Scope and Contents: The collection consists of the papers from the General Electric Company located in DeKalb, Illinois. The collection contains materials from 1891 to 2015, with the bulk of the material ranging from 1946 to 2015. The collection includes newsletters, club records, photographs, historical files, minutes, and artifacts. The material documents the activities and events of employees, the company, the DeKalb area. There are also records about the interior and exterior of the building as well as the products manufactured at the company. The newsletters comprise most of the collection: DeKalb Plant News (1946-1951)/General Electric News (1951- 1961) and the 3-D DeKalb Daily Digest (1953-1977)/DeKalb Daily Digest (1977-1978)/DeKalb Digest (1979-1988)/DeKalb News (1989-2001). They document company and employee activity as well as happenings in the local area. Present in the collection are also Quarter Century Club records, the GE DeKalb chapter, including minutes and other administrative records. Photographs range in subject matter documenting the history of the GE DeKalb plant and the local area. The photographs in box 2 were taken by staff in 2015 as they were given a tour of the closed plant by GE Human Resource Manager Virginia Guzman. The purpose of these photos are to document the physical building, with particular attention to the layout of the plant with regard to staff areas and the manufacturing of products. Artifacts preserved in the collection are three motors manufactured by the GE DeKalb plant.
Also contained in the collection are 191 digital photographs and 17 videos of the closed plant. The images were captured by Center staff during a tour of the plant by Virginia Guzman, GE Human Resource Manager, in the summer of 2015. The digital photos and videos may be accessed in the Center's reading room. Prints made from the digital photos are in box 2.
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