Historians put together a book of 650 pictures from New Jersey history

There have been plenty of history books written about New Jersey. Now, the state has its own historical photo album.

Two of the state's top historians released a book this month that brings together 654 photos and images to tell New Jersey's story from prehistoric times to the present.

"Envisioning New Jersey: An Illustrated History of the Garden State" was compiled by Maxine Lurie, professor emerita of history at Seton Hall University, and Richard Veit, chairman of the department of history and anthropology at Monmouth University. ...

Were you surprised by any of the photos you found?

A number of them did surprise me. Someone I know suggested an image of German POWs working on a farm in South Jersey in World War II. I had no idea that was part of the state's history.

Was there any image you wish you could find that you couldn't?

It took us a while to find images of the Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey, but we did and we are using two other them in the book. There were other images we wish we had. Some things were just too hard to find or we just gave up on them because in many cases they were just too expensive. Some of the commercial images we just couldn't begin to afford. ...