PLFDPL.INFO - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Head of Adult and YA Services
Mr. Eason has been employed at the Plainfield Public Library since late 2015. He has an M.Sc. in Information and Library Management, a Ph. D. on the topic of Artists' Books, and a B.A. Honors in Fine Art, all from the University of the West of England. Mr. Eason has worked in Libraries in the United Kingdom since 1997 in various Circulation, Reference and Management capacities.
Mr. Eason is responsible for the management of Reference Library staff and for developing Teen Programming. For example, during Mr. Eason's time in this role, Plainfield Public Library has begun offering teen gaming Events and other additional recreation opportunities.
Ms. Flores has been employed as the Assistant Director at the Plainfield Public Library since 2022. She has an MS. in Library and Information Science from Rutgers University and B.A. in Communication from Kean University. She has been working as a professional librarian for over 8 years and was previously the Head of Children's Services at the Elizabeth Public Library. As the Assistant Director, Claudia supervises the operation of the Children, Adult, and Circulation departments and assists with planning, implementing, and evaluating library services.
Clemence Sophia (Harned) Lozier was born in Plainfield in 1813. Orphaned at an early age, she was educated at the Plainfield Academy until she left to marry and moved to New York City. There she became the second woman in the state to obtain a medical degree. Because of the difficulties she'd faced in her own medical education she went on to open the New York Medical College and Hospital for Women in 1863, and, amongst others, educated the first African American woman doctor in New York. In addition to her work in education and medicine she was the editor of the Moral Reform Gazette and worked prominently in the areas of women's suffrage, temperance, and abolition of slavery. She died in 1888.
Job Titles:
- Secretary
- Secretary Term to: 12 / 31 / 2024 / Operations Manager, Retired, Conduent
- Secretary, Term
Cynthia Slade has over 40 years of managerial experience in operations, production management and human resources. Her professional experience began at AT&T where she held numerous positions in personnel, recruiting, and benefits delivery. Sh e retired from Lucent Technologies as a Business Analyst charged with the development of the Integrated Voice Response System to support W4, paycheck delivery, direct deposit, and web-based tools. She served as Operations Manager at Conduent charged with administering NJ FamilyCare and directly responsible for managing the Outreach, Appeals, Document Control, Quality, Training and Premium teams. Cynthia worked on the Smart-Growth project for Plainfield, gathering information for school improvements. She is a certified MLC Certified Medicaid Professional (MCMP-11) having completed a certificate program at the Medicaid Learning Center and is a graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in Business Management.
Job Titles:
- Treasurer
- Treasurer, Term to: 12 / 31 / 2028 / Assistant Dean of Multicultural Affairs / Director - Center for Multicultural Affairs and Community Service, Rider University
Donald Brown comes to the Library with a rich background in multicultural affairs and education. With over 40 years experience in the educational field he is an asset to the Library and the challenges faced in the multicultural community of Plainfield. Past positions include Professor of Counseling at The College of New Jersey, Assistant Director for the study of Society and Black History at NJ Institute, Assistant Dean of Multicultural Affairs for Rider University and Director of the Center for Multicultural Affairs and Community Service at Rider. He currently sits on two advisory boards at Rider University. He holds an ABD in Educational Theory from Rutgers University, a Masters of Education, Counseling from Newark State College and an undergraduate degree from Delaware State College.
A graduate of Plainfield High School (class of 1926) and Muhlenberg Hospi-tal School of Nursing, Dorothy Krog Harper was the first nurse from Plain-field to enter the armed forces just before the start of World War II.She began as a volunteer in the Nurse Corps and then was called to duty in 1941.Before she retired from the Army Nurse Corps in 1961, she had served in Africa, Italy, France, the Philippines, and Iran, was made the chief of nursing services at the U.S. Army Hospital, and was awarded a Bronze Star.
