The area that would become the city of Schenectady was first settled by Europeans in 1661. After being burned by the French and their Native American allies in 1690, it recovered to become a "Gateway to the West" and "Key of a Large Country" for traders by virtue of its position on the Mohawk River. Although the county of Schenectady (separated from Albany in 1809) is the second smallest in New York outside of New York City, Schenectady prospered in the nineteenth century as a center of early railroad construction and the headquarters of what would later become General Electric.
Schenectady County Public Library
The Schenectady YMCA maintained a free circulating library in the 1890s, and a committee obtained the charter for the Schenectady Public Library in 1894. The library's first permanent building at the corner of Union and Seward later became Union College's Webster House. The library became a county library in 1948, and as the central library of the Mohawk Valley Library System began serving the residents of Fulton, Montgomery and Schoharie Counties in 1959. The current building at 99 Clinton St. was dedicated in 1969.
The Schenectady Collection of the Schenectady County Public Library contains more than 3,000 volumes related to local history and genealogy, as well as non-historical material published by local authors. The collection includes items as diverse as high school yearbooks, city directories beginning with 1841, proceedings of the Schenectady city council and county legislature (some of which contain coroner's reports) and histories of General Electric and the American Locomotive Company (ALCO). Newspapers are well-represented, with a large clippings file dating to the 1940s and microfilm collection with more than 3000 reels of local newspapers since 1822.
The library has printed indexes to the New York State portion of the U.S. Census. Although the census microfilm only covers Schenectady County, the Central Library has subscriptions to Ancestry and HeritageQuest which may be used with no time limits, and stories from the Daily Gazette may be searched online since Aug. 1997 through NewsBank. A considerable amount of historical information is available through the Schenectady Digital History Archive, ranging from obituary indexes and census transcripts to railroad technical manuals and entire books.
The Central Library is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 to 9:00, Friday and Saturday 9:00 to 5:00 and Sunday 1:00 to 5:00. Wireless Internet is available.
Schenectady County Historical Society
Additionally, researchers visiting Schenectady will want to visit other libraries and archives. The Schenectady County Historical Society is located a few minutes away from SCPL at 32 Washington Ave. Formed in 1905, the society's collections are housed in the Grems-Doolittle Library, a modern, 3000 sq. foot building which overlooks the Mohawk River. In this historic setting, the library reading room offers visitors a unique collection of books, photographs, manuscript collections, family histories and genealogical resources about the people and places in the city of Schenectady, Schenectady County and surrounding areas. Special emphasis is placed on gathering individual and family records which serve to amplify and clarify more general accounts of the area and its residents.
Notable manuscript collections include the James Frost Collection of eighteenth and early nineteenth century maps; the Charles P. Steinmetz Papers; the Mabee Family Papers; the Mynderse Family Papers; and the Larry Hart Collection. The archives of Schenectady businesses; scrapbooks compiled by local historians; nineteenth century Schenectady diaries; an extensive photograph collection; and a large map collection all contain unique information for family researchers.
Family researchers often begin their hunt with the library's collection of published family genealogies and the family surname files containing genealogical notes contributed over the years by local researchers and volunteers. There are many valuable leads for family researchers in the City and County topical clippings files. The library's card catalog (a truly old-fashioned and reliable cabinet of catalog cards) provides access to the Historic Documents Collection containing wills, deeds, legal documents and military commissions.
Church Records
When researchers ask for early Schenectady church records, they often mean the records of the First Reformed (Protestant Dutch) Church and the Episcopal St. George's Church (often referred to as the "English" church)—the two earliest churches in the City of Schenectady. The First Reformed baptisms are recorded and indexed for the period 1694–1852. Marriages are recorded from 1694 up to 1852. The parish records of St. George's Church date from 1753–1885: Births are recorded from 1753–1850; Marriages from 1771–1849; and Burials from 1771–1885. The library has copies of parish registers for Methodist, Presbyterian and Catholic churches in Schenectady. Cemetery transcriptions have been compiled for many cemeteries in the county.
Church records for the lower Mohawk Valley and counties surrounding Schenectady are available to researchers in the microfilmed Vosburgh Collection. Revolutionary era documents have been microfilmed from the collection of the First Reformed Church.
Family and Local Histories
The heart of the library's collection is the book collection of family history and local history. The books are available to researchers in open stacks adjacent to research tables, classified under the Dewey Decimal system with access through a card catalog.
The reading room of the library holds over 9,000 volumes, with the published family genealogy section comprising over 1,000 volumes (93 linear feet) and the Schenectady and New York counties section, has approximately 2,000 volumes, containing local histories, abstracts of vital records and transcribed church records, particularly for Schenectady, Schoharie, Saratoga, Albany, Fulton and Montgomery counties. Other resources include city directories from 1841 and microfilm of nineteenth century newspapers.
Researchers using the Grems-Doolittle Library will find a large collection of bound genealogy periodicals, and reliable classics of genealogy research such as Mayflower Families, The Great Migration, New York in the Revolution and Early Settlers of New York State. The library is staffed by a full-time librarian and library volunteers who are available to help visitors find their way into the collections. Visitors are welcome during the week from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and on Saturday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, during hours the museum is open.
Wireless Internet connection is available. Members may use the library at no cost. There is a $5 daily use fee for non-members.
Other Research Collections
Researchers may also wish to explore these other collections:
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Efner History Research Library: numerous documents, photos, and artifacts related to the history of Schenectady.
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Schenectady Museum: includes a huge manuscript and photo collection related to the history of General Electric.
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Union College Schaffer Library: The Special Collections include material related to General Electric.
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For travel and accommodations visit www.sayschenectady.org or call the Chamber of Schenectady County Tourism Department at 1-800-962-8007.
by Robert G. Sullivan, MLS, and Katherine Chansky, MLS
© 2011 The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society
All rights reserved.