The Hall of Electrical History [History]

More than 1 million photographs dating back to the Edison era (1872-1892) plus the entire instruction book and technical reprint files of the former General Electric Company's (GE) Advertising and Sales Promotion (A&SP) operation form the core of the Schenectady Museum, Hall of Electrical History (HOEH). In addition, the Schenectady Museum HOEH collection includes the papers of many prominent electrical pioneers, files of present as well as previous electrical periodicals, books, artifacts, movies, videos, and calendar art (Figure 1). On the basis of this material, the HOEH has published several books on the history of electrical technology and GE. But the story of how the HOEH came to be is a fascinating tale of fortuitous coincidence combined with the hard work of many dedicated volunteers.