Schenectady County was formed from Albany County in 1809. The name is derived from a Mohawk word meaning "beyond the pine plains." The city of Schenectady began as a fur trading settlement in 1661, and was incorporated in 1798. Union College, later to become nationally known for its blend of liberal arts and technical studies, was formed here in 1795. By the end of the nineteenth century, what started as a Dutch and English town developed into a city with an abundance of ethnic communities as immigrants were drawn by the opportunities offered by the General Electric Co. and American Locomotive Co. As the headquarters of GE and a major force in the railroad industry, Schenectady became known as "the city that lights and hauls the world," boasting residents such as Thomas Edison and Charles Steinmetz. The Schenectady County Public Library was founded as a city library in 1894, with a Carnegie library building opening in 1903. SCPL became a county library in 1949, and moved to the current facility in 1969. As the central library of the Mohawk Valley Library System, we serve over 280,000 residents of Schenectady, Fulton, Montgomery and Schoharie Counties. Our local history resources include newspapers back to 1822 in paper or microfilm, atlases, U.S. census microfilm for Schenectady County 1790-1920, church histories, city directories and phone books, and our newspaper clippings file. These materials are available during all library hours. Our Web site contains the most comprehensive array of online local history materials in the Capital District, such as military records and indexes to obituaries and the U.S. Census. You'll also find our first two city directories, one of our books of photographs and the full text and illustrations from the Schermerhorn Genealogy and Family Chronicles, a genealogy of one of the the first settlers of Schenectady. Our Schenectady Reference collection includes books on the history of GE and ALCO, biographies of Steinmetz and other notable residents, high school yearbooks and city and county legislative proceedings. Our newspaper clippings contain biographical articles dating to the 1950s, as well as important local industries and social conditions in the county. We also have information on national figures with a connection to this area: Presidents Chester Arthur and Jimmy Carter, New York governor Joseph Yates and William Seward, who was Lincoln's secretary of state after he was our governor. Charles Steinmetz, the "Wizard of Schenectady" who helped harness electricity for industrial use, was General Electric's chief engineer, Union College math professor and socialist president of the Board of Education. Other items in our general history and genealogy reference collection include numerous histories of the counties of New York, New York in the War of the Rebellion, U.S. Census indexes for 1800-1850, Compendium of Early Mohawk Valley Families, Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs, American Deaths and Marriages 1784-1829, and assorted church records from Fulton, Montgomery and Schoharie Counties. We also have long runs of historical periodicals such as Yesteryears, Proceedings of the NYS Historical Association and the Year Book of the Holland Society of New York. The Schenectady County Public Library is located close to other historical repositories in downtown Schenectady. The Efner History Research Library is across the street in the top floor of City Hall, Union College's archives are a short walk up Union Street, and the vast genealogical holdings of the Schenectady County Historical Society are a few minutes' drive away. |
