Spring Projects at the Grems-Doolittle Library & Archives

One of our spring projects at the Grems-Doolittle Library and Archives has been a "re-inventory" of our archival collections. A previous inventory has been done, but we have new collections and have moved things around, so a new inventory is needed to document these changes. We have other goals for this project as well which include getting a better sense of the material we have, finding out how our collections have been organized, and checking to see if each collection has a catalog record in our collection management software. An added benefit of this project is that we can check on the condition of our collections and see if there are any pressing preservation or conservation issues that they are facing. We have around 200 linear feet of archival material in our collection which includes our historic manuscript collection that has documents dating as early as 1670.

Like any occupation, archivists have their own glossary of work-related terminology (see: The Society of American Archivists Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology). The terms processing, arranging and describing will be an important part of this inventory project.

Collections are donated to us in a variety of different levels of organization, some have been meticulously organized, other may have been haphazardly thrown into boxes. Processing gives order to these collections by arranging and describing them. Our collections are also rehoused using acid-free folders and boxes. Acid is inherent in wood pulp paper and can cause some serious damage to paper, so it's important to use acid-free materials when we are rehousing collections.

By arranging our collections we are giving them order. One of our main goals as archivists is to arrange the collection as close to the how the collection was originally used by the creator of the records, which is known as original order. This can be difficult as we sometimes have to make some assumptions about how the collections were organized. We also might receive a collection in complete disarray and have to try and restore its original order. In the case of organizational records, we have to examine the collection to see what types of records are included and we have to try and think like the organization. Would they mix their financial records with their meeting minutes and annual reports? Probably not, so we create series of records and separate them according to their how they were used by the organization or individual.

When we describe our collections, we are analyzing and recording details about the collection including the size of the collection, the creator, the history of the organization. The result of our description work is best seen in finding aids. One important aspect of a finding aid is the scope and content note which can help our researchers decide if a certain collection is relevant to their research. It will usually be a narrative statement that gives an overview of the types of material in the collection, significant topics or people in the collection and other relevant information. A finding aid will also usually include a container list that describes the folders in each box. The guide to the Abruzzese Society Collection is a good example of how we describe and arrange our collections.

We have already rediscovered some interesting items including a scrapbook from a service member who served during World War II and a Schenectady High School students hollowed out wooden book which was only holding a bible, photograph and letter, but who knows what it held before it came to us. Photos of these items can be seen at the end of this post.

This will be quite a project but it will be important for us to get a better idea of what our collection needs are. It will also help us in accurately locating and documenting our collections in our collection management system and it will reacquaint us with some of the interesting items that may have been overlooked.

Albert Halavin's World War II Scrapbook:

Staff Sergeant Albert Halavin posing in front of his vehicle.

Map of the Command Post

Fake Book:

Fayette W. Clifford World War II Collection

A new finding aid for the Fayette W. Clifford World War II Collection was created by volunteer Angela Matyi. Check it out below:

Guide to the Fayette W. Clifford World War II Collection

Fayette W. Clifford posing with a primate.

Domain of the Golden Dragon certificate given to Fayette W. Clifford. This certificate was an unofficial United States Navy award. It is given to crew members of ships which cross the International Date Line. 

Creator: Clifford, Fayette W., 1917 – 1984

Accession Number: 2019.18

Extent: 0.42 linear feet (1 full-size document box containing 20 folders)

Source: Military belongings of Fayette W. Clifford of Schenectady

Inclusive Dates: 1943 – 1960

Bulk Dates: 1944 - 1946

Access: Access to materials in this collection is unrestricted.

Abstract: The Fayette W. Clifford World War II collection consists materials from the military career of Fayette W. Clifford.

Catalog Terms:

Clifford, Fayette W., 1917 – 1984

Clifford, Fayette, 1917 – 1984

World War II

Scope and Content Note:

The Fayette W. Clifford World War II collection consists largely of small- and medium-sized photographs taken during Clifford’s military service in the Philippines.  Additional items include typed letters, citations and certificates; newspaper clippings; army publications; handwritten manuscript pages; and a few small artifacts.  The collection also includes an assortment of military patches and pins, but because these are in the care of the Schenectady County Historical Society museum rather than the archives they are not included in this finding aid.

