Roebling Museum News

In the early 20th century, immigrants from Europe poured into New Jersey, making a new life for themselves by building their new country into a world power. Their labor created the American industrial age, including the building of its iconic suspension bridges.

To help tell that story, Roebling Museum has been chosen to receive a highly competitive $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) aimed at enabling small museums to fully explore their community history. The grant will kick off a multi-year project to open an immigrant worker’s house museum in the company town that made the cables of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The museum, which documents the history of the bridge-building John A. Roebling’s Sons Company and its workers, is one of only 28 institutions nationwide selected for the NEH’s new Public Impact Projects at Smaller Organizations grant program.

“This funding will help preserve and expand access to community histories, strengthen the ability of small museums and archives to serve the public, and provide resources and educational opportunities for students to engage with history, literature, languages, and cultures,” said NEH Chair Shelley C. Lowe.

The NEH grant, announced in January, will allow Roebling Museum to create a comprehensive plan to reimagine the 1905 workers row house, acquired by the museum in 2020, as part of its interpretation of the company town as an addition to the museum’s existing exhibits in the former gatehouse of the Roebling steel and wire mill.

"Receiving this grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities underscores the national significance of Roebling's history and the importance of our work," said Dr. Lynne Calamia, Roebling Museum Executive Director. “The history of Roebling, New Jersey is deeply intertwined with the industrial achievements of its majority-immigrant workforce. Workers living in the former company town played a pivotal role in making the wire and wire rope used in iconic suspension bridges including the Golden Gate Bridge and George Washington Bridge. Roebling’s legacy continues to resonate far beyond New Jersey, even long after the closing of the Roebling mill in 1974.”

Roebling Museum will embark on an exciting new chapter through this grant project. The museum will work with experienced consultants, local historians, residents, and volunteers to create a comprehensive plan that ties together the museum exhibit space, the worker’s house, its outdoor collection of industrial artifacts, and the company town itself into a cohesive and immersive visitor experience.

"We will explore how to tell stories that haven’t been told before, and how to ensure that the museum’s programs resonate with our audiences," Calamia said. “For many of our visitors, learning about Roebling as a working-class melting pot echoes the history of their own families.”

Read more about NEH funding and its new Public Impact Projects at Smaller Organizations grant program here.

About the National Endowment for the Humanities

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at www.neh.gov.