Founded in 1970, the Museum of Early Trades & Crafts is focused on New Jersey history through the presentation of exhibits—both permanent and changing—related to the lives of the early immigrants to the state. Housed in an 1899 Richardsonian-Romanesque Revival building (once home to the first library in Madison, NJ), the permanent collection consists of over 8,900 objects that include tools, textiles, pottery, and archival materials that tell the stories of the people who lived and worked in New Jersey before the arrival of the Industrial age. There is a gift shop on the premises.