New Exhibit Showcases New Jersey’s Prominent Role in American Revolution
Caught in the Crossfire includes one-of-a-kind materials from Rutgers University Libraries
In honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary, Rutgers is putting rare items on display that date back to the earliest days of the country, including a portrait of a British loyalist, a map of Colonial-era New Brunswick and medallions depicting generations of Benjamin Franklin’s family.
Special Collections and University Archives at Rutgers University Libraries is providing the majority of loans of original archival materials (i.e. non-reproductions) as part of Caught in the Crossfire: Divided Loyalties in Middlesex County, which examines the American Revolution as a complex eight-year period when Americans did not all agree on a path forward. The exhibit will be on display at the Cornelius Low House Museum in Piscataway from April 11 through Dec. 31 of 2028.
“Exhibitions like this one are important because they illustrate how complex history is,’’ said Consuella Askew, vice president for university libraries and university librarian. “These are the primary sources historians use to write their own books to examine or interpret historical events. By viewing these materials directly, visitors can see that the events of the revolution were never straightforward.”
The exhibit will showcase a combination of cultural artifacts, archival documents, reproductions, interactive and experiential design, and specially commissioned artwork to fill gaps in source material and create immersive experiences. Askew said the collection includes one-of-a-kind materials from Rutgers archives that can’t be found in other repositories or museums.
Rutgers’ contribution to the exhibit highlights the university’s own colonial era history founded in 1766—one of only nine colleges established before the American Revolution.
“The exhibition will illustrate how Middlesex County residents were caught in the middle of a war zone through personal stories of ordinary and extraordinary individuals and families, weaving women’s history, Black history, and the history of indigenous communities throughout,” says Katie Zavoski, senior curator at the Cornelius Low House Museum.
She said the exhibit breaks down the sides of the war at our crossroads of the revolution wherein residents had to take stands—from “loyalist” to “patriot” to “neutral”— and readily change sides at the drop of a hat.
“Exhibitions like Caught in the Crossfire can teach us that although history is really complicated, trying to understand our past can give us a better perspective on the present,” said Flora Boros, curator of interpretation and engagement at the Cornelius Low House.
“The revolution teaches us that today is not the only age of bitter divisions; Americans during the revolution did not all agree. Many families across Middlesex County and the state of New Jersey were bitterly divided in their allegiances, opinions and principles throughout the eight-year war. The revolution led to major transformations in the world’s thinking that we’re still grappling with even today—about freedom and slavery, hierarchical privilege and equality, national independence, and the sovereignty of people,” she said.
Here is a look at some of the items on display:
Map of New Brunswick Commissioned by Barnardus LaGrange, April 11, 1769. Loan Courtesy: Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.
This rare drawing, commissioned by New Brunswick’s most hated Loyalist Bernardus LaGrange, shows the locations of his land holdings in pre-Revolutionary New Brunswick. Most of his property was confiscated by Patriots during the war.
Deed of sale from Adam Hyler, New Brunswick, June 25, 1781. Loan Courtesy: Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.
Adam Hyler and his crew gave this receipt to New Brunswick’s Frederick Vandyke when selling him “a certain Negro slave about the age of fourteen years named Prime.” Hyler had lawfully claimed Prime as a war prize when he raided a schooner “in service of Britain.” If Prime had been free aboard the enemy schooner, he was now enslaved in Patriot New Brunswick.
Facsimile of stereograph of Cochrane’s Tavern/George Washington’s headquarters on the corner of Albany and Neilson Streets, 1862. Loan Courtesy: Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.
Similar to card photographs, light-sensitive stereographs are formed by placing two images side by side. These were most commonly produced with cameras that had two lenses side by side, 2.5 inches apart, so that two exposures were made simultaneously. Most commonly, stereographs were viewed on a hand-held stereoscopes; viewed on such a device, stereographs gave the image a sense of three dimensionality.
Drawing of Royal Navy Vessels in Diary of Johannes Reuber, 1776-1783. Loan Courtesy: Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.
Johannes Reuber was a Hessian soldier captured at Trenton in 1776. He was later freed in a prisoner exchange and fought again on the British side. Reuber marched through Middlesex County during Cornwallis’s pursuit of Washington in 1776, and enroute to Staten Island in 1777. He adorned this journal with colorful sketches of British, American, and French vessels, skeletal maps, and land fortifications.
Musket Ball from Monmouth Battlefield, ca. 1770-1778. Loan Courtesy: Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.
These musket balls were found near the Tennent Parsonage house and farm in the last action of the Battle of Monmouth, as retreating Continental infantry held off a battalion of British Grenadiers. Pending chemical analysis, this piece of ammunition may be one of those 40,000 that were melted and molded from pieces of the statue of George III.
