The Schenectady County Historical Society will present a talk, “Electric City: General Electric in Schenectady”, which explores the history of General Electric in Schenectady from the company’s creation in 1892 to the present.
Julia Kirk Blackwelder draws on company records as well as other archival and secondary sources and personal interviews to produce an engaging and multi-layered history of General Electric’s workplace culture and its effects on community life. Her research demonstrates how business and community histories intersect, and her nuanced look at race, gender, and class sets a standard for corporate history.
Julia Kirk Blackwelder is an emerita professor at Texas A&M University. She is also the author of Styling Jim Crow: African American Beauty Training during Segregation (2003); Now Hiring: The Feminization of Work in the United States, 1900–1995 (1997); and Women of the Depression: Caste and Culture in San Antonio, 1929–1939 (1984). She is a Schenectady County native and currently resides in the Town of Ballston, New York.
This event will be held on Thursday, November 20, at 6:00 pm at the Schenectady County Historical Society, 32 Washington Avenue, in Schenectady, NY. Admission is $5.00 and free for Schenectady County Historical Society Members. The Schenectady County Historical Society is wheelchair accessible, with off-street parking behind the building and overflow parking next door at the YWCA.
For more information, contact Librarian Melissa Tacke at 518-374-0263, option 3, or by email at librarian@schenectadyhistorical.org.
My mother went down from Plattsburgh to work there during WWII (Betty the Bookkeeper). The money she saved helped us through the lean years when my father returned from the war and started farming. I grew up thinking Schenectady must be such a wonderful place until I saw the factory.