Treasures from the Past

Unshredded Nostalgia, 323 South Main Street in Barnegat Township, had humble beginnings -- as a series of garage sales in front of store owner Jim Episale's house.

As Episale collected more things to sell, he wanted to know more about the items.

"I went to auctions for stuff for the sales and I found that doing the research on the stuff intrigued me most," said Episale.  "As I bought more magazines and researched them, I got more enthralled in doing research on old paper."

By the 1970s, Episale -- a former photo journalist and newspaper publisher -- graduated to flea markets and soon was traveling around the country doing shows.  In 1976, he opened his first store, Summer's Rainbow in Ship Bottom, and then a second shop in Beach Haven, which became basically summer businesses.  He eventually closed those stores in the 1980s and after a brief hiatus, opened Unshredded Nostalgia in the 1990s. 

Then, in 1997 Princess Diana died in a Paris car crash.

"I had 2,000 original images of her and sold them primarily on eBay," said Episale.  "That gave us the money to build the archive.  It's grown ten-fold since that time."

Now he has 250,000 original photographs filed alphabetically and cross-referenced.  He has a large collection of books, almost two rooms of New Jersey memorabilia, a poster gallery, an archive of early aviators, military and nautical items, animation art, casino memorabilia and a variety of antiques.  Some items date back to the early 1800s.

One of Episale's main focuses is his New Jersey collection, with everything from early photography and early documents to maps of local areas, some dating back to the 1800s, milk bottles and Lakehurst dirigibles items.

"We have a musket from a New Jersey musketeer from the Civil War with a certificate listing the battles he was in," he said.  "We keep growing our New Jersey collection.  I want to keep expanding that."

While his collection is transient, Episale said some of the more unique items in stock right now are glass canes made by glass factory workers out of leftover molten glass, an 11 by 14-inch "The Birth of a Nation" movie poster and a Radio Free Europe receiver used to transmit and receive radio broadcasts to communist countries during the Cold War.

Episale said he is still excited when something interesting comes into his shop.

"If I get something special, I'm on the phone to a friend or my wife telling them, 'ha-ha, look what I got!'" he said. 

Unshredded Nostalgia continues to evolve and has become a destination for researchers who want to access Episale's 100-plus New Jersey book collection.  Espisale's shop got to decorate the Taste of Southern Ocean County dinner in Little Egg Harbor on April 25, which had a 1920s theme.  And, they participated in , after finding the new trend in weddings is the use of antiques for favors, place card holders, centerpieces and decorations.

Going forward, Episale said his passion will continue to be research, especially New Jersey research right now.  But, personally, he doesn't collect much himself.

"I have a couple small collections, but if you're in this business to make a living it's hard to collect for yourself," said Episale.  "Since I'm here more than I'm home, if I sell something I love, I buy something else I love."

A good portion of Unshredded Nostalgia's business is through internet sales on their website, www.unshreddednostalgia.com.  They also have a Facebook page where they highlight their new items.