Ever notice the piano in the YWCA Club room? There’s more to the story than meets the eye.

We’re Zooming history programs this month on Thursdays.

Join here. Or join via phone: +1.929.205.6099 Meeting ID: 308 972 067 Password: 778578

In the last few months, we’ve put some of our archives on-line. Photographs, directories, maps, quilts, and more. See if you can 1) locate your home (or what would become your home) on the maps, and 2) see who lived there from the directories. Begin your hunt here. And if you’d like some help, please see our blog post on navigating the digital collections.

In the Boarders’ Dining Room at the Crane House and Historic YWCA. The tag reads “Lucille Barnwell.” The suitcases are representative of the women who stayed at the Y after moving north during the Great Migration. Who was Miss Barnwell and what’s her story? Learn more here.

Betty Holloway has done a tremendous amount on research on the Hooe family, one of the earliest African American families to settle in Montclair during the Great Migration. Alice Hooe became the first Afircan American woman to graduate from Montclair High School and helped found the YWCA. Watch it here.

US History 2 Teachers, we have 3 downloadable lesson plans on 20th century discrimination in New Jersey. All resources and primary documents are included. Free. Take a look.

Explore some of Montclair’s historic communities on hour own with these self-guided tours of Bloomfield Avenue, Pine Street, Watchung Business District, and South Mountain Estate District, or the Montclair Art Colony. Download them all or one at time.