Theodore Boettger (b. 13 July 1876, d. 10 October 1975), a New Jersey industrialist and one-time resident of West Hoboken, New Jersey, was prominent in the development of major public works projects in New Jersey: the Holland Tunnel, the Camden-Delaware Bridge, and the Palisades Interstate Park. At the time of his death he lived in Hackensack, New Jersey, where he had lived for many years with his wife and four daughters.

Born in Union (now Union City), New Jersey, he grew up in West Hoboken, graduating from the Hoboken Academy in 1892 at age 16. Although the dates are uncertain, he is said to have attended Stevens Preparatory School, likely during the time when it was still located on the campus of Stevens Institute. Years later, in 1945, Boettger would serve as a commissioner of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission for which Colonel Edwin A. Stevens, Jr. had served as New Jersey president, including when the Palisades Interstate Parkway was dedicated in 1909. After studying at textile schools in Germany and France, in 1899 Boettger became manager of Boettger Piece Dye Works, the silk dying and finishing company his father had founded in Lodi, New Jersey. In 1903 the company merged with another one to form the United Piece Dye Works. Boettger served as United's vice president (1903), president (1922), and chairman of the board of directors (beginning in 1936). He resigned as director and honorary chairman in 1969. The collection contains scrapbooks, photographs, and other materials related to Boettger's public service activities rather than about his private life and interests. He was appointed as a member of the New Jersey Interstate Bridge and Tunnel Commission by New Jersey Governor Edge in 1918, and served as its charman from 1922 until he resigned in 1930. During that time he oversaw construction of the Holland Tunnel (1922-1927), and the Delaware River Bridge between Camden and Philadelphia (1922-1926) (also known as the Benjamin Franklin Bridge from 1956). Boettger was appointed to the Palisades Interstate Park Commission in 1945. During that time, John D. Rockefeller, who had quietly purchased -- then in 1933 had donated -- 700 acres for construction of the Palisades Interstate Parkway, was actively working to gain support for the road. Rockefeller recruited Robert Moses to design the parkway. Construction began in New York in 1947 and in New Jersey in 1948.

Boettger also served as a director of the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey, now Public Service Gas and Electric Company, but the collection contains no materials about his service there.