Today’s Project 100 memory comes for Albert Tanner who was born in Jersey City in 1939.  He lived in Red Hook in Brooklyn in New York City during World War II.  He moved back to New Jersey in 1946.  He attended Cresskill Elementary School and then Tenafly High School, graduating in 1956.  Before World War II, his father served in the 7th Cavalry in Panama.  This was the last horse cavalry in the United States and the same unit that fought at Little Big Horn.  After they disbanded his unit in 1938, he worked as a brakeman for the New York Central Railroad.  His mother was born on the ship bringing her to the United States from Italy.  She worked in a food processing center in a mental health hospital in Nyack, New Jersey.  His father left the family in 1948, and his mother re-married.  Albert became very close to his new step-father.  After graduating from Glassboro State College in 1961, he began teaching at Edgewood Regional High School.  He then moved to Haddon Township High School, where he taught for fourteen years.  He then became the head of Social Studies Department at Moorestown High School, retiring after thirty-four years in the classroom.  He noted that “teaching was the greatest career.”  He was also a much-accomplished track coach, and his distance runners set records and won numerous championships.  In addition, he became a truck drive for a period of years and also was an adjunct professor at Rutgers University in Camden.  For his coaching accomplishments, Glassboro State inducted him to their Sports Hall of Fame in the 1970s.

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I took some time to mature academically, and I had low grades in foreign language.  Glassboro State did not require, at that time, a foreign language to graduate.  Thus, GSC was appealing.  The more I looked into the College, however, the more I came to appreciate the quality of the faculty and the program.  I began in the Fall of 1957.  There were about 1,100 total students, approximately 940 of whom were women.  This ratio was discussed by my friends, but it was not the reason I chose to attend.  However, I did meet my wife at GSC.  We have been married for over 60 years.  I intended to play football there, but they had disbanded the team, so I played soccer, a sport that I never played at all before coming to Glassboro.  I ended up coaching the sport in high school and became a very serious referee later in life.

I always liked history.  I remember my father telling me stories about veterans that he knew, including one who served in the Civil War.  Another reason that I chose to become a teacher and major in social studies was my high school teacher, Mr. Mack.  He saw potential in me, and he knew that I read a lot.  He let me teach one of his classes, and I enjoyed that experience, falling in love with it right there.

I was a late admission and thus ended up living up with a faculty member’s family, that of Marvin Creamer.  He was not only one of the greatest geography professors in all of the country, he took wonderful care of me in that first year.

My mentor was Harold Wilson.  He was a great guy with a wonderful sense of humor.  Whenever a student made a mistake in class that he thought was particularly egregious, he had them stand up and promise that they would never become a teacher.  It was all in fun, and I still chuckle thinking back on it today.  He studied at Harvard under Arthur Schlesinger.  He was a wonderful storyteller and teacher, but he also cared tremendously about me and his fellow students.  He continued to advise me long after I graduated and became a teacher, especially when I was taking graduate classes.  I took those classes at Trenton State, Rutgers in Camden, but I ended up finishing the MA at Glassboro State in 1968.  My master’s thesis was on privateers and piracy in southern New Jersey during the American Revolution.   Wilson was fascinating person.  He wrote the first true history of southern New Jersey and fell in love with the state even though he was from New England.  He certainly deserved to have Wilson Hall named after him.

I was an English minor, and Jim McKenzie was a fantastic professor.  Students fought over the front row seats in his classes.  He taught Shakespeare, and he believed that you had to understand the times in which literature was written to understand the text fully.  I took this into the classroom myself.  I remember him telling us that we were too young to understand King Lear.  Later in life, I went back and read it and agreed with him.  One has to be of a certain age to fully appreciate that play.

Another fantastic teacher was Dr. Rosenberg, also in English. He taught me how to organize, write, and research. He taught us how to both use evidence to defend arguments but also how to question facts.

Maurice Blanken posed challenging questions to us.  He wanted us to understand the American political system, and he claimed that you had to understand local politics to really understand government.  So, he had us go out and observe local politicians in action.  He was working on his doctorate while I was a student.  He was very stressed out about that dissertation.

Dr. Kessler was another excellent faculty member.  He taught history from the perspective of social sciences.  Dr. Revere was an amazing professor who taught world history.  Professor Peacock was a great economics professor.  He was incredibly interesting, and his economics course greatly influenced me, later as a teacher and in real life.  I also had a great philosophy course with Dr. Shaw, who introduced me to Plato and the Socratic method of teaching.  There was just a collection of great faculty members at Glassboro State College.

I need to say something briefly about two administrators.  Deans Bole and Lynch were also quite influential to me.  Both were very interested in the students and wanted the student experience to be all that it could be.  They also played a leading role in the formation of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), which was great help to me later.

In general, the faculty when I attended at Glassboro State were equal in quality to any faculty anywhere in the country.  They were all fantastic teachers, though many of them published research as well.  They were committed to teaching and mentoring students in a deep and meaningful way and were remarkable as a group.

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This is part of the Department of History’s “Project 100,” the collection and sharing of one hundred memories by Glassboro State College and Rowan University alumni and staff.  One memory will be released per day in the 100 days leading up to October 20, 2023, the date of a reunion celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the founding of Glassboro Normal School, later Glassboro State College, and now Rowan University.  The reunion will take place at 7pm at the Summit City Farm and Winery in Glassboro, New Jersey.  Registration for the reunion will be open from July 11^th and will remain open until the venue reaches its 100-person capacity (or October 13^th if capacity never reached).  We do anticipate that the reunion will sell out, so please register as soon as possible by visiting the Alumni Office’s registration page here:  alumni.rowan.edu/historyreunion2023. 

You can also find the up-to-date set of Project 100 memories on the Department of History’s webpage.  William Carrigan arranged, interviewed, transcribed and/or edited these memories.  Laurie Lahey proofread and helped edit the final versions.  If you wish to share your own memories, please email Dr. Carrigan at carrigan@rowan.edu.  Alumni with Facebook accounts are encouraged to join the RU/GSC History Alumni group here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/251485937221524.