NEW PARTNERSHIP: The staff of the Trenton-based cultural resource consulting firm Hunter Research with members of the national company Mead & Hunt, which recently acquired it. Hunter Research founder Richard Hunter, who will continue with the firm, is pictured in the front row, fourth from left.
By Anne Levin
Hunter Research, the Trenton-based consultancy specializing in historical and archival research, prehistoric and historic archaeology, industrial archaeology, and more, has been acquired by Mead & Hunt, a national firm of some 1,400 employees. Richard Hunter, who founded Hunter Research in 1986, will remain on board to lead client and business development, as will most of the staff.
“This allows us to ensure the continuation of the company,” said Hunter. “And in terms of the attitudes of the people and the work that they do, it seemed like a really good fit. We’ve been approached by other firms in the past, and I hadn’t found that kind of bonding.”
The acquisition marks the first New Jersey connection for Mead & Hunt’s Cultural Resources unit. The 125-year-old company is based in Madison, Wisc. and has offices across the country.
“Hunter Research has a great reputation for the quality of their research and the way they treat their clients,” said Christina Slattery, Mead & Hunt’s cultural resources business unit leader. “It’s a very similar culture to ours.”
If there is a historic site in central New Jersey that has been restored, renovated, or interpreted during the past four decades, Hunter Research has likely been involved. Morven Museum and Garden, the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail, Howell Living History Farm, the Petty’s Run Archaeological Site, and Route 29 are just a few. But the firm’s reach also includes New York City’s Central Park, Liberty Island, and beyond. The affiliation with Mead & Hunt will expand its scope even further.
“We’ll be doing the same kind of work, but with much more capability,” said Hunter.
The British-born Hunter worked in rescue archaeology — known in the U.S. as salvage archaeology — before moving to this country in 1977, “the very day that Elvis died,” he recalled. He ventured into other areas, such as editing, before returning to what he
knew best.
“I reversed into architecture locally, near Princeton, and did some adjunct teaching at Rutgers,” Hunter said. “In 1982 I joined Connie Greiff’s firm Heritage Studies, working with her for three years. It was a great experience. She was a tremendous character [Greiff died in 2020]. I brought in archaeological history, which she was able to marry with architectural history.”
Hunter ventured out on his own in 1986, working first out of an office on East Hanover Street in Trenton, and later a building in the city’s Chambersburg section owned by historian Clifford Zink. In 1997, Hunter Research bought two adjoining buildings opposite the State House, which the firm continues to occupy. Built in 1914, the buildings originally housed doctors’ offices downstairs, and their families upstairs. Mead & Hunt has leased the property, allowing Hunter and staff to stay put.
“This has been a great location for what we do,” said Hunter. “It’s within walking distance of state government, archives,
and libraries.”
The reconstruction of Route 29 along the Delaware River has been the firm’s largest project in terms of scale and money. Hunter is particularly proud of the tunnel, which has a park on top. Parks, in fact, have been a priority in terms of historical interpretation and preservation planning. Another point of pride is the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail, for which Hunter Research has created a series of interpretive signs marking historic locations. An additional signage program in 2018 was for Seneca Village, the African American settlement that preceded Central Park.
Hunter is particularly grateful to colleagues Patricia Madrigal, Patrick Harschbarger, and Jim Lee, who will be part of the merged company. “They have been instrumental and responsible for me keeping going as long as I have,” he said.
The acquisition “advances Mead & Hunt’s strategic vision to grow its geographic reach and enhance its cultural resources capabilities, further strengthening the firm’s ability to serve clients nationwide,” reads a press release about the merger.
“Hunter Research has always believed that the historic artifacts of the past can make a vital contribution to everyday life,” Hunter is quoted. “That purpose will continue with Mead & Hunt. Our clients will keep working with the people they know and trust, while our team gains broader resources and more opportunities to support communities across the country. We look forward to what we can accomplish together.”