Projects and partnerships - looking back on 2023

It’s important to take time to reflect on the work we do at SCHS, particularly the ways we’ve carried out our mission, the projects we’ve completed, and the relationships we’ve built. On this blog, we periodically talk about the work that goes into running the Grems-Doolittle Library. Some of these posts focus on big projects and changes such as the African American Historical Records Project and last year’s archival shelving upgrade. Looking back on 2023, we have a couple of special projects and partnerships that we’d like to highlight. While some of these are single, stand-alone activities, most of them represent relationships that will generate collaborations and projects in 2024 and beyond.

Union Street between Ferry Street and Church Street, 1892 (photo from the Stockade 1892 Photo Album, Grems-Doolittle Library). This is one of the properties students researched during the Siena Service Learning Project.

Siena College Service Learning Project- During March of this year, the Siena students worked with Marietta and the library volunteers to transcribe 19^th century legal documents, create metadata for early 20^th century photos, create condition reports for archival materials in the Grems-Doolittle Library, and compose descriptions for our small manuscript collections. Their work will be incorporated into future NY Heritage and Consider the Source NY digital collections, enable greater access to our archival collections, and improve the information available in our online catalog and resources. In April, the students researched buildings on State and Union Streets and composed narratives that Mike will utilize in developing future walking tours and programs.

Goose Hill Neighborhood History Project - Led by the Goose Hill Neighborhood Association, this is an ongoing project to record the history of the Goose Hill neighborhood through oral histories, conversations with long-time residents, research, and preservation of photos, documents and other personal items related to the area’s history.

View of the Goose Hill neighborhood from the top of the Seneca St. tower, circa 1950. Photo from the Larry Hart Photograph Collection, Grems-Doolittle Library.

City and Town Historians scanning and consultations - SCHS has always built and maintained relationships with the county and municipal historians in our area. Our collections often support their research and they’ve regularly contributed to our programming and publications. In the past few years, we’ve expanded our work with the municipal historians to include digitizing and preserving at-risk items in their collections, consulting on preservation and archival processing, and providing guidance on collection development and record-keeping.

Jazz collection with Susan Brink - We often work with individuals, families, and organizations to add their archival collections to the SCHS Library, and we’re always excited to talk to them about how their materials connect to broader Schenectady County history. Occasionally, an individual contacts us about collaborating on a collection that is broader and more varied in scope. This is an example of such an undertaking: Susan Brink, journalist and producer, has been active in the jazz community for years and recently started collecting Schenectady’s jazz history, focusing on the musicians and organizers who kept jazz alive in our area. The collection is now part of the SCHS Library and we’re excited to continue working with Susan and other jazz aficionados to build the collection.

Poster for the 16th Annual Accordion Center Band Concert, 1960, from the Jazz Collection, Grems-Doolittle Library.

Collaborative Knowledge Center and Digitization Hub - Two years ago, SCHS was invited to serve as the Capital Region’s Diversity and Collaborative Knowledge Center by the NYS Archives Partnership Trust. This was part of a grant project to expand access to historical materials related to underrepresented people and events in NY state history, train K-12 teachers on how to access and use these materials in their classrooms, and develop relationships between educators, historians, archivists, and institutions in our area. We’ve continued serving in this capacity this year and supporting institutions in our area who are working to digitize and describe materials in their collections and increase access to those resources. One example from this year: Historic Cherry Hill used our scanning equipment to digitize a set of diaries which document race, class, gender relations, household management and economy, and family structure in one Gilded Age Albany household. The diaries will soon be available on NY Heritage.

It’s also important to talk about the day-to-day, continuous work like processing collections, digitizing materials, transcribing documents, preserving items and collections, cataloging, and creating guides and other discovery tools. Thanks to our fantastic volunteers, we make steady, significant progress on our preserving priorities, make our collections discoverable and available for researchers, and use the materials for exhibits and education. In 2024, I plan to spend more time posting about the day-to-day, behind the scenes operations of the library. I hope you're able to take time to reflect on this past year, rest and recharge, and look to new year with excitement!

HistoryForge Mapping Project for Schenectady County

An exciting new project is underway at the Grems-Doolittle Library! As many of our researchers and members know, the library’s collections include an impressive number of maps, photographs, deeds, and survey documents from around the county. These materials and the information they contain are vital to a variety of research topics, but many researchers struggle to use them effectively. One of the most frequent questions we receive is “where is this place today?” Reading maps and matching textual or photographic data to geographic data can be difficult, and researchers often ask for assistance in deciphering the information. Trying to match a historic document to a physical place in our modern world can be frustrating! The SCHS librarian and library volunteers are working on a new tool that will greatly improve this kind of research: HistoryForge! 