Born in 1835, Eliza Elvira Kenyon arrived in Plainfield in 1866. Her influence on the intellectual life of Plainfield was considerable over the years until her death in 1915. She was the principal of the respected Plainfield Seminary from about 1870 until her retirement in 1906 and the founder, in 1888, and a two term president of the Monday Afternoon Club, an organization for women with an interest in literary study which continued until its cessation in 2007. She also served as the first president of the Women's Auxiliary of Muhlenberg Hospital. Her obituary in the Plainfield Courier-News stated that Miss Kenyon "stood for everything that is sound and good in education, and she will be remembered with admiration and love."
Gloria Elaine Carpenter (P.H.S. 1941) was the first Black teacher in a public school in Plainfield in 1944; she taught at the Washington School. Her brother, Russell Carpenter, was the first Black Superintendent of Schools in Plainfield in 1969.
Hazel Fields was born in New York City in 1898 and died in Plainfield in 1986. Over the years of her life she was a teacher, a hospital dietician, a corset saleswoman, a housekeeper, and a friend to many. As a member of the Women's Achievement Club she worked to bring prominent African Americans to Plainfield to speak of their accomplishments, but one of her greatest contributions to Plainfield was her participation in the New Jersey Historical Commission's Multi-Ethnic Oral History Project. A transcription of the interview given by her in 1980 is available online here (external link). It presents an invaluable window into the Plainfield that she knew, from her years in the PHS class of 1919 to the time she met Matthew Henson, explorer of the North Pole.
Job Titles:
- Mayor
- Mayor 's Delegate
- Mayor 's Delegate. Finance Committee Member, Nominating Committee Chair. Term: at Will
Project Management Consultant. Practicing psychologist, public school administrator and community advocate
Inez Phillips Durham has a lifelong career as a practicing psychologist, a public school administrator and a community advocate. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Douglass College, a Master of Social Work degree from Rutgers, The State University and a Doctor of Psychology degree from Rutgers, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology. The focus of her professional work as well as of her volunteer activities has been on serving children and their families and on serving her community. Her dynamic approach as a public school administrator led to the establishment of cutting-edge programs in student services in two New Jersey public school systems. In serving families as staff psychologist at JFK, Inez received a certificate in recognition and appreciation of her valuable service to the JFK Health Systems, Inc. In Plainfield and the surrounding area, her community work began with an appointment by Mayor Paul O'Keeffe to the Reaction Advisory Committee in 1974. Her volunteer community activities have been extensive and led to many resolutions and citations from such as the National Association For The Advancement of Colored People, Senator Nicholas P. Scutari, 22nd New Jersey Legislative District, the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders, the Township Council of the Township of Piscataway, the NJ Coalition of Black Trade Unions, and the Board of Trustees of United Family and Children's Society of Plainfield, NJ. Elected positions have been to the Plainfield City Committee, Ward 2, and District 10 and to The Plainfield Board of Education, where she served as Vice President and President. Her relationship with Plainfield Public Library dates back to 1968 when her family became card holders. She and John, her husband borrowed many books and records and Jennifer, her daughter participated in many of the wonderful programs for children. Always a volunteer and a friend for the library, Inez particularly enjoined serving on the 100 year anniversary committee and producing the New Jersey Author Night. Presently. Inez serves on the Board of Trustees of Plainfield Public Library as treasurer, as a member of the finance committee and as chair of the nominating committee.
Job Titles:
- Employee of the Plainfield Public Schools
- VIce President, Term
- Vice President, Term to : 12 / 31 / 2024 / Superintendent 's Delegate, Term: at Will
Joan Cansdale has been an employee of the Plainfield Public Schools since 1994 and is currently the Secondary Supervisor of English Language Arts and Social Studies. Prior to holding this position, she was a middle school teacher of ELA and Performing Arts. Joan completed her undergraduate work at Montclair State and earned an M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University, and an M.Ed. from The College of New Jersey. She is a doctoral candidate in the Ed.D. Teacher Leadership program at the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education, with an expected completion date of Fall 2020. Joan and her family have been Plainfield residents since 1987.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Trustee Term to: 12 / 31 / 2026 / Teacher, Retired, Plainfield Public Schools
A retired teacher, Joanne Macaluso served twenty-five years in the Plainfield Public Schools. These were the some of the most productive of her forty- year career. She directed the First Unitarian Society of Plainfield Food Pantry for fifteen years, serving people in need. As past President of the Board of Trustees of that church, Joanne began the process of donating the building to the city of Plainfield for use as the Plainfield Performing Arts Center. She is very proud to be a volunteer at Valarie's Soup Kitchen at Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church, and says, "Plainfield is my city!"
