Contribute
Building New Jersey Slavery Records into a robust database will require collaboration and contributions from many archivists, historians, genealogists, and educators across the state.
Rutgers Students
Graduate research assistants at the Scarlet and Black Research Center process archival materials for the New Jersey Slavery Records database. To discuss opportunities for graduate students at the center, please contact Jesse Bayker.
We also offer undergraduate students an opportunity to contribute to our digital projects through two programs:
Public History Internship: This program connects undergraduate students with practical and meaningful hands-on experience at historical sites, non-profit institutions, and historical agencies in New Jersey. The Scarlet and Black Research Center can serve as your placement for this internship. Students earn 3 credits over the course of one semester. The internship satisfies the seminar requirement for history majors and is a required course for the Public History Certificate. Students interested in pursuing a public history internship should meet with the director of the Public History Program, Professor Kristin O’Brassill-Kulfan to discuss their interests and the available opportunities.
Aresty Research Assistant Program: This program enables undergraduate students to gain their first authentic research experiences by supporting faculty research projects. Students earn 3 credits over the course of the academic year. Applications for the 2023–2024 academic year are due on April 15, 2023. Learn more about the program and application process here: Scarlet & Black Undergraduate Research Assistant Positions for 2023–2024.
Archivists and Librarians
Many archives, libraries, and historical societies in New Jersey hold records related to enslaved people’s lives. We are working to build partnerships with archivists across the state to contribute records to the New Jersey Slavery Records database and to index records for the Northeast Slavery Records Index. Please contact us to talk about possibilities for collaboration.
Crowd-sourcing
Are you a family historian or genealogist who has found records related to slavery in New Jersey in the course of your research? We encourage you to share the names and details that you have found in archival sources. We are working to build a mechanism for crowd-sourcing records from individual researchers.
Want to be the first to know when the crowd-sourcing mechanism becomes available? Fill out this quick form to provide your email address, and we will email you when it is ready.