Melissa Ziobro, curator of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music and specialist professor of public history, is set to publish “Fort Monmouth: The US Army’s House of Magic,” on May 31. The paperback is currently available for preorder.
In her latest book, Ziobro discusses the history of Fort Monmouth, its wartime mobilization, and the many soldiers who have served at the base.
She includes a chapter on Walter S. McAfee ’85HN, a mathematical physicist who worked for many decades at Fort Monmouth in the United States Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM), and lectured in atomic and nuclear physics and solid-state electronics at Monmouth College from 1958 to 1975.
Ziobro expands on CECOM, tracing its roots to the establishment of the Signal Corps training camp and research and development laboratory in 1917, and the location’s newest owner, Netflix.
“Melissa Ziobro has always been a thorough researcher who has a knack for discovering fascinating angles on her subjects. Her special expertise is getting these fresh looks at history before the general public—in her courses at the University, innumerable Monmouth students have benefited from her mentorship on these counts,” said Christopher DeRosa, Ph.D., chair of the Department of History and Anthropology.
Prior to Monmouth, Ziobro began her career in 2004 as a historian for the U.S. Army at Fort Monmouth, where her duties included managing the Command archive, exhibition development, oral history, and more.