What was going on when I was born?

OVER the last decade, crafts have changed enormously. No longer just the products of cottage industries or homemade wares sold at street markets, crafts works in clay, metal, glass, fibers and wood are being purchased by major museums, exhibited at specialized galleries, shown at major crafts fairs and, most importantly, sought by a growing group of collectors. While the interest in functional crafts continues to grow, the stronger trend is toward crafts as art, today's craftsmen as professionals and the sale of their works as a business. ''There are more professionals engaged in making everything from wearable art to handmade furniture to clay and glass sculpture,'' said Paul J. Smith, director of the American Craft Museum in Manhattan. ''There are increased opportunities for work to be shown and sold: more museums originating exhibitions and greater support of the artist through active and serious collecting.''

The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled today that someone who ''directly serves'' liquor to a guest and allows him to drive away drunk can be held liable for injuries to others if the guest has an auto accident. In a 6-to-1 ruling that the court said was without precedent, Chief Justice Robert N. Wilentz wrote that the court recognized the adverse impact of the decision on accepted standards of social behavior. But the opinion said the intrusion and the exposure of social hosts to lawsuits are outweighed by concerns that innocent victims be adequately compensated and drunken driving curbed. Case Reinstated The ruling, which is not retroactive, reinstates the case of an Oceanport woman who was seriously hurt in a head-on collision with another car in 1980. She sued the driver of the other car, who had pleaded guilty to drunken driving. Then both the driver and the injured woman sued a Long Branch couple who had served him Scotch in their home just before the accident.

Walter F. Mondale appears to be facing a deepening problem in his efforts to strengthen his support among Jews without offending the black constituency of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, which is considered important to Mr. Mondale's chances in November. This became increasingly clear this week as some Jewish leaders have begun to call for Mr. Mondale to repudiate Mr. Jackson for his association with Louis Farrakhan, the leader of a Black Muslim group who in a Sunday radio broadcast described Judaism as a ''gutter religion'' and characterized supporters of Israel as ''part of a criminal conspiracy.'' Mr. Mondale, who seems to have enough votes to win the Democratic Presidential nomination, condemned Mr. Farrakhan for his statement and called upon Mr. Jackson to repudiate his associate, but the former Vice President stopped short of criticizing Mr. Jackson, as some Jews are now urging him to do. Major non-Jewish organizations and the White House joined Jewish groups today in condemning the remarks by Mr. Farrakhan. (Page A22.)

Stacey Lynn Merkt, who has become something of a symbol in the conflict between the Federal Government and the growing movement among American churches to aid undocumented aliens, was sentenced today to two years of probation for transporting three Salvadorans who had entered the country illegally. The sentence was the first given to a member of the movement among church people opposed to United States policy in Central America to provide sanctuary to illegal aliens from the region. Miss Merkt, 29 years old, called the sentence unexpectedly lenient. Nonetheless, it was considered an ominous sign for the sanctuary movement. The Administration says many of the participants in the movement are motivated politically to undermine United States policy in Central America.

''This court senses that there may be a substantial change occuring in social attitudes and customs concerning drinking, whether at home or in taverns.

The Senate today voted 88 to 11 to approve a measure that would enable students to hold religious meetings in public high schools before or after regular school hours. The measure, which is strongly supported by President Reagan, was intended to overcome Federal court decisions barring religious meetings in public schools as a violation of the constitutional principle of separation of church and state. The Senate earlier this year defeated a proposed constitutional amendment that would have permitted prayer in the public schools. The measure approved today was adopted not as a proposed constitutional amendment but as an amendment to a bill that would approve programs worth nearly $1 billion to improve instruction in mathematics, science and foreign languages.

THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 1984 Companies Merrill Lynch plans to cut an additional 1,500 jobs in an effort to reduce expenses by $200 million this year; 1,000 jobs have already been eliminated. The move comes as the entire brokerage industry is suffering from overexpansion. Merrill also announced important steps to reorganize into about 15 business units that focus on customer groups, rather than products. (Page D1.) Rupert Murdoch bought an unspecified interest in St. Regis. Analysts speculated that he expects to profit handsomely, but would not want to integrate the paper company into his operations. (D5.)

Efforts to bolster U.S.-Soviet contacts are being made, President Reagan said. In a White House speech, he said Washington was working to strengthen economic, scientific, cultural, consular and other contacts with Moscow while reserving the right to denounce Soviet actions that threaten peace. (Page A1, Column 6.) Twenty-six Cuban political prisoners will be released by Fidel Castro today if Washington gives them visas and if arrangements can be made to transport them, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said in Managua, Nicaragua. The prisoners, he said, would be in addition to the 22 United States citizens whom Mr. Castro agreed to free early yesterday. (A1:4-5.)

THE whole thing was Bill Paley's idea. ''That's right, it was my idea,'' said William S. Paley. In 1981, when Cary Grant received one of the Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime achievement in Washington with, among others, Helen Hayes, Mr. Paley, the former chairman of CBS and a good friend of Mr. Grant, huddled with the former movie idol, comedian and actor and suggested that perhaps he wouldn't mind coming up to New York sometime for a similar sort of tribute, this one to be held at the Museum of Modern Art. Well, that's exactly what happened yesterday evening at MOMA when a select group of 200 people were invited to attend a cocktail party, a viewing of excerpts from some of Mr. Grant's films and a dinner in tribute to Mr. Grant and his career in film.

Saluting a century of dreamers who worked to build the St. Lawrence Seaway, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, at the dedication in 1959, said their work was a ''magnificent symbol to the entire world of the achievement possible to democratic nations.'' Today, at the Eisenhower Lock here, officials from the United States and Canada gathered to recall the dedication 25 years ago and to salute the 2,342-mile waterway, which created the country's fourth coastline. The seaway, a linking of locks, lakes and manmade channels that tie North America's heartland to the sea, is operated jointly by the United States and Canada. It has created and sustained thousands of jobs in 17 states and four provinces. It has stimulated new transportation patterns, ship designs, freight rates, port improvements and a tourist trade.

Since last fall Ticketron, New York's giant of computerized ticket reservations, has seen four large chunks of business snatched away by a feisty four-year-old company that only recently broke into the New York market. Their rivalry is becoming fierce, according to followers of this lucrative industry. The upstart Ticket World, based in Detroit, has won the business of the Nederlander theaters, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus at Madison Square Garden, the New York Yankees and, most recently, the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, home of hockey's Islanders. Some people say Ticket World, which has invested $8 million to $10 million to get started in New York, has a good shot at more success.

An article in Business Day June 15 about the General Electric Credit Corporation misstated the position of John W. Stanger. He is the vice chairman and has announced plans to retire at the end of 1984.