As one of the biggest libraries in Bergen County, and by virtue of Hackensack’s status as the county seat of Bergen County, JPL has always made sure to maintain a strong collection of local history volumes for the research-inclined members.
The Taffe history room is located in the original part of the library which opened in 1901. This lovely, quiet room has a portrait of Senator Johnson above the non-functioning fireplace. We house historical books about the library, the city, the county and the state in this room. Among the titles of interest:
- City directories for Hackensack:1879, 1898-1903, 1906-1926, 1947-1956. Some of these directories were published by the railroad companies and include other towns north of Hackensack on the railroad line.
- Bergen County Historic Site Surveys of each town in the county. These were published in 1983.
- City of Hackensack Master Plan 1958, 1975, 1990
- The Night We Stopped the Trolley by Earl Schenck Miers
- Report on a Survey of Bergen County Libraries, 1968
- Holy Trinity Parish, 125 years
- The Old Church on the Green
- New Jersey State Industrial Directory 1901-1992 (with gaps)
- Walker Atlas of Bergen County 1876
- The Record Index 1959-1981
- Public Libraries in New Jersey 1750-1850
- Catalog and Bulletin of the Johnson Public Library 1901-1906
- Black Man in the White House; Forty Years a Guinea Pig; Way Down South Up North – all by E. Frederic Morrow