Biographical Note:

Fayette W. Clifford was born in 1917 in Schenectady, NY to John V. Clifford and his wife Annette E. Clifford.  After graduating from Nott Terrace High School he found employment as a production clerk for General Electric.  In September of 1943 he joined the service and began basic training at Camp Blanding, FL, as a Private First Class in the 126^th Regiment of the famed 32^nd Infantry Division.

The “Red Arrow” Division, as it was popularly known, was first formed in 1917 from Army National Guard units from Wisconsin and Michigan.  It gained distinction during World War I when it became the first Allied division to pierce the German Hindenburg Line of defense.  The division later adopted a shoulder patch with the image of a line shot through with a red arrow to signify their tenacity in that endeavor.

During World War II, the 32^nd Infantry was deployed to the Pacific theater.  It became the first American division to be moved in a single convoy from the United States to the front lines in April 1942, and was among the very first to enter combat.  General MacArthur ordered parts of the 32^nd Infantry to Papua New Guinea in September 1942 in response to Allied fears of a Japanese invasion of Australia.  From November 1942 to January 1943 they engaged the Japanese in eastern New Guinea in the Battle of Buna-Gona.  Although the battle was technically an Allied victory, the reliance on ill-informed, deficient intelligence and poor logistics made it an extremely costly one.  The 32^nd Infantry Division, already weakened by an extremely difficult 130-mile march on the harsh Kapa Kapa Trail, was decimated both by the brutal battle and by tropical diseases; the 126^th regiment was the hardest hit. 

In March 1943 the 32^nd Infantry returned to Australia for recovery and to begin training replacements.  Clifford would have come into the service as one of these replacements in March 1944, specifically as a regimental personnel clerk.  The 32^nd Infantry was redeployed to Papua New Guinea in October 1943, where it continued training.  Starting in January 1944 it took part in Operation Cartwheel, MacArthur’s “leap-frog” plan to take strategic points for use as forward bases, and the Western New Guinea campaign.  Clifford served specifically in the latter, engaging in combat at the Landing of Aitape (part of Operation Persecution), a battle which lasted from late April until late August 1944. 

He served in the following Battle of Morotai, (starting in September 1944) until the 32^nd Infantry’s command division opened at Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea in October, setting the stage for the Allied advance into the Japanese-occupied Philippines.  Clifford then took part in the Battle of Leyte, codenamed “King Two,” the invasion of the Philippines by American and Filipino guerilla forces for the recapture and liberation of the entire archipelago.  The campaign for Leyte, which lasted from October to December 1944, proved to be the first and most decisive operation in the American Philippines campaign (1944 – 1945). 

The 32^nd Infantry moved on to Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, in January 1945, fighting up the Villa Verde Trail for 119 days and taking Imugan as part of the Battle of Luzon.  In May it met up with the 25^th Infantry Division and took the Balete pass, though whether Clifford was part of this force or part of the division elements that stayed in Imugan as part of the mopping-up efforts is unclear.  Regardless, for his exemplary conduct under fire during Luzon Clifford was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge. 

After being discharged in January 1946 following the close of the war, Clifford was also awarded the Bronze Star in April of that same year in recognition of his twenty-two months of service.  His additional commendations include: the Good Conduct Metal, the American Campaign Medal (referred to as the “ATO ribbon,” presumably for “American. Theater of Operations”) with three battle stars, the Philippine Liberation Medal, the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation (awarded to the entire 32^nd division), the Distinguished Unit Citation (also awarded to the entire division, for its service in Papua New Guinea), the World War II Victory Medal (referred to in the 1940s as the “Victory Ribbon”).

Fayette W. Clifford married Frances Gifford in 1949, and passed away in 1984.

Organization Note:

The photographs in this collection are divided by size and subject.  The photograph sizes are split between small, medium, and medium-large.  Small photographs are those which are defined as “wallet-sized,” measuring 2.5 x 3 inches, 2.5 x 1.75 inches, or 2.625 x 2.625 inches.  Medium photographs are those which are slightly larger and may or may not be considered “wallet-sized,” measuring 3 x 3 inches or 3.125 x 4 inches.  Medium-large photographs are of various sizes (standard, somewhat smaller than standard, and larger than standard), but none can be considered “wallet-sized”; they measure 3.25 x 4.5 inches or 4 x 6 inches.

