About

Welcome

This blog is designed to allow myself, and anyone else for that matter, to display a collection of historic post cards, epherma, and other antique artifacts related to the town of Ramsey, NJ. The posts (ideally) will display the item (usually a post card) and provide some historic context around the image drawing from some of the great books written over the years about the town.

Over the years I have collected postcards depicting scenes from Ramsey dating from the early 1900’s to the 1960’s and some paper documentation (old receipts, letters, and so forth from the estate of Dr. John Finch, our town’s first mayor). Years ago a family member flipping through a book of cards suggested a neighbor (whose current house was pictured in one of the old postcards) would like a copy of that card. Extending that thought, there are probably a number of neighbors interested in seeing what Ramsey looked like 40, 60, and 100 years ago.

The Bergen Record did a story about the project when the site launched, you can read more there: http://www.northjersey.com/community-news/blog-features-postcards-from-ramsey-s-past-1.202099.

Historical Information

The important history books written about the town that are: The Birth of Ramsey by Smeltzer (and John Y. Dater), Images of America: Ramsey by Kase, and Portraits of Ramsey by Welk (along with contributions from Tom Dater).

Frequently Asked Questions:

I also have old postcards, photographs, etc.. Any interest in displaying them?

That would be wonderful, please send a picture and description to ramseynjhistory(at)gmail.com, and we’ll work together to publish a post about the postcard or related item. If you need help getting the image in a digital format, that’s something I can help you with (portable scanner, etc.).

Old Postcards on a Web Site?

It seems to make sense, as the right mix of old and new.

Is this affiliated with the borough or the Historical Association?

No, this is a project of a private citizen. I am a long time member of the Ramsey Historical Association, serve on the board, and built their web site located online at: http://www.ramseyhistorical.org/.

I see a mistake. I can provide more information.

Please let me know, so I can fix it. Alternatively you can comment on the blog post.

Are there rules about comments?

Comments are not moderated before posting, that said comments that are libelous or do not fit the raison d’etre of the site may be removed.

Are prints for sale?

A number of folks requested prints, I created the first handful for free but it quickly became overwhelming. If there’s something you’re interested in, please send an email and we’ll work something out.

Can I just copy the pictures?

I will assert rights to the digital versions of these images if I see them in other places without attribution back to the web site. A good deal of time and expense was put into building the collection you see here.

Who are you?

My name is Daniel Kennedy. I grew up in Ramsey, attended the Ramsey School system, moved away after college, and moved back after brief sojourns in Manhattan and Ridgewood. So in all I’ve lived in town more than 25 years now.

In my day job I work in information security, but was also a web developer for many years after college working on brokerage web sites for a Wall Street clearing house.