Perth Amboy is known for being the City of Firsts. First Capital of East NJ, first City in NJ, First town to ratify the Bill of Rights and home to the First African American to vote under the 15^th Amendment. Given Perth Amboy's rich history, the Perth Amboy Free Public Library maintains a large collection of local history materials including photographs, rare books, and other archival and microfilm resources. Because of the rarity and fragility of the items in our collection, Guests are not permitted to take out of the building any materials in the Local History Collection.

The Local History Department can be reached by phone at 732-826-2600 ext 4907.

Local History Mission Statement
The mission of the Local History Department is to collect, maintain and preserve materials on local history for the benefit of historians and library patrons now and in the future.

Materials to be preserved focus on the following:
1. City of Perth Amboy
2.History of the Perth Amboy Free Public Library
3. Middlesex County
4. New Jersey

Collection

Our historical collections include Perth Amboy history, art, genealogy, biographies, , personal papers & manuscripts, records of local organizations, Jerseyana, and United States history, as well as the original Library documents from the late 1800's.

A complete list of our index can be found here.