Boro residents share memories of early days

Those interested in Sayreville’s vast history can now learn about it through the voices of those who lived part of it.

The Sayreville Historical Society is collecting oral histories from residents via videos that will be housed both in the archives of the society’s museum, as well as on the Internet site YouTube.com. Project coordinators said they are hoping to preserve the Sayreville of yesterday so they can pass it on to future generations.

Jason J. Slesinski, 25, now of South Amboy, grew up in Sayreville and initiated the project last year after learning that his great-grandmother had made a verbal recording of her life in 1983.

“I was amazed by it and thought, ‘There has to be hundreds more stories like this,’” he said.

Slesinski first heard of his great-grandmother’s recording last spring and immediately donated it to the Historical Society. From there he met Carol Kadi, recording secretary of the society, and the two applied for a grant from the Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission in order to conduct an oral history project in town.

After learning of the grant’s availability, project coordinators purchased equipment and conducted their first interview in December.

So far, eight residents ranging in age from 70 to 92 have given interviews. The goal is to get about 20 interviews with people who have memories of Sayreville from before World War II, Slesinski said, as the town would soon thereafter undergo an industrial transformation.

“It’s important to have people who have a memory of Sayreville before this massive influx of people came into town,” he said.

One of the most interesting things that Slesinski has learned while conducting the interviews is how different people’s patterns of consumption were decades ago. People lived differently back then — all communities had everything they needed to be self-sustaining, including butchers and bakers, which meant that automobiles were not only unnecessary but a rarity, he noted. People grew their own food in their backyards with fruit trees and raised their own livestock.

“The land was never good for farming. Regardless, these Polish families would keep livestock and grow food in their backyard,” Slesinski said.

Former Sayreville Mayor and Councilman Harold Boehm, who will turn 90 this year, participated in the interviews and spoke about a wide range of topics, from politics to recreation. He noted that he built his own house, everyone grew fruit trees to deal with the Great Depression, and neighborhood kids used to make their own baseballs.

People weren’t worried about their appearance during the Great Depression, he said, but were more concerned with growing food and surviving.

Other topics in the interviews touch on major employers such as Dupont and Hercules, the “red” and “green” neighborhoods, trolleys, schools, and how different life was in rural Sayreville. When people began to suburbanize after WWII and highways like routes 9 and 35 and the Garden State Parkway began to emerge, the rural feel was lost, which, for Slesinski, is why these oral histories are so important.

The use of YouTube.com, which Slesinski said serves as a free, accessible and interactive depository of the borough’s history, is imperative as it allows the videos to be easily shared among all those interested.

“If these oral histories are in the archives of the Historical Society, how many people are going to hear them?” he asked. “The [Internet] technology is free and available. It gets the community involved.”

Although the project, which has to be completed by May, will include 15 to 20 interviews, project coordinators hope it remains an ongoing initiative.

“Now that we own the equipment, we can conduct interviews whenever we want,” Slesinski said.

He said he would like to see the YouTube videos used in borough schools.

“It would open up a channel of communication between generations,” he said.

Borough fourth-graders visit the Historical Society museum every June, and Slesinski believes that having the oral histories used in the classroom around this time would help the children learn in a fun and interactive way.

“I think this would be a great component. Having it on YouTube makes it so accessible for classrooms,” Slesinski said. “They would be hearing [Sayreville’s history] from the people who were living in the neighborhoods that these children are now living in.”

Mayor Kennedy O’Brien commended Slesinski and Kadi at the Feb. 8 Borough Council meeting for their work on the project and for helping to preserve Sayreville’s history.

The $1,600 grant cannot be used to purchase permanent equipment that will last beyond the project. Much of the grant money has been used for advertising. More permanent equipment, such as recording devices, were purchased with funds from the Sayreville Historical Society. A requirement of the grant is that the project be completed by May.

Anyone interested in volunteering or participating should send an email to Sayreville- OralHistory@gmail.com or visit the Historical Society in person. To view the interviews, visit www.youtube.com/sayrevillehistory.