Finding Aid Created By/Date: Angela Matyi, March 2019

Folder Item/Listing:

Folder	Item Title
1	Photographs – Individuals: American (Small)
2	Photographs – Individuals: Filipino, Japanese (Small)
3	Photographs – Pairs and Groups (Small)
4	Photographs – Landscapes and Buildings (Small)
5	Photographs – Individuals (Medium)
6	Photographs – Pairs and Groups (Medium)
7	Photographs – Landscapes and Buildings (Medium)
8	Photographs – Individuals (Medium-Large)
9	Photographs – Pairs and Groups (Medium-Large)
10	Photographs – Landscapes and Buildings (Medium-Large)
11	Photographs – Album Pages
12	Manuscript Pages
13	Newspaper Clippings (1944 – 1946)
14	Army Correspondence (May 1944 – Oct. 1945)
15	Letters of Thanks
16	Citations, Certificates (Undated; 1944 – 1960)
17	Military News (Oct. 1945; Undated)
18	“Combat History of the 32d Inf Division”
19	Artifacts – Pocket Bible; Japanese Business Card
20	Photographs – Duplicates

Glenotia Park

This post was written by library volunteer Diane Leone

In the early decades of the twentieth century, a recreational gem sat just on the doorstep of downtown Scotia. In 1907, a tiny island in the Mohawk River, once called the Isle of the Mohawks, was leased by the newly created Scotia Athletic Association from the Sanders family, owners of a riverfront home, now the Glen-Sanders Mansion. The lessees hoped to create a sports and recreational venue, which they named Glenotia Park, for Glenville and Scotia. The lease was granted with the proviso that there would be no disorderly conduct, hard liquor, or late-night carousing. Although the athletic association lost its lease after five years, the park continued to operate under different proprietorship. Until its closure in the early 1930s, Glenotia was the scene of many picnics, swimming lessons, ballgames, dances, and other forms of entertainment.

Idyllic scene of Glenotia Park in 1920. Courtesy of the Larry Hart Collection in the Grems-Doolittle Library & Archives.

Over the years, Glenotia was a favorite summer gathering place. Clara Wege McGuire recalled riding the Crane Street Trolley over the Washington Avenue Bridge, and walking from the stop near the Sanders residence down to the park. The island was accessible via a portable pontoon bridge that spanned the Mohawk’s narrow inlet, called Sanders Creek, at the end of S. Ballston Avenue. The association built a baseball diamond and a one-eighth mile track to accommodate athletic events. Crowds came to cheer on a variety of locally formed baseball teams that vied against each other. Scotia High School’s first track meet on May 22, 1909 was a big event, with the community participating in a parade that marched down Mohawk Avenue. The team defeated Altamont, Rensselaer, and Schoharie. In the fall of 1924, while a football field was being constructed at nearby Collins Park, the Glenotia ballfield was the practice site for Scotia High’s first official team, which played games against opponents from Catskill, Little Falls, and Johnstown.

The pavilion at Glenotia park. Courtesy of the book Glenville, NY: Images of America.

Young people enjoyed Saturday night boating, as well as dances, held in the upper part of a two-story wood pavilion built on stilts to protect it from the ravages of winter ice and spring floods. The structure featured a concession stand and a lower level for picnickers. While most people were respectful, the constables and deputies on duty had to deal with occasional troublemakers. One man who attempted to instigate trouble at a dance was thrown into the river by Deputy Phil Kline, to the delighted cheers of everyone.

Other forms of evening diversion were traveling shows and movies. One show, titled Ten Nights in a Bar Room (1910), was based on the 1854 pro-temperance novel. The accompanying advertisement was for Kickapoo Indian Juice and Body Purifier, a well-known patent medicine of the era. A park patron noted that fight movies were shown for adult males inside a tent. Young boys were relegated to the outside, where they had to peek into the tent to watch the the “flickers.” One controversial film was the 1910 heavyweight bout, at the time dubbed “The Fight of the Century,” in which Jack Johnson knocked out James J. Jeffries, becoming the first African American heavyweight champion. As a result of racist attitudes, the film was the subject of censorship in many places, including Scotia. Since Glenotia was outside the village boundary, the film was shown there. The 1915 Johnson-Jess Willard bout, in which Johnson lost his title, was also shown.

