Frederick William Wood (1857-1943) was an executive and engineer in the steel and shipbuilding industries. The Frederick W. Wood photographs document the career of Frederick W. Wood in the steel and shipbuilding industries, most notably his time working for Pennsylvania Steel Company at Steelton, Pennsylvania, Maryland Steel Company and Bethlehem Steel Company at Sparrows Point, Maryland, and the American International Shipbuilding Corporation at Hog Island Shipyard, located in Pennsylvania on the Delaware River. Researchers interested in the steel and iron industries, the shipbuilding industry, company towns, and the regional history of the greater Philadelphia and Baltimore areas would find this collection useful.

The records of the Pennsylvania Steel Company are a collection of fragments. The minute books and other basic documents having been destroyed. However, a number of interesting pieces remain.

There is some correspondence from the executive committee, primarily relating to the Cuban ore properties, company expansion and financing, and the sale to Bethlehem. There is a report on the profit-sharing plan (1907) and a letter from Andrew Carnegie to S. M. Felton (1876) noting that the Pennsylvania Railroad will have one-third of all United States Bessemer steel production located along its main line.

There is a small number of Directors’ proceedings following the incorporation of the company in 1901, including organizational papers. There are also minutes and related papers from the annual stockholders’ meetings of both the Pennsylvania Steel Company of New Jersey and the Baltimore and Sparrow’s Point Railroad Co., a subsidiary sold to the Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington Railroad Co. in 1913.

The records of the Bridge Department are limited to lists of bridges built by Pennsylvania Steel.

The records of the Frog, Switch, and Signal Department also contain several interesting items. A pair of organization record books (1914-1917) contain efficiency studies and a comparison of unit costs by the piece work and bonus system, as well as some minutes of foremen's meetings and conferences. A job ledger lists workers assigned daily by job with task and hours worked (1902-1903). There is also the charter of a departmental Relief Association (1890).