Lillian (Ford) Feickert moved to Plainfield as a married woman at the age of twenty-five and a few years later moved to North Plainfield in 1908. As enrollment chairman of the New Jersey Woman Suffrage Association she had great success in increasing the membership of that society and then later served as its president from 1912 to 1920. Among her extensive work in policy and politics was an unsuccessful run for a senate seat in 1928 on a pro-Prohibition platform. She died in 1945.
Best known to most people as the mother written about in Cheaper by the Dozen and its sequel, Belles on their Toes, Lillian Gilbreth is also known as the First Lady of Engineering. Her work with husband, Frank Gilbreth, and after his death, dealt with time management, motion study, and efficiency. She earned many degrees and honors. During the few years that the Gilbreths lived on Ravine Road, in Plainfield, son, Frank, Jr., co-author of the two popular titles, was born and daughter, Mary Elizabeth, died.
During her years at Plainfield High School (Class of 1921) she was known as Peggy White, but as a photo-journalist she became known to the world as Margaret Bourke-White. She was noted for her coverage of World War II, particularly the invasion of Russia, the liberation of Italy and the German concentration camps. She was the first female war correspondent to be allowed to work in combat zones and was the first woman photographer to receive U.S. Armed Forces accreditation. Henry Luce hired her first at Fortune magazine and then gave her the cover of the inaugural issue of Life magazine in 1936. She pioneered the photographic essay; her series on the rural South during the Depression, mining in South Africa, Korean guerrilla warfare, American industry, and her portraits of world leaders are especially celebrated. She died in Connecticut in 1971.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Secretary, Term to: 12 / 31 / 2025 / Board Director, Plainfield SID
- Trustee, Term
Ms. Martinez comes to the Library with a rich background in community relations within the City. She is a business owner and member of the Union County Latino Chamber of Commerce and is the Plainfield Advisory Commissioner for Hispanic Affairs. She has a degree in Paralegal Studies and has worked as a translator in Somerset County Courts and as an interpreter and advocate for the Hispanic community in Plainfield and Union County for the last 25 years. The Library is fortunate to have her skills and expertise.
Marjorie Patterson worked at the Plainfield Area YMCA from 1947 until her retirement in 1987. She dedicated her life to helping the youth and underprivileged community of Plainfield. Her first years with the YMCA were spent as a program aide at the Moorland Branch - known as the "Black Y". She spent many lunch hours "sitting in" at restaurants where blacks were refused service. She often met the director of the local NAACP branch for lunch (or lack of it). Because the Moorland Y had to raise its own money, she became an extraordinary fundraiser. As quoted in a newspaper interview, Marjorie said. "we had two bowling alleys, and when money was needed, we'd organize a tournament. We had suppers and dinners…everybody helped out." She was called the "Pied Piper of Teenagers" when she led forums and training for young people. The Royal Banquets of the Hi-Y and Tri-Hi-Y Council for area youth that she helped to organize became an annual tradition in which teenagers from seven local communities were recognized for leadership. View the Library's collection of Marjorie Patterson Papers.
Mary E. Norment was born in Plainfield in 1919. She was graduated from the Evergreen Grammar School (1931) and Plainfield High School class of 1935, and completed her undergraduate degree at New York University. In 1943, she received her medical degree in 1943 from Howard University Medical College, where she was a scholarship student. She went on to work at the Homer G. Phillips Hospital in Missouri, the largest African-American hospital at that time. She married Samaniego Bottler in May 1946 in California. She passed away in 1974. [Image: Courier News, June 14, 1939, page 13]
Job Titles:
- Assistant Secretary
- Director
- Assistant Secretary of the Board / Library Director, Plainfield Public Library, 2015 to Present
Mary Ellen Rogan has been employed at the Plainfield Public Library since 2009. She has a B.A. in History from Brooklyn College and an M.S. in Library and Information Science from Columbia University, with a concentration in Archives Management. She has been a professional librarian and archivist for over twenty two years, including eighteen years at the New York Public Library.