Billboard advertising the Mohawk Swimming School. Courtesy of the
Larry Hart Collection in the Grems-Doolittle Library & Archives.

Many area residents had fond memories of traditional summer pastimes, such as picnics and swimming. One woman, reminiscing years later about Saturday church picnics, recalled that while the men worked at GE from 6 am to noon, the women would transport and prepare the food, anticipating the arrival of their husbands and male relatives. As she describes a childhood memory of soaring over the water in a swing, “I can feel the breezes now as they blew up my petticoats and dress revealing the Hamburg ruffle on my ‘short drawers.’” 1

Swimmers at the Mohawk Swimming School.
Courtesy of the Larry Hart Collection in
the Grems-Doolittle Library & Archives.

Swimming was a popular activity at Glenotia. Launching into the river from long ropes attached to trees was a favorite pastime. As Clara Wege McGuire pleasurably recalled: “Once at the river, what a day it would be! As a child there was no way to describe it, except that it was worth a whole year in school to look forward to it.”2

Dredging for the Barge Canal deepened the river, leaving a gravel beach area. In 1915, after Claude and George Chrisman’s brief unsuccessful stint at running a swimming school, German immigrant Werner Gewecke leased the island, opening the Mohawk Swimming School, which was incorporated into the park. He promoted it widely, and even arranged with the Schenectady Railway Company for a bargain fare for trolley riders bound for Glenotia. One ad for the school promised a “Large Bathing Beach — Big Diving Tower & Floating Tables. Swimming Taught in Scientific Way.” He charged $ .05 for park admission and $.10 for swimming. To attract customers, he constructed bathhouses, fortified the beach with extra sand, and built a movable multi-level diving platform. A refreshment stand sold ice-cream. Gewecke’s technique was to suspend students from harnesses attached to the side of his boat so that they would learn to swim safely. Aspiring swimmers were assured that they would learn by the end of the summer. As the sign on Gewecke’s boat read: “We guarantee you will swim or your money back!”3

Courtesy of the book Glenville, NY: Images of America.

Glenotia’s popularity waned as the years brought social and economic changes. The growing accessibility of the automobile made it easier to travel to recreational sites that were farther away. Radio became a household fixture, opening up a new entertainment format that kept some people at home. With the 1929 stock market crash and the onset of the Depression, disposable income dried up. Sadly, on top of all these developments, the pollution of the river made swimming hazardous. According to Gewecke’s daughter Ruth, her father closed the swimming school in 1927, although the Schenectady County Historical Society’s book on Glenville gives 1930 as the closing date. The pontoon bridge was removed, as was the pavilion, whose wood beams were incorporated into a home near the river. The once-popular park closed in 1931-32, meeting the same fate as Rexford’s Luna Park and Forest Park in Ballston, two local amusement parks from the same period.

For years, Glenotia remained unused and forgotten, with ownership changing several times since the park’s closure. It was returned to the public’s awareness in 2012 when the 19 acre island was placed on the market for $91,900, as reported in the Daily Gazette. Since the land is designated as a conservation zone, usage is limited. However, the island could be utilized for recreational or educational purposes. Today, it remains just offshore, overgrown, a deserted piece of the past.

Quotations were taken from newspaper articles on file at the Schenectady County Historical Society under “Glenotia Park.”

1. "More of Ruth O's Memories," Scotia-Glenville Journal, April 14, 1976.
2. “Little-Known Glenotia Park Was Popular Spot,” Schenectady Gazette, June 23, 1979.
3. Hart, Larry. “Glenotia Park Was a Popular Place,” Scotia-Glenville Journal, April 22, 1993.

Collection Spotlight: Mohawk Prayer Book

Last week we were visited by a film crew from the First Nations Technical Institute. This institute is based in Ontario and was founded to provide greater access to post-secondary education for aboriginal peoples in Canada. Their film crew is shooting a documentary focusing on Mohawk people, both in Canada and in New York. They came here in search of primary source documents and items related to the Mohawk and were made aware of SCHS through former Niskayuna town historian Linda Champagne.

One item in particular that they wanted to shoot for the documentary was a prayer book that had been translated into the Mohawk language by Dominie (meaning minister or pastor) Bernardus Freeman and Laurens Claesse van der Volgen. This prayer book is an interesting document that shows the interactions between the Christian settlers and indigenous people in the area and the attempts of these settlers to convert the local Native population to Christianity.

