I could really use a little help here. Now, for some background on why I need help.I am currently working on a history of the Washington County Poor House. It's amazing how much of the history that often is NOT told can be inferred from the demographics of the Poor House. And it leads me to research some rather obscure subjects. The sudden influx of (Champlain)canal "boatmen" into the PH every winter was something I at first considered merely a weather indicator: that was when it got COLD in NY! (Even I knew that.) But their seasonal stay every year until spring turned out to relate to the fact that the canal FROZE OVER every year and stopped functioning. That meant that canal workers (who were almost all transient by definition)-- especially those who were single -- were actually seasonal workers who became unemployed & homeless each winter and went into the PH. That all by itself was rather fascinating -- but then I began to notice the incredible proportion of boatmen whose "cause of dependence" was "loss of an arm". I haven't crunched all the statistics yet; but it is patently obvious that there was not yet any OSHA to pester people about safe working conditions! Then I went looking for information about working conditions on the canals in the 1800s. I'm having a heck of a time finding anything except "glowing" histories of the glories of the canal era. Apparently not too much was published about the downside in human terms. Several years ago I found a reference on-line that intrigued me; now I want to follow up on it. The Yale newspaper reported on an exhibit at which a man named Daniel Bender spoke. Here's what the article said: ------------------------------------------------------------------ American history major Daniel Bender '95, who recently published an article in the Connecticut History Journal, presented a lecture on the "uneasy peace" that Irish laborers on the canal experienced between 1828 and 1848. Unlike most other canal workers in the country, Bender noted, the laborers made no discernible attempts at resistance despite barely tolerable working conditions. "The contractors were the undisputed masters," Bender said. "They provided housing, food, alcohol, and wages. The Irish were separated by their lifestyle, their religion, and their accents. The canal was all they had." Bender discussed the hardships of daily life on the canal: the routine danger, endless workdays, and unfair paltry wages. "This system was one of the most oppressive forms of labor to exist in the United States," he said. -------------------------------------------- Now, that's a man I'd like to communicate with. He may have some answers to my questions about all those lost arms! (Or he may be able to refer me to some good sources.) I'd like to start by reading the "paper" they refer to -- but the article doesn't cite his paper very well. It must have been published in 1994 or 1995 in the Connecticut History Journal. Unfortunately, I haven't found (here in Texas) any way to get a list of what articles they published those years. And if I subscribe to even ONE MORE historical society -- I may have to go to the PH myself! Can anyone help me track this article and/or this author down? It will be much appreciated. Thanks, Linda