This virtual program is part of our Winter Speaker Series, and will be presented on Zoom. A link will be emailed to all current SCHS members the morning of the program.

Historian Catherine Haag will discuss her recent work, “The Lives of GE’s Armature Workers in the Late 1800s.” Who were the early employees of Edison’s General Electric? The answer might surprise you. The story of early skilled, semiskilled, and especially unskilled workers at General Electric has been difficult to uncover. Fortunately, a register of workers dating to the 1890s allows for an in-depth look at unskilled workers at General Electric in Schenectady during the 1890s. Through census data and city directories the lives of some of the workers can be fleshed out, opening a window into this early time period.