In an era dominated by digital screens, Stockton University is proving that physical books remain one of the most enduring ways to capture history. For 13 years, the university’s South Jersey Culture and History Center (SJCHC) has operated New Jersey’s only student-staffed local history printing press.
Led by Tom Kinsella, Professor of Literature at Stockton, the center publishes five to eight books annually on topics ranging from Pine Barrens ecology and Jewish farming to local architecture and regional memoirs. To date, the press has produced roughly 40 books alongside its annual journal, SoJourn, which highlights the culture, geography, and history of South Jersey.
“They’ll last longer than that thing in your hand,” Kinsella said, referring to modern smartphones. “If you don’t throw it in water or put it in a fire, if you keep it in a reasonable environment, a book is going to last a long, long time.”
Through internships and dedicated coursework, Stockton students gain hands-on experience in every stage of the publishing pipeline, including copyediting, proofreading, interior layout, font selection, and cover design.
Senior Literature major Dickson Moreno applied these skills while working on Stories from Gibersonville on the Mullica River, a memoir by former Port Republic Mayor Gary Giberson. Moreno noted that preserving the author’s authentic regional dialect required thoughtful editorial judgment.
“It’s a memoir and there are a couple of words that technically are misspellings, but that’s how people talked then,” Moreno explained. “The center’s printing press is really important because it’s one of the channels to give a voice to people who live locally.”
The press’s recent release slate includes None of Us Are Frights, a poetry collection by 2016 Stockton graduate and Disability Studies adjunct professor Taylor Carmen Savath. Born with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, Savath uses her poetry and archival imagery to examine the historical lives of disabled sideshow performers.
“Ripley’s Believe It or Not! is still standing on the Atlantic City Boardwalk… so that history lives in this place,” Savath said. “I wanted people to know that these were real people… These are people who existed.”
Sophomore Literature major Alyssa Shivers worked closely with Savath to navigate the nuanced layout decisions required for poetry formatting, such as line breaks, text alignment, and visual pacing.
“You’re always going to have to write, and you’re always going to need to know how to word things properly to get what you want to communicate across to other people,” Shivers noted. “Writing is human. It makes us human.”
Recent Publications & Availability
Other recent titles published by the SJCHC include:
- Seven Bridges Road: An environmental and cultural history of the Sheepshead Meadows near the Mullica River Estuary.
- Quaker Sons Go to War: A chronicle of the Burlington County Allinson family during the American Civil War.
- Delaware River Tugboats: An illustrated visual history of regional maritime commerce.
SJCHC titles are available through major online retailers like Amazon, as well as local sellers including Second Time Books in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.
