The General Electric
Photograph collection consists of nearly 1.5 million images
dating from 1891-1960 and depicts the development of the
electrical industry and 20th century American life. The images
document almost every aspect of the company, including product
installations, advertising, consumer and industrial products,
factories, executives, researchers, and factory workers.
Because there are so many images, it will be nearly impossible
to make all 1.5 million images accessible over the Internet.
A sample of photographs is being placed on the Internet and
will be arranged by topic. Reprints and high-resolution scans
of the photographs are available for a fee. Additional photographs
may be examined in person by visiting the museum. We will
be adding photographs to the web site over time.
Ordering
Reprints
About the GE Photograph Collection
Use of the Collection
Preservation
Cataloging the Photographs
About the Collection
The GE Photograph Collection provides
a comprehensive depiction of GE's products and activities
that transformed America and the world. Most of the photographs
in the collection were taken for the GE Publicity Department.
The photos document the electrification of American society,
the products that drove the push for electrification, and
how these products were produced, marketed, and ultimately
used. All levels of GE employees are portrayed, from electrical
industry pioneers such as Edison, Steinmetz and Nobel Prize
winner Irving Langmuir, to the tens of thousands of production
workers at the Schenectady Works and other GE plants around
the country. Other localities and businesses are also featured
in the collection, as GE regularly photographed installations
of new products.
The Photograph Collection is an invaluable
resource for researchers in the history of technology,
social history, labor relations, corporate cultures, advertising
and consumerism, and a host of other subjects. These photographs
depict how our lives have been shaped by an industrialized
society and provide a window into several significant historical
areas including:
The vital role of Schenectady in the development of the electrical industry.
The documentation of the immigration and Americanization of new ethnic groups to Schenectady in response to employment opportunities at GE.
The history of electrical invention and innovation, and the changes in research methods and technology over time.
The development of advertising in national companies and the changes in advertising throughout the 20th Century.
The development of the GE Research Lab, the first industrial research lab in the world.
The documentation of worker culture, including safety innovations, social organizations, and employees at work on the production lines.
The development of many household products, including irons, fans, radios, televisions, and refrigerators, which are now commonplace in homes around the world.
The social and economic impact of deindustrialization of Schenectady and the surrounding regions after World War II.
Use of the Collection
The collection has been used by historians,
professors, students, publishers, documentary producers,
local PBS stations, CBS News, NBC, CNN, BBC, the History
Channel, Home and Garden TV, Scientific American, the New
York Times, Time Magazine, and many others. Other museums
utilize images from the collection in their research and
exhibits, including the Smithsonian Institution, the Buffalo
and Erie Historical Society, the Society of California
Pioneers and Historic Cherry Hill. Research requests come
from all over the world, including Brazil, Germany, Sweden,
Great Britain, and Japan. The Museum staff utilizes the
photograph collection for exhibits, special workshops,
programs for children, and curriculum kits for schoolteachers.
The collection is currently featured in the Schenectady
Museum's new exhibits and also in the Museum's publication,
The General Electric Story: A Heritage of Innovation, 1876-1999,
which is available in the Museum's gift shop.
Preservation
When the Hall of Electrical History merged
with the Schenectady Museum in 1997, the GE Photograph
Collection was moved into a new, climate-controlled archive.
The collection was housed in 4,000 binders and scrapbooks.
With the assistance of two New York State Library Conservation/Preservation
grants, about 250,000 of the earliest photographs have
been removed from the old scrapbooks (which were made
of leather and were crumbling). The photographs have
been rehoused in special acid-free boxes and folders,
with a piece of special interleaving paper placed between
each photograph to help preserve the image.
Cataloging the Photographs
The Museum maintains the original
783-drawer card catalog and classification system used
by GE to organize the collection. The classification
system was loosely based on the Dewey Decimal System.
A print catalog, A Catalogue of the GE Photographic Archives,
1890-1940 was compiled from 1979-1981 under the leadership
of Professor David E. Nye, then the Director of American
Studies at Union College. The catalog shows 262 photographs
from the collection and organizes and lists descriptions
of another 5,000. The catalog is available in the Schenectady
Museum gift shop.
Photo Subjects (sample listing;
links
go to pop-ups with image samples):
Americanization
Charles Steinmetz
Early electric appliances
Early Television/Radio
Electric clocks
Electronic tubes
Executives
Exhibits, expos, and world's fairs
Factories
Factory Workers
Fans
GE & Schenectady Works
Heating appliances (ranges, irons, toasters, percolators)
Household appliances (mechanized)
Industrial achievements
Lamps (light bulbs)
Locomotives, diesel-electric
Locomotives, electric
Meters
Military engineering and ordinance
Motors and generators
Power transmission and distribution systems
(including substations, power plants, and hydroelectric
dams)
Radar
Refrigerators
Research lab
Residential lighting
Schenectady
City
Scientists/Personalities
Ships
Store lighting
Street lighting
Street railways
Thomas Edison
Toasters
Traffic signals
Turbines, gas
Turbines, steam
X-rays and X-ray equipment
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