Plainfield Library mounts online Milt Campbell exhibit

Milt Campbell, Plainfield hero, honored in parade in front of City Hall.

The Plainfield Public Library has mounted a new online exhibit, the eleventh in its continuing series, honoring Plainfield Olympic champion Milt Campbell.

Milt Campbell, Plainfield Champion, features 45 high quality news photos of Milt Campbell with family, friends, coaches, and other athletes.  The photographs have been recently discovered among the 35,000 black-and-white prints donated to the library by the Courier News.  The Courier News Photograph Archive is now part of the Library’s Local History Collections.

Milton Gray Campbell, a state, national and world champion, began his athletic career in Plainfield. While still in high school, he became the 1952 Olympic Silver Medal Decathlete.  Four years later he won the 1956 Olympic Gold Medal in the Decathlon, the first African American to do so. 

The exhibit documents the life and athletic accomplishments of Campbell, including images of his time at Plainfield High School, at the Olympic Games, and his homecoming back to Plainfield.

The online exhibit is an expansion of a recent exhibit in the library’s lobby and an exhibit that was sent on loan to the Plainfield YMCA for a reception honoring Campbell.  The online exhibit is accessible directly here.

For more information about the Courier News archival photos, contact Sarah Hull, Archivist, Plainfield Public Library at 908-757-1111 x136, or email sarah.hull@plfdpl.info.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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