Portrait of Domnie Bernardus
Freeman. Courtesy of  A
History of St. George's
Church in the City of
Schenectady, Vol. 1. 

Bernardus Freeman was a tailor by trade who lived in the Netherlands. He applied to be the minister at Albany in 1699 and it was approved after a some consideration by the Classis of Amsterdam. His duties changed soon after he set sail for America and was instead appointed as the second minister at the Schenectady Dutch Reformed Church. As the minister of the church, Freeman was expected to preach and convert the Mohawk in the area. He turned out to be more successful than his predecessor due to his familiarity with the Mohawk language as well as having an assistant who was familiar with the Mohawk.

Freeman's focus on baptizing and marrying the Mohawk is evident in the church records. Thomas Burke, the author of Mohawk Frontier: The Dutch Community of Schenectady, New York 1661-1710 used Dutch Reformed Church records to find out how many Native Americans were baptized from 1698-1760. During Freeman's tenure as minister from 1700-1705 baptisms and marriages of Schenectady's native population reached its peak. Freeman baptized 113 Native Americans were baptized and married 15.

Freeman did not conduct his missionary work alone though. His pay to join and relocate to Schenectady's Dutch Reformed Church  was 60 pounds with an additional 15 pounds for expenses. He was also provided with funds to hire an assistant. The person he chose to do the work was Laurens Claesse Van Der Volgen. Van Der Volgen's name may be familiar to those well-versed in Schenectady's history as he was one of the 27 people captured during the Schenectady Massacre.

Van Der Volgen survived the grueling trip back to Canada and was assimilated into the indigenous Canadian community. It is unknown which community he was adopted by, but it is likely that he had interactions with the Catholic Mohawks in Canada (Kanyen'kehà:ka) which would explain his fluency in the Mohawk language. Van Der Volgen would eventually make his way back to Schenectady and would work with Dominie Freeman to help translate The Book of Common Prayer into the Mohawk language. For more information on Laurens Van Der Volgen, check out our July 2010 newsletter.

Portrait of Laurens Van Der Volgen. This portrait is currently exhibited in our Beyond the Pines: Early Schenectady exhibit at the Schenectady History Museum located at our 32 Washington Ave. location.

The translations that Freeman and Van Der Volgen produced remained in manuscript form until a missionary named William Andrews was appointed to teach the Mohawk community how to write as well as convert them to Christianity. Andrews did not have as much linguistic skill as Freeman and was unable to become fluent in the Mohawk language. He relied on Van Der Volgen's fluency in the Mohawk language and was so terrified of losing him that he attempted and failed to teach English to two Mohawk youth. Andrews had little to no success with teaching the English to the Mohawk community and conducted much of his missionary work with Van Der Volgen's assistance.

One of Andrews' goals was to provide the Mohawk community with printed works in their own language. He received permission to do so and decided to get Freeman and Van Der Volgen's translation of the Common Prayer printed in New York City. Andrews chose William Bradford as his printer who was known as "the pioneer printer of the Middle colonies." By 1715, 200 copies of the book were published along with 150 catechisms and a small spelling book for children. Andrews would have limited success in his missionary work. He became disheartened and resigned in 1718.

The Mohawk Prayer Book is the earliest known printed work in a Native American dialect in New York. It's almost completely in Mohawk besides a title page/table of contents and the name of the prayers. The prayer book, along with a portrait of Laurens Van Der Volgen was kept within the Van Der Volgen family. Helen Van Der Volgen of Delphi, Indiana conducted quite a bit of research on the prayer book. She wrote to several different places for more information on it including The New York Public Library and the Museum of the American Indian. This correspondence was included with the donation of the book. The prayer book and the portrait was then passed down to their daughter, Mary Van Der Volgen Chatfield. Mary Chatfield visited the Schenectady County Historical Society in 2008 and donated both the portrait and the prayer book at that time. The prayer book is not in the best shape. The spine, front and back covers have become detached over time and there are a few pages missing or heavily damaged. That said, most of the text remains.

