Electric City

Electric City PDF

Author: Julia Kirk Blackwelder

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2014-11-14

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1623492211

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For seven decades the General Electric Company maintained its manufacturing and administrative headquarters in Schenectady, New York. Electric City: General Electric in Schenectady explores the history of General Electric in Schenectady from the company’s creation in 1892 to the present. As one of America’s largest and most successful corporations, GE built a culture centered around the social good of technology and the virtues of the people who produced it. At its core, GE culture posited that engineers, scientists, and craftsmen engaged in a team effort to produce technologically advanced material goods that served society and led to corporate profits. Scientists were discoverers, engineers were designers and problem solvers, and craftsmen were artists. Historian Julia Kirk Blackwelder has drawn on company records as well as other archival and secondary sources and personal interviews to produce an engaging and multi-layered history of General Electric’s workplace culture and its planned (and actual) effects on community life. Her research demonstrates how business and community histories intersect, and this nuanced look at race, gender, and class sets a standard for corporate history.

Schenectady: a City Transformed by War

Schenectady: a City Transformed by War PDF

Author: William Pelotte

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2018-09-18

Total Pages: 94

ISBN-13: 198454988X

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World War II and its impact on communities across the country were far-reaching. Schenectady, with major industries and a growing population, was positioned well to handle the escalating war overseas. The following is an examination of how the city of Schenectady, its corporate partners, and its citizens were able to adapt to the challenges and demands placed upon them during these years.

The American Labor Legislation Review

The American Labor Legislation Review PDF

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1926

Total Pages: 738

ISBN-13:

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Includes proceedings and papers of the American Association for Labor Legislation previously published in the two series: Proceedings and legislative review.

The Brothers Vonnegut

The Brothers Vonnegut PDF

Author: Ginger Strand

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2015-11-17

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0374711542

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Worlds collide in this true story of weather control in the Cold War era and the making of Kurt Vonnegut In the mid-1950s, Kurt Vonnegut takes a job in the PR department at General Electric in Schenectady, where his older brother, Bernard, is a leading scientist in its research lab--or "House of Magic." Kurt has ambitions as a novelist, and Bernard is working on a series of cutting-edge weather-control experiments meant to make deserts bloom and farmers flourish. While Kurt writes zippy press releases, Bernard builds silver-iodide generators and attacks clouds with dry ice. His experiments attract the attention of the government; weather proved a decisive factor in World War II, and if the military can control the clouds, fog, and snow, they can fly more bombing missions. Maybe weather will even be the "New Super Weapon." But when the army takes charge of his cloud-seeding project (dubbed Project Cirrus), Bernard begins to have misgivings about the harmful uses of his inventions, not to mention the evidence that they are causing alarming changes in the atmosphere. In a fascinating cultural history, Ginger Strand chronicles the intersection of these brothers' lives at a time when the possibilities of science seemed infinite. As the Cold War looms, Bernard's struggle for integrity plays out in Kurt's evolving writing style. The Brothers Vonnegut reveals how science's ability to influence the natural world also influenced one of our most inventive novelists.