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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, 2022, has marked the Museum's 62nd year of operation. 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. And we welcome you to visit to see our region’s history up close.

We have dedicated exhibit rooms including exhibits featuring a permanent 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, a pre-electric kitchen, and the history of our building itself. And, in addition, we have exhibits that rotate during the year. We currently have an exhibit of the historical paintings of the region from our collection, many of which had never been shown publicly before this exhibit was created. Plans are underway, for Black History Month, to turn this exhibit area into a commemoration of some of the accomplishments of members of the local African American community. And future plans will involve a showcase of the history of photography and photographic equipment.

During this past year we hosted a number of zoom history speaker events that drew the interest of people from around the country. While our history speaker series was created as a safe way to bring history to the public during the pandemic, these events will continue as they have been very well received. 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. And our annual Scarecrow Day (in mid-October) will continue to bring families and groups of friends out to make a set of very unique and creative scarecrows on our front lawn.

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. Please join our family of members who, with our all-volunteer staff, help keep our history alive. We are your 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