She holds a certificate from Boston University in Genealogical Research and consults in Local History concerning lineage society queries. She is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) and the New Jersey Library Association (NJLA). She is the Plainfield Library representative to Libraries of Uni on County (LUCC) and is a member of the History and Preservation and Urban Libraries sections of NJLA.
Her personal associations include membership in the Society of Mayflower Descendants and the Daughters of the American Revolution, New England Genealogical Society and New Jersey Genealogical Society.
Job Titles:
- President
- President Term to
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the Housing Authority
Joanne Hollis was a life-long resident of Plainfield. She lived in the West End Gardens for over 30 years. A devoted Plainfield activist, Joanne worked as Plainfield Housing Commissioner and served as Councilwoman for the Fourth Ward. Hollis was appointed in 1995 and again in 2010 to serve two five-year terms as resident commissioner for the Housing Authority of Plainfield. She also served as president of the Elm-West Resident Association for 22 years. On October 24, 2015, West End Gardens was rededicated as the "Joanne Hollis Gardens" in her honor.
At the re-dedication ceremony, Randall Wood, Executive Director of the Housing Authority, said, "Joanne was a fierce and vocal advocate for the residents of West End Gardens...her vision for a better future was driven by an extraordinary faith....She was a gift to our community." Also at the ceremony, Mayor Adrian Mapp declared October 24th to be "Joanne Hollis Day."Joanne passed away on September 26, 2014; she was 53 years old.
In the 1960s, Shirley Cathie and her two daughters, Carolyn and Shirley, formed the Cathie Trio to provide music for the Community Church of God congregation in Plainfield., where her husband was minister and founder. They recorded albums, performed nationally and internationally, and made radio and television appearances, all while helping to build up the Church.
Shirley Cathie had a calling to become a minister as well. After completing her high school equivalency, Shirley went on to earn a Bachelor's degree and then a Master's degree in theological studies. At the same time, she served as co-pastor with her husband, who was battling a prolonged illness. When she became ordained in 1994, Shirley took over as Pastor of the Community Church of God.
Reverend Dr. Shirley Cathie and her husband, Rev. Burton Cathie, have received numerous awards and honors from various organizations, institutions, and the city of Plainfield itself. They were both civil rights and community activists as well as religious mentors.
Job Titles:
- Head of Local History
- Head of Local History, Genealogy & Special Collections
Ms. Hull has been employed at the Plainfield Public Library since 2008. She has an M.S. in Library and Information Science, with a concentration in Archives Management, from Simmons College. She has been working as a professional librarian and archivist for over twenty years. Sarah is responsible for managing the Library's archive and special collections, supervising the department staff, archive volunteers and student interns, grant writing, creating historical exhibitions, and helping patrons. She also assists with the management of the Library website and is responsable for the creation and maintenance of the department's web pages, online exhibits, and CONTENTdm digital collections database.
She is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) and a former consultant with the MARAC - New Jersey Caucus Archival Projects Evaluation Service (CAPES). She is also a member of the New Jersey Library Association (NJLA), and a former NJLA History & Preservation Section President. In 2017, Ms. Hull received NJLA's Susan G. Swartzburg Preservation Award in recognition of her statewide leadership and dedication to the preservation of archival, library, and historical materials.
Job Titles:
- Coordinator of Literacy Services
Job Titles:
- Circulation Manager
- Head of Adult & YA Services
Ms. Cordeiro has worked in the circulation dept. of Plainfield Public Library since 2019. She has been Circulation Manager since 2023. Prior to joining Plainfield, she was employed by the Dunellen Public Library for over 25 years.