When Newark Was Younger

Miriam Van Arsdale Studley was the first director of the New Jersey room at the Newark Public Library from 1951-1966. She also ran the NJ collections from 1943, when Julia Sabine went to graduate school. That’s a total of 23 years in charge of the library’s New Jersey materials.

Miriam Studley was born Jul 18, 1899 in Amoy, China to missionaries Rev. Hobart and Josephine Studley. She had one sister Katherine (Knight, 1903-1990). She spent some time as a child in Ringwood, NJ and with her grandparents in the Hudson Valley. 

Studley graduated Vassar in 1922, a member of the choir and newspaper. She spent some time working as a teacher and did her graduate work in library science at Columbia University. Studley worked at NYPL, before moving to Newark Public Library around 1931.

At Newark Library, Studley began in the children’s room. In 1936, the library celebrated George Washington’s Bicentennial and the Newark Charter Celebration, which spurred an interest in local history. From then on, Studley worked with the New Jersey collections at NPL. From 1949-1950, Studley wrote a column for the Newark Sunday News called “When Newark Was Younger” which you can read on http://digital.npl.org. 

In 1960, Studley was appointed a member of the NJ Tercentenary advisory committee by Gov. Meyner. In 1964, Studley published “Historic New Jersey Through Visitors’ Eyes”. She also helped edit John T. Cunningham’s famous 1966 book “Newark” and helped numerous other authors and historians. 

After Studley retired in 1966, she helped organize the Stevens Papers at the New Jersey Historical Society and worked on a bibliography on African Americans in New Jersey. In 1969, she was secretary of a committee founded to collect historical materials from African American history for the Historical Society. In 1975, she received an honorary degree from Kean University. 

Throughout her career, Studley travelled the state with talks and courses about local history and librarianship, and was active in the NJ Folklore Club. She also had a great interest in nature and hiking and was active in the Interstate Hiking Club for many years, writing columns for the Paterson Morning Call, detailing the hikes of the group. 

Studley died in 1984 at the home of her sister in Maryland. 

John T. Cunningham said of Studley he could “recall no person who has been of greater help to persons interested in New Jersey”.