During the Fall of 2014, Chester native and lifelong resident Herman Rademacher (shown above in the Local History Librarian’s office at Chester Library) shared his marvelous and extensive collection of Chester postcards with Chester Library and Local History Librarian Deb Schiff. When the then-83-year-old began telling interesting stories of the area and how it has changed over the years, she asked if she could record him on videos that would be put online so that any Chester researcher could learn more. He agreed, and what follows in this exhibit are excerpts of the interviews paired with facsimiles of their corresponding postcards.

In the image above, Rademacher studies one of his postcards. He is seated between prints of the Chester and Morris County pages from the first atlas of Morris County, New Jersey, published by F.W. Beers in 1868.

Explore the Chester Library’s YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2wfelLw5pFoG1hzuv9t1EA) to see many other Herman Rademacher videos that were not included in this exhibit.

The opinions expressed in these videos are those of Herman Rademacher, and do not represent the views of the Chester Library.

All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Local History Librarian, Chester Public Library, 250 W. Main Street, Chester, NJ 07930.

Exhibit Publication Date: Published in 2015. ©Copyright Chester Public Library 2015