven Skinner and he was in the habit of keeping the east jersey treasury at his home in perth amboy. He would put it in a chest within his office and the story begins one dark and stormy night it was raining and it was dark and the person or persons broke into his house by a window and stole, ransacked the house and stole everything except for 100 pounds. It was 6700 pounds they stole which was everything that the east jersey colony owned at the time. The next morning it was discovered by his apprentice and immediately skinner alerted governor franklin. Franklin then issued his proclamation offering a reward of 50 pounds for any information leading to the capture and return of the money and then down here skinner offers 100 pounds of his own money in addition to the 50 pounds. William franklin also talks at that time to the attorney general, the council and the chief justice who decided there has to be an immediate detailed inquiry into what happened. Within three days skinner and the apprentice come down and testify in front of the council. They are closely questioned and he tells how he came down in the morning, the door was locked but when he opened the door that window was wide open. The ref had been ransacked. There was only 100 pounds in the chest and they had lord laid the chest upon the table. Why they did that, why they didnt the sleeping slave close by if they really didnt know. Maybe it was to stormy. Maybe it was very dark but after close questioning the council decides that its not an inside job. They say skinner has not exercised close care of the money and they order him to repay it. He of course balked at this. Thats a lot of money he said this will bankrupt me and my family. No, i cant repay. So nothing happens for several years and he continues not being able to pay the money but in 1772 a new assembly is convened and they take up this issue again. This is where we really start to see the change from the colonial mentality to the revolutionary mentality. They start to demand that skinner pay back the money. They demand that the government replace skinner with the treasure of their choosing. Well this is unheard of because the governor, its his prerogative to appoint people. The governor says no the Assembly Still wants a new treasure and they say we are not going to send a governor until you get us a new treasurer. Finally skinner is persuaded by the governor and they put in someone of the assemblys choosing. This clearly represents a sea change in thinking. Skinner by the way never repay the money. He was a loyalist. He flees to canada and the governor is brought in. There are two things in this story. Really the changing thinking that if you know anything about politics in new jersey its how we never have any money. Sometimes we think well things could be worse. We could have lost everything. The Roebling Company was the largest in trenton and the 20 century