 

1892 Schenectady City atlas map showing part of the Stockade neighborhood (Grems-Doolitle Library Map Collection)

HistoryForge is an open-source platform that integrates the historic demographic data in census records, directories, and other sources, allowing for its visual representation on historic maps layered over a Google Map. The result is a powerful tool for any community in the United States to explore its past. It was first designed by Bob Kibbee, the former Map and Geospatial Librarian at Cornell University, and David Furber, a software engineer. The project was launched by The History Center in Tompkins County, New York, in 2016. After several years of refining the software, the project is now an open-source, online environment available to any community to adopt and adapt to engage with their local historic maps, censuses, and documents. Last year, the HistoryForge project received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. As a part of the NEH's "A More Perfect Union" initiative, the grant allows The History Center in Tompkins County to continue to improve the open-source software, add more data, and engage more partners. The SCHS Library was invited to partner with the HistoryForge team to test new features, refine user manuals, and suggest improvements to the project. We’re joining partners from around the country to help build a full-featured web environment that will provide a new way of exploring local history!

HistoryForge layers historic maps, photos, census data, and directory data onto a live Google Map. This allows users to see the geographic connections between people, buildings, and historic materials. HistoryForge users can review records connected to individual people, buildings, and businesses to see detailed information, documents, and photos. Searching the census and directory data, researchers can create map visualizations which will help them discover patterns, track how neighborhoods and demographics changed over time, and explore unfamiliar locations.

 

State Street, Schenectady, NY (Grems-Doolittle Library Photo Collection)

To bring this valuable tool to life, we need your help! HistoryForge is powered by volunteers. Community members build the project by transcribing census records, entering building information, connecting digitized documents and photos to people and building records, and constructing historic map layers. Volunteers can work on this project in person at the SCHS Library or at home on their own computer. Volunteers need patience, attention to detail, a commitment to accuracy, and experience typing. We’ll provide all of the training and instructions volunteers need to successfully build the database and connect records to the map. If you’re interested in volunteering, please complete our HistoryForge Volunteer Interest Form or contact Marietta Carr, SCHS Librarian, at librarian@schenectadyhistorical.org.

As we add information, data, and maps to the HistoryForge, researchers will be able to see our progress at https://schenectady.historyforge.net/

1905 City of Schenectady and Village of Scotia Atlas (Grems-Doolittle Library Map Collection)

 

Schenectady in the Green Book

 This post was written by Elijahjison Powell, Sankofa Youth Collective Ambassador

Not that long ago African Americans did not have the same safety as others traveling this country. There was not GPS or Google Maps to help navigate or tell them about the places they were going. They did however have something called “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” a travel guide for African Americans to use that informed them about everything they needed to know about their destination and the best way to get there. From the Black-friendly businesses to people who could help you around town to the gas stations that would serve you on the way there. We looked through the New York Public Library’s digital collection of Green Books for places related to Schenectady. There were about five people listed in the Green Book under Schenectady County but unfortunately, we were only able to find further information on three.

1947 Green Book Cover

One couple, Rose and Charles Rhinehart, who stayed at 125 Church Street was marked in the Green Book as a “tourist home,” people in the town that were friendly toward Blacks and could help them around town and get settled, or would be nice enough to open their doors to tourists. The 1915 New York Census shows they did just that. 38-year-old Charles and 29-year-old Rose with their 11-year-old son Paul opened their home to a 20-year-old lodger named Thursten Taster.

Another Schenectady resident who lived up to the reputation in the Green Book was Ernest L Claiborn. The 1930 New York state census shows him living at 1808 Campbell Ave with a number of people: his 39-year-old wife Alberta Claiborne, his 20-year-old niece Mary C Williams, his 24-year-old nephew James Williams, and his 50-year-old brother-in-law Thomas Burrus. On top of his big family he let Shirley Jones board at his house and may have gotten her a job. Ancestory.com shows Ernest as head porter at the Hotel Van Curler (now known as Ernst Hall or SCCC; the city of Schenectady bought the building at an open auction for $700,000 and converted the hotel to a college). Shirley’s occupation is documented as a porter in the hotel industry so it is possible Ernest could have gotten a job for her working with him.

1948 Sanborn Maps of 1808 Campbell Ave. and 125 Church St.

Another location in the Green Book was the Clefton Hotel, a popular spot within the Schenectady Black community. The hotel was originally operated by Sylvestor Thomas. Around 1945, McDonald Lewis, a Black entrepreneur, purchased the property and renamed it the Lewis Hotel. The hotel’s address was 516 Broadway, an area where most of the local Black community lived. Near the hotel was Detroy’s Chicken Shack, a popular Black-owned restaurant (owned by McDonald’s brother) that featured Black entertainers, music, dancing, and food. As the locals would say, ‘’Good times were had at the Chicken Shack and it’s a jumping place.” The hotel frequently hosted players from the Mohawk Giants, an all-Black Schenectady baseball team. While the Lewis brothers’ personal lives included some troubling episodes, their businesses contributed a positive impact on Schenectady’s Black community.

1948 Sanborn map of 516 Broadway

 
Victor Hugo Green, New York City postal worker, started the Green Book in 1936 with the sole purpose to help African Americans avoid humiliation and danger. With each update to the book, they covered more and more areas, eventually covering all of the United States and some international locations. The last Green Book was published in 1967, renamed “The Travelers Green Book 67 International Edition: For Vacation without Aggravation.” It was the last one published after the passing of The Civil Rights Act of 1964 making segregation illegal in public places, hence making the travel guide obsolete.

 

Victor Hugo Green in 1956. Photo from The New York Age, 23 August 1958, Saturday, page 32.