Greetings from the Meadowlands Museum!  

Once again, it gives me great pleasure to write to you about the Museum's history and our past year’s activities and our plans for the future.

This year, 2023, has marked the Museum's 63nd year. We started in 1961 in one classroom of Sylvan School in Rutherford. In 1966, we moved to a second floor space on Ames Avenue near Park Avenue in Rutherford, and in 1974 we moved to our current location -- The Yereance-Berry House at 91 Crane Avenue - one of the oldest farm houses of the region dating back to 1804.  And with this as our home, we maintain the House’s history as well as the artifacts of our regional history that are found in all of our displays.

We are open to the public on Saturdays from 10 am-4 pm, when everyone is welcome to visit and see our region’s history up close. 

We have dedicated exhibit rooms including exhibits featuring our collection of artifacts from the life of William Carlos Williams (the poet/doctor), antique toys and dolls of the region, the geology of the Meadowlands area, the history of sound/audio equipment from an original Edison phonograph up to the pre-digital age, a pre-electric kitchen, pre-electric construction tools, and then there’s the history of our building itself.  We also have exhibits that rotate during the year.  We currently have an exhibit featuring Holiday decorations through history, which will be followed by a special exhibit for Black history month (late January through the end of February, 2024)  Plans are also underway for a spring 2024 exhibit on the history of firefighting equipment in the region, and a September 2024 commemoration of the Meadowlands Experience of 9/11.

During this past years we have hosted a number of zoom history speaker events that drew the interest of people from around the country. These events will continue in 2024 as well.  We will also continue to host our Spring Plant Sale (featuring the flowers of William Carlos Williams' poetry), our Fall chrysanthemum sale, and a winter poinsettia sale.  Our annual Scarecrow Day (in mid-October) brings families and groups of friends out to make a set of very unique and creative scarecrows on our front lawn. And our fall cemetery tour is the perfect way to introduce the Halloween season.

With our different membership categories, we hope you will find an option that fits the way you would most like to help continue the work of the Museum.  If you have not already done so, please join our family of members who, with our all-volunteer staff, help keep our history alive.  We are the Meadowlands community's connection with its history... but we need your help.  Our memberships are set to continue for 12 months from the date of donation, so we recommend not putting this off, and becoming a member today.    

With thanks for your anticipated support of our collective history,

Robin Reenstra,

President, Meadowlands Museum Board of Trustees