SBPL Mourns Passing of Local Historian Mary Cecile “Ceil” Leedom

SBPL mourns the passing of longtime South Brunswick Historian Ceil Leedom who passed away in March. Ceil served as a South Brunswick reference librarian from 1987-2000 and then served as officially appointed Township Historian for nearly 20 years archiving and organizing South Brunswick’s history.

For her work, Ceil was awarded New Jersey Library Association Service Awards in both 2005 and 2009 and was awarded the SBPL Volunteer of the Year recognition several times.

“I feel that once a historic building or site is demolished that part of a community’s history is lost and I want to see re-use rather than demolition of historic buildings or sites,” she said in a 2017 interview. “There is the future to be concerned about and I would like to see as many sites/buildings preserved as possible. Once a site is gone we tend to forget its history,”

In addition to being the township historian, Ceil was a founding member of the Mayoral Historic Preservation Ordinance Advisory Task Force, a group tasked to investigate the feasibility and desirability of historic preservation in the community. Ceil was also active with the Kingston Historical Society and the Dayton Village Citizens Coalition.

“What I have learned is the breadth of the community’s stories and that each person has a contribution to make. Most of us are concerned with our immediate world, but a historian usually takes a longer look at the past, present and future. No one can know the complete story of their community and that is what is so fascinating,” she said.

The Ceil Leedom Local History Archive located in SBPL, was dedicated by the Library Board of Trustees in 2017 and will remain an important part of the Library for years to come.

“It’s was a pleasure working with Ceil over my many years here at the library,” said Local History Librarian, Randall Marsola. “The archives are really South Brunswick’s “Collective Memory” and Ceil is the person who first gathered, organized, and wrote about these important documents. I hope to continue to build upon the excellent research that she has done and share it with the South Brunswick community.”