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The research laboratory at General Electric was the launching pad for some of Vincent Schaefer's most pivotal scientific work. This series contains research notes, photographs, reports (published and unpublished, internal and external), and correspondence relating to all of his more famous experiments as well as a range of lesser-known work accomplished during his years at the G.E. Research Laboratory in Schenectady. The materials cover topics such as smoke/artificial fog generation, surface chemistry, studies of ice and snow particles, and early cloud seeding. The series is divided according to areas of specific interest to Schaefer as well as correspondence and publications.

In 1952, General Electric published its own "History of Project Cirrus", compiled by Barrington Havens of G.E.'s public relations department. In his introduction, he writes that "[Project Cirrus] was very complex, with a number of subdivisions associated with the main activity. Some of these subdivisions ran consecutively, some operated in parallel, and others intertwined or branched off in variously divergent directions." This preface is relevant to Schaefer's own collection of materials because the "intertwined" nature of Cirrus itself, as well as its roots in Schaefer and Langmuir's previous work, sometimes made it difficult for the archivist to separate Project Cirrus documents from materials that related to cloud seeding efforts but were not strictly part of the work done under the government contract that defined Project Cirrus.

Vincent Schaefer's first contact with the Munitalp Foundation came in the early 1950s around the time that Project Cirrus was winding down. The day-to-day routine in the research lab at General Electric was changing from the way it was in the days of Willis Whitney, so in 1951 Schaefer began scaling back his hours at G.E. to collaborate with Munitalp's board of trustees. By 1954, Schaefer was ready to make a complete break from G.E. to become Munitalp's director of research.