Port Newark and the Origins of Container Shipping

The NMHS Zoom Seminar Series Presents

Port Newark and the

Origins of Container Shipping

with

Author & Professor Angus Kress Gillespie

Saturday, 28 January 2022

Welcome & Lecture at 11 AM ET, Q&A to Follow

Join us Saturday, 28 January, for the first NMHS Seminar Series of 2023 featuring Professor Angus Kress Gillespie and his new book, Port Newark and the Origins of Container Shipping.

Container shipping is a vital part of the global economy. Goods from all around the world are placed in large metal containers which are transported across the ocean in ships, then loaded onto tractor-trailers and railroad flatbeds. But when and where did this world-changing invention get started?

This fascinating talk traces the birth of containerization to Port Newark in New Jersey, in 1956, when trucker Malcom McLean thought of a brilliant new way to transport cargo. Professor Gillespie will explain the approach from the ocean to the docks, with a review of the lighthouses, forts, islands, and anchorages along the way.

About the Speaker:

Angus Kress Gillespie teaches American Studies at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he has taught courses in maritime history. A Fulbright professor and a New York Times best-selling author, he has written on subjects ranging from skyscrapers to superhighways. He is the author of Twin Towers: The Life of New York City’s World Trade Center and the co-author of Looking for America on the New Jersey Turnpike, both published by Rutgers University Press.