Real Estate Collection Map
During the Spring 2024 semester at Ramapo College of New Jersey in Mahwah, Olivia Griffin, a photography student, worked with the Albert O. Bogert and John H. Rogers Real Estate Collection. The Museum received this three box collection from the Ridgewood Public Library in 2023. The Ridgewood Library was given the large collection and divided it among local museums.
Olivia organized the collection and then spent time researching some of the houses and buildings that were documented in the collection. The early stages of the work involved sorting about 100 appraisal forms, brochures, listings, and plans for houses and real estate projects in Mahwah. She then scanned about 50 photographs of these locations and uploaded them to the Museum’s Catalogit database.
She then researched the locations, seeking to learn what they look like today. She took updated photographs of these locations, trying to capture the same angles for the best comparison possible. Some of the results were shocking — the buildings were no longer there, or the project turned into a vastly different type of building. Overall, Olivia found it a fulfilling experience working with the Museum’s Collections and it gave her unique insights into the field that she is interested in working in — real estate photography.
She created a map that shows the images from the Bogert-Rogers Collection along with her photographs in a Google MyMap. Click on the red markers to see the places mapped in this project.