Untold Stories, Unsung Heroes: Marginalized Communities on and Along the Erie Canal (1817 to 1834)

An examination of New York State canal records, correlated with other 19th-century documents, sheds light on the marginalization of many individuals who lived along, worked on, or traveled on the artificial waterways. Passenger lists reveal a number of married and unmarried females, people of color, members of the Haudenosaunee (Indian tribes), immigrants, little people, elderly people, orphans, and people without homes, as part of a larger disenfranchised group who were rarely identified by name. Canal vouchers and receipts tell the story of female residents across New York State as well as many men of color, who contributed to the construction of the canal (1817 to 1925) but whose efforts went unrecognized.