Archibald Johnston (1864-1948) was a mechanical engineer, who joined the Bethlehem Iron Company in 1889 where he was responsible for the erection of the gun forging and armor plate plant. In 1901 he was elected to the company's Board of Directors, and between 1906 and 1908 was president of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. The bulk of this collection is concerned with Johnston's work at Bethlehem Steel; a smaller portion consists of strictly personal papers.

The records of the Bethlehem Iron Company include photostatic copies of the stockholders' and directors' minutes from 1860 to 1901, and a single volume of monthly production statements from 1890 and 1891. A single letterbook of G. F. Meigs, Engineer of Ordnance, and Robert H. Sayre, Jr., Superintendent of Blast Furnaces, contains information on production processes and problems during the final years of the company. There is also a photostatic copy of a report on piece work from the Frederick Winslow Taylor Papers at Stevens Institute of Technology. A pocket notebook of Edward S. Knisely (1892) contains notes and a single rule-of-thumb formula for practices in its rolling mill and machine shop.

These are photographs having a geographic relationship to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the company's headquarters, includes industrial views, office buildings, and city and community views. This consists of photographs of Bethlehem Iron Company, a predecessor company which merged with Bethlehem Steel Company in 1901, the South Bethlehem steel plant, and the forge specialty department there. There are views of the company’s offices which were photographed frequently, especially during periods of renovation. There are aerials of the city dated from 1958 to 1959. A noteworthy inclusion is "Bethlehem Plant Inspection, June 1927," a booklet commemorating Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis flight; the aircraft's forgings were made by Bethlehem.

Lou Sterner (dates unknown) was a Bethlehem Steel Corporation employee – presumably a company photographer. Hagley does not own his original glass plates, but there are copies of contact prints of various subjects. The majority of the work is company related; there are also some unidentified nature photographs and views of Lehigh University. One set of prints (which was mounted on cards by the company) has identification on the back.