Images of the prayer book can be seen below:

Sources Used:

A History of St. George's Church in the City of Schenectady, Volume 1 by Willis T. Hanson

Early Prayer Books of America: being a descriptive account of prayer books published in the United States, Mexico and Canada by John Wright. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100263956

Faces of Schenectady: 1715-1750 by Kate Weller. http://schenectadyhistorical.org/admin/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/July-Aug-2010a.pdf

Learning to Read and Write in Colonial America by E. Jennifer Monaghan

Mohawk Frontier: The Dutch Community of Schenectady, New York 1661-1710 by Thomas E,Burke

The Book of Common Prayer Among the Nations of the World: A History of Translations of the Prayer Book of the Church of England and of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America by William Muss-Arnolt. http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Muss-Arnolt/part7a.htm

Schenectady's Worst Flood

This post was written by library volunteer Gail Denisoff.

This image shows flooding on the Erie Canal looking towards State Street. Advertisements for The Carl Company, J.E. Davidson's Son, Dan A. Donahue, John Wagner's Furniture are shown. Courtesy of the Grems-Doolittle Library & Archives Photo Collection.

Schenectady has experienced its fair share of spring flooding. Concerns rise, especially in the Stockade area, whenever temperatures begin to climb causing ice to start thawing and breaking up in the Mohawk River and the streams feeding into it. Couple that with heavy rain and you have a recipe for disaster. Schenectady residents thought the March floods of 1893 and 1913 which hit a high-level mark of 21 feet were the worst they had ever experienced. That was until the flood of 1914, still considered the worst in Schenectady history.

A view of State Street after the 1914 Valentine's Blizzard.
Courtesy of the Grems-Doolittle Library & Archives
Photo Collection.

The winter of 1914 was a tough one. Not only were the temperatures unusually cold for all of January and February but Valentine’s day brought a blizzard dropping 32 inches of snow in less than 20 hours. Drifts reached 15 to 20 feet in some areas. March arrived with warmer weather and rains. Small creeks began to swell and ice that had built up over the long winter was breaking apart. In the early morning hours of March 27th, loud grinding and cracking sounds were heard emanating from the Schoharie Creek and other small waterways as gigantic chunks of ice started crashing and hurtling their way to the Mohawk River.

As the floes moved into the river, joining masses of slowly colliding slabs of ice, destruction followed. By 7pm that evening, a 300-foot bridge in Amsterdam gave way, the same bridge that had been destroyed exactly one year before. Soon after, two private bridges in the Schenectady area fell to the unrelenting mounds of ice. First the Rexford Toll Bridge collapsed followed by the Freemans Toll Bridge. Onlookers described the ice slabs as twenty feet high and three feet thick. The piers of the Scotia Bridge were also being barraged by the ice but were still considered secure.

Massive chunks of ice were common during the 1914 flood. This photo shows some of them on North Street. Courtesy of the Grems-Doolittle Library & Archives Photo Collection.

Early the next day linemen from the New York Telephone Company attempted to string cable across the Mohawk at Freeman’s. By this time the river was raging and rising rapidly. After rowing a boat through the hazardous current twice unspooling their cable, the three men aboard attempted a third crossing. This time they weren’t as fortunate. A massive cake of submerged ice shattered their boat sending the three men into the river. Two of the men, John Inglis and John Becker, were pulled under and drowned, the third, William Ryan, held on to wreckage from the boat and managed to get to a railroad bridge where he was rescued.

The Stockade experienced some of the worst of the 1914 flood. This photo shows the only method of transportation that people in much of the Stockade could use, boats. Courtesy of the Grems-Doolittle Library & Archives Photo Collection.

Meanwhile, the rising river was spilling over its banks in the city of Schenectady and heavy rain was falling. American Locomotive and General Electric, both having suffered losses from the flood the year before, had workers stack sandbags and timbers to block the water. Sandbags were also placed on manhole covers to prevent the back up of sewers on Dock Street and River Road along the canal. Washington Avenue, South Ferry Street, North Street, South Church Street, Ingersoll Avenue and other streets leading to the river were filling with water. By 5am on the 28th men were pounding on doors to awaken residents to vacate their properties.

At 10:30 am the General Electric whistle blew sending thousands of workers out of the plant to make their way home on flooded streets. Trolley service was cut off going into Scotia. People used rowboats to make their way through the rising water. By 11:45am flood levels had reached 23.5 feet. The area around General Electric was covered by two feet of water and four feet covered the grounds of American Locomotive. South Church Street was six feet under water and many riverfront cottages had water up to their rooflines. Between 300 and 400 homes had been evacuated.

