From bumper stickers to notes from Sinatra: inside Gov. Byrne's personal archive

Former Gov. Brendan T. Byrne may be gone. But his autographed photo of Frank Sinatra is still here.

So is his handwritten account ledger from his early days as an attorney, his "Brendan Byrne for Governor" bumper sticker, his snapshots with Muhammad Ali and a receipt for a $25 radio he bought in 1966.

The items are part of a 50-box collection of Byrne's personal papers and mementos housed in a library sub-basement at Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

Hundreds more boxes of Byrne's official papers are cataloged at the State Archives in Trenton. Still more of his personal papers are sitting in the archives at Seton Hall University in South Orange.

"He saved more than I do, that's for sure," said Ron Becker, the retired head of special collections and the university archives at Rutgers University.

As anyone who had ever been to his office or his house could attest, Byrne was a lifelong saver. His basement was packed with campaign mementos, old letters and photos. His offices overflowed with buttons, bumper stickers, snapshots and newspaper clippings that come with a lifetime in politics.

The two-term governor -- who had a hand in everything from creating the Meadowlands sports complex to instituting the state's first income tax -- had a sense that his boxes and boxes of papers and mementos might hold some value to future scholars.

In 2005, Byrne donated many of his personal papers to Rutgers University. Then, he and his wife Ruthi formed a foundation to raise money to preserve his papers and the personal files of other New Jersey governors. Archivists arrived at Byrne's Short Hills house to sort through decades of boxes in his basement and study. The former governor delighted in telling the Rutgers team stories about every item and tales from his days in Trenton.

"He loved it," Becker said.

Rutgers' archivists threw out anything too moldy or damp and carted everything else back to the library in New Brunswick. There, they flattened the documents, put them in acid free folders and boxes and began the slow process of cataloging everything.

It took six months to whittle Byrne's papers down to 49 boxes, Becker said.

The highlight of the collection may be Byrne's impressive collection of photographs, from his days growing up in West Orange to his run-ins with the rich and famous.
"The photographs, I think, are amazing," Becker said. "He really liked being around celebrities."

A grinning Byrne was snapped with Mary Tyler Moore, Milton Berle, George Steinbrenner and more. Other celebrities signed photos to him. The 1978 portrait of Frank Sinatra reads, "For Gov. Byrne, With admiration and respect. Affectionately, Frank Sinatra." Another from tennis star Chris Everet reads, "To Gov. Byrne, Best of luck!"

The papers also give a glimpse into Byrne's day-to-day life. A typewritten schedule of a typical day on his 1973 gubernatorial campaign shows Byrne starting his day with a private 9 a.m. meeting with future Sen. Frank Lautenberg, then helicoptering around the state to hit more than a dozen events in Somerville, Cherry Hill, Westfield, Camden and Morristown before ending his day at 11:30 p.m.

Byrne also seemed to relish his unpopularity during his first term as governor when his critics called him "One-term Byrne." His files include cartoons from the mid 1970s that depict him as a court jester and a ballet dancer in a tutu.

Byrne and his family were also prodigious newspaper clippers. His files include boxes of newspaper articles about himself dating back to a 1944 story from the West Orange Review announcing a then-19-year-old Lt. Byrne had earned his silver wings as an aerial navigator in the Army Air Force.

A file containing mementos from a 1980 diplomatic trip to China contain Byrne's crib sheet on how to say "How are you?," "New Jersey," and "Thanks," in Mandarin.
Byrne's folders of personal letters also give researchers a glimpse at his innate skill as a politician. They are filled with letters from constituents who connected with Byrne personally and friendly notes from fellow politicians he cultivated as friends and colleagues.

"Thanks for the fine blue shirts," then-Gov. Bob Meyner wrote Byrne shortly after one Christmas.

Another 1,500 cubic square feet of Byrne's papers are in the State Archives in Trenton, said Joseph Klett, chief of the state archives.

They include all of the official papers from Byrne's years in the governor's office, including legislative documents, budget documents, correspondence and photos.
Byrne, along with former Gov. Tom Kean, has the largest volume of papers among recent governors, Klett said. Archivists attribute the flood of papers to the fact that both two-term governors served after the advent of the copy machine and before the wide use of computers.

"That's part of the reason you see a jump," Klett said.

Another set of Byrne's papers, mostly campaign materials from his two runs for governor, are in Seton Hall University's archives in South Orange. Byrne gave the 60 boxes of materials to Seton Hall, where he briefly spent time as a student, in 1982.
The boxes include papers and other artifacts, including commemorative ground breaking shovels, a Seton Hall spokeswoman said.

All of Byrne's papers at Rutgers, Seton Hall and the State Archives are open to both scholars and the public, upon request.

Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find NJ.com on Facebook.