Correspondence—memoranda, 1961-1964, 1966-1967

The collection includes correspondence; memoranda; working papers (i.e. handwritten/typed notes, rough drafts, reports, etc.); minutes of committees, various printed material including reports, policy statements, speeches, news releases, fliers, periodicals, pamphlets; news clippings; legal and financial documents pertaining to the environmental and social issues facing New Jersey in the second half of the twentieth century. They reflect the interplay between government and citizen in the areas of transportation, urban growth, government reorganization, zoning, public health, water conservation, open space preservation, etc. Documentation spans the years between 1949 and 1972, but the decade 1949-1958 is quite limited, and gaps do appear throughout the remaining time period. Themes from this early period include the development of the Hackensack Meadowlands, land subdivision, zoning and local government reorganization (New Jersey Statutes Annotated Title 40), and the establishment of a federal postal center in the Meadowlands.

Some of the more important topics within the Regional Plan Association files cover: the Bureau of the Census Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Citizen's Group on Water Resources, Citizen's Group to Review State Capital Needs, Green Acres, Meadowlands, Metropolitan Regional Council, New Jersey Statutes Annotated 40 County and Municipal Government Revision, Newark Medical Center, Newark Water Shed, The Palisades, Regional Advisory Board, Tri-State Transportation Commission. Most of the material of the Regional Plan Association is the product of its New Jersey Chapter. A few items—the news releases, conference reports, and some of the correspondence—were produced by the central office in New York City. The most important records of the subgroup, Appalachian Highland Association, relates to the Skyland Project or green belt, which was conceived as a swath of open land across northern New Jersey. Also included are materials on the Newark Water Shed.

Within the files of the subgroup American Institute of Planners there is also material on the Newark Water Shed, but by far the most important records relate to the lawsuit with the New Jersey Society of Professional Planners (this legal problem grew out of the opposition of the AIP to the proposed bill N.J. S 775 (1968) relating to the licensing of professional planners).

The remaining subgroups reflect importantly on Mr. Erber's work on environmental and social matters and on his efforts to influence government and to inform the citizens and elicit their participation. These subgroups include the Committee of Concern, which was formed in the wake of the civil unrest in the late 1960's, and the Majority Response Rally which sought to obtain more governmental response in meeting the needs of the urban poor.