Even with the flood, some people found ways to entertain themselves. This photo shows Reuben Dworsky (left) and Isidore Goldstork (right) rowing down a flooded Broadway during the 1914 flood. Courtesy of the Grems-Doolittle Library & Archives Photo Collection.

Between 2:00 and 3:00pm the ice jam finally began to move. Water rapidly receded and by the morning of March 29th much of the water had returned to normal levels. About 30,000 people made their way to the river to watch the massive chunks of ice floating by resulting in a boon for trolley service. What followed was a mass clean up effort. Stores tried to beat the flood by moving merchandise to upper levels, but many still had flood sales in the ensuing weeks. General Electric and American Locomotive reported relatively small losses, but other business and homes were hit hard with hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.

Major flooding has continued to be a worry in Schenectady over the years. Most problems seem to occur in spring although some are associated with other events, most recently, Hurricane Irene in August of 2011. Much of the Stockade was once again under water with many people forced to evacuate. Hopefully, Schenectady will never again experience a flood that compares to that of 1914.

Fighting Fire in the Wintertime

A recent Times Union article (which you can find here) got us thinking about some of the major winter fires in Schenectady County and the firefighters who braved the cold and icy conditions to extinguish these chilly conflagrations. We searched through our photo archives to look for photos of fires in the wintertime these are a few of the images we found.

One unexpected benefit of the Erie Canal was that having the canal running through the city gave firefighters easier access to a body water to pump for extinguishing fires. The quality of this water may not have been the best (see our previous blog post, The Odors of the Erie in Schenectady) but it was a much needed source of water before the invention of fire hydrants. Courtesy of the Grems-Doolittle Library Photo Collection.

This early December fire occurred at the New York Central Freight House which was located near Van Guysling and Edison Ave. Courtesy of the Grems-Doolittle Library Photo Collection.

The old Rotterdam Junction YMCA was destroyed by a fire in 1949. Courtesy of the Grems-Doolittle Library Photo Collection.

A devastating fire broke out at the First Reformed Church in Schenectady on February 1, 1948. The fire started around 4:45 pm and continued throughout the night. The first photo shows the fire destroying the steeple, the second photo shows the aftermath. Courtesy of the Grems-Doolittle Library Photo Collection.

This photo shows firefighters in action as they try to extinguish a fire at the Dearstyne Lumber Warehouse on Catalyn St. in Schenectady on December 16, 1968. Courtesy of the Grems-Doolittle Library Photo Collection

Back in my Day: Childhood, Play, and Schenectady

Our latest exhibit, Back in My Day: Childhood, Play, and Schenectady focuses on growing up and being a kid in Schenectady County. So we dug through our photo archives in order to pick out some great photos that show what childhood looked like for Schenectady's residents. Many of these are from our Schenectady Family Photograph Collection, as such, many of them are unlabeled. Here are some of our favorites:

Recess is an important part of the school day. Here we see kids lining up to go on the slide at Edison School in this undated photo (possibly 1910s?).

This photo shows school children crossing Erie Boulevard circa 1970s. They were most likely going to Riverside Elementary on Front Street.

Sometimes your toys are made to be toys, sometimes they're just things that you find lying around. This photo is from 1946, but is otherwise unlabeled.

Pets can be an important part of childhood (and adulthood). Here, Ruby and Antoinette Devendorf pose for a photo with their pup named Patsy. 

This photo shows the Hotchkiss kids peeking out of a car window in August 1920.

Two teenage girls dress up in 1890s-era clothing and pose as a "Gay Nineties" bicycling gentleman and lady in this 1939 photo.

Central Park was a very popular place for Schenectady's youth to play. This photo shows some rambunctious youngins climbing a rock in Iroquois Lake.

Wintertime activities for kids in Schenectady included playing on what looks to be pretty thin ice on the pond in Vale Park This photo is from 1910. 

A young Helen Mynderse dressing up as a Red Cross nurse.

Members of Schenectady High's 1908 class hanging out under what looks like a Japanese Cherry Blossom Tree. 

Back in My Day: Childhood, Play, and Schenectady will be open through most of November 2019 at the Schenectady County Historical Society. We hope you can come visit and relive your childhood with us!