The
original Historical Society was formed in 1992 by Mayor Stephen G. Schueler who
appointed resident Rae Tutela to be the Borough Historian and to organize the Historical
Society. The members of the Historical
Society were tasked to present an event in Riley Park to celebrate the 100th
year of Bradley Beach’s incorporation in 1893.
Many events were held during the first part of the year 1993, ending
with the Historical Society’s Day of History in the park. It was a huge success.
Rae
Tutela stayed on as Historian, but after the centennial celebrations were over,
membership dropped and very soon, no one was showing up for the meetings.
In 2000,
Rae approached Mayor Schueler and asked him to appoint Librarian Shirley Ayres
to be the Borough’s Historian and on July 1, 2000, he did as Rae wished.
Shirley
and her friend, Graphic Designer Ron Carlucci worked hard on building up
membership. They took part in every
public event in town and on the boardwalk.
Members were signing up and the Historical Society was in business. Shirley and Projectionist Gary Crawford
co-wrote an Arcadia Publishing book, “Images of America: Bradley Beach” which
was published in July 2002. In 2004, Shirley
and co-writer Interior Designer Troy Bianchi wrote another Arcadia Publishing
book, “Vintage Postcards: Bradley Beach” and a part of the profits of each book
were donated to the Historical Society.
Currently, Shirley and Troy are working on another book to be titled,
“Then and Now: Bradley Beach”.
The
Historical Society hosted two house tours, but it wasn’t enough to sustain
membership and soon, we were without members again. Rae and Shirley hosted a Historical Society
Tea Party on May 19, 2010 and about 25 people showed up. And, no one joined the Historical Society.
After
pleading with the town council for several years, the Borough finally allowed
Shirley to establish an Historical Museum in the Carmen A. Biase Center. Opening Day celebrations were held on
February 1, 2006. Soon after the opening
of the Museum, Shirley recruited volunteer Don Lewis to act as curator of the
Museum and he has done a spectacular job.
Along
with historic artifacts and pictures, the Museum is the home of the Historian’s
vertical file. A vertical file is made
up of clippings from newspapers and magazines, all of which relate to Bradley
Beach. There are several binders of
clippings about the Borough, the Police Department, the School, the Library,
and many other organizations and events.
To
make an appointment to visit our Museum, please email us and we will get back
to you. There are no public hours for
the Museum, but we will be there when scheduled by you. We are still working on establishing another
round of Historical Society membership.
Stay tuned.