The Montclair History Center (MHC), which was founded in 1965 as the Montclair Historical Society and preserves and shares the stories of Montclair’s history, is helping Montclair Ambulance Unit (MAU) celebrate MAU’s 70-year history. In partnership, the two organizations are working to digitize, catalogue, preserve, and share MAU’s archival and artifact collection.
Image 1: MAU Fund Drive in the 1970s.
Founded in 1953, MAU has provided 70 years of uninterrupted emergency medical service to the people of Montclair. While it began as an all-volunteer initiative, MAU is now staffed by 45 paid, professional emergency medical technicians (EMTs), operates four ambulances, and its crews are on duty around the clock at their current home in the historic, former Walnut Street fire house.
"This year we celebrated 70 years of service to the people of Montclair," Montclair Ambulance Unit Chief James Mazza said. "Keeping a nonprofit up and running for 70 years is no easy feat, and we value our history, our founders and all those who helped make the agency what it is today."
MAU has changed with the times. When MAU was founded in 1953, only men were eligible to work on the ambulances! In the 1960s, when MAU faced staffing challenges, the "lady riders" stepped up to ensure that an ambulance got out the door when it was needed. Fast forward 70 years and it is now staffed by more than 45 paid, professional EMTs, more than half of whom identify as female or people of color.
MAU is working alongside the MHC’s professional museum team to document and preserve MAU’s fascinating stories so that they can be shared with the public.
Image 2: MAU’s first ambulances in the late 1950s delivering a patient to Mountainside Hospital's emergency room.
MHC collections intern Moira Armstrong is working under the supervision of MHC Collections Manager Erin Benz to digitize and catalogue MAU’s collection. “I was drawn to the project because of my interest in medical history, and it's been fascinating to see as I'm digitizing how MAU has changed over the years and responded to changes, both medical and societal,” says Armstrong.
Armstrong joins the MHC with an extensive background in collections management, preservation, and digitization experience. Armstrong has a B.A. in English and History from Kent State University, a M.A. in Gender, Sexuality, and Culture from Birkbeck University of London, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in American Studies at Rutgers University with the goal of working in the Public History academia field. Armstrong has recently worked on collections management projects with institutions such as the Museum of Transology, Library of Congress, and the Queer Pandemic Oral History Project.
"Our partnership with the Montclair History Center ensures that we can preserve and protect our agency's robust history," Montclair Ambulance Unit's Chief Mazza adds. "We have already learned so much from the archives our founders kept, and we are looking forward to being able to tell those stories to the people of Montclair and preserve that institutional knowledge for the future."
The MHC and MAU anticipate completing this project in early 2024 with the goal of hosting a joint public history program on the findings in addition to making the collection fully accessible for the public online through MHC’s digital collections website at https://montclairhistory.lunaimaging.com/.
The work of both of these non-profits, the MHC and MAU, is made possible through donations, grants, and fundraising efforts; neither organization receives operational funding from the Township of Montclair or residents’ tax dollars.
About Montclair Ambulance Unit: Montclair Ambulance Unit was founded as an all-volunteer, independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit agency in 1953 and now has a paid staff of 45 professional EMTs. In 2022 MAU responded to 3,769 911 EMS calls in Montclair and 21 surrounding communities that called for mutual aid. 2023 has brought a 20% increase in 911 ambulance call volume over last year and 4,000 to 4,500 calls in Montclair are anticipated this year. There are many ways to support MAU: https://www.montclairems.org/support-our-mission
About the Montclair History Center: The Montclair History Center, formerly the Montclair Historical Society, is an independent not-for-profit organization that has been dedicated to preserving, sharing, and educating others about Montclair’s history since 1965. For additional information about the Israel Crane House & Historic YWCA Museum, our library, archives, or research services, or to make a donation, please visit www.montclairhistory.org or contact the Montclair History Center at 973-744-1796 or mail@montclairhistory.org.