JERSEY CITY, NJ.-One hundred and six years in the making Jersey City Museum is proud to announce the publication of its first ever collection catalogue. To celebrate the release of First Look: The Essential Guide to Jersey City Museum, the museum invites the public to a free event on Sunday, April 22nd, with a book signing and symposium followed by a reception with light refreshments.

First Look provides exceptional insight into the 106-year history of the museum: from its first location on the top floor of the Jersey City Public Library to its current home on Montgomery Street. Essays by the museum’s curator Rocío Aranda-Alvarado, Ph.D. and American Studies scholar Alan Wallach, Ph.D., illustrate how the museum’s role has both impacted and been influenced by the changing character of Jersey City. Originally focused on the display of artifacts representative of American material culture, the Jersey City Museum has now grown to embrace the acquisition and exhibition of contemporary art by emerging and under-represented artists. Today the museum’s permanent collection contains over 20,000 objects, of which over 150 are represented by color reproductions in First Look.

Marion Grzesiak, Jersey City Museum Executive Director, underscores the significance of the catalog for the institution: “First Look represents an important milestone for us by affirming our mission to celebrate the history and diversity of both Jersey City and the region. We designed it as a handbook that is easily accessible and very engaging. A reader may choose to read a short entry about a particular object, or devote more time to one of the scholarly essays. We see it as a guidebook to the collection - something you can carry with you when you visit.”

In conjunction with the catalog’s release the museum has organized a symposium concerning works from the permanent collection currently featured in the exhibition Then & Now. Speakers include Dr. Aranda, independent scholar Meredith Bzdak, and Conveyer Publisher Joseph Reyes. A keynote address will be delivered by Dr. Wallach, Professor of Art History at the College of William and Mary, and a contributing essayist to First Look.

Copies of the catalog are now available in the museum store for $29.95. During the launch party they will be offered at a special discounted rate of $24.95.

First Look was made possible in part by grants from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Panasonic. Then & Now and related programs are sponsored by a generous grant from Bank of America.

Jersey City Museum’s gallery hours are Wednesday and Friday from 11am to 5pm, Thursday from 11am to 8pm and weekends from 12pm to 5pm. Admission is $4 for adults, $2 for seniors and students, and free for children under 12 and museum members. Admission is free for all on Thursday evenings from 5 to 8pm. Jersey City Museum is located at 350 Montgomery Street at Monmouth in the Historic Downtown District of Jersey City, within walking distance of the Grove Street PATH and Jersey Avenue Light Rail stations. For more information, visit www.jerseycitymuseum.org or call 